Albert Faunce, Marion High School Class of 1956, who helped advance the field of dentistry with research and production of composite dental materials used all over the world, was also a coach, an author, a college professor, and a philanthropist.
At Marion High School, Faunce was a star on the football field and captain of the team, and he has been honored in the Giants Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a four-year letterman in football, basketball, baseball, and track. In his senior year he was named the Kiwanis Most Outstanding Athlete. He was a record holder for the high jump at Marion High School.
Faunce excelled beyond athletics too, serving as Vice President for the Marion High School Chapter of the National Honor Society for three years, and graduating fifth in his class. He was also Class President his senior year. In high school he also served as “Marion Mayor for a Day” in 1955, and won the Outstanding Young Citizen Award from the Boys Club.
After graduation, he attended Northwestern University, where he continued his football career, playing for famed coach Ara Parseghian’s team ranked No. 1 in the nation. Faunce played with the Wildcats in the Rose Bowl.
After earning his Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern, he became a teacher and coached for several Marion Giants teams, including freshman basketball and baseball in 1963, track coach and assistant football coach in 1964, and head football coach from 1965 through 1967, leading the team to season records of 7-3, 6-4, and 7-0-2, respectively. He also designed a weight program for the football and basketball teams.
Faunce earned his Master’s degree from Ball State University in Muncie, and then moved into the college teaching ranks, becoming an assistant professor there. He also served as a backfield coach for the Ball State football team.
During his time in Muncie, he owned his own insurance business, becoming a top salesman for the company.
He also began researching dental materials, working closely with his twin brother, Frank (who is a 2009 inductee into the Marion High School Hall of Distinction), a dentist. Together the two of them authored one of the first scientific papers on the topic of laminate dental veneer restoration, which was published in the August 1974 edition of Journal of the Texas Dental Association.
Albert Faunce went on to own Plimark Dental Company in Muncie and P.S.I. Manufacturing Co. in Atlanta and Anderson. He manufactured composite dental materials and supplies for dentists and dental laboratories and sponsored lectures and symposiums for various dental societies and laboratories in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
Even beyond all of these athletic and professional accomplishments, he was known for his service to others.
He and his brother founded and chaired the Mike Byelene Award (named after their football coach), which selected the top Marion High School student for athletics and scholarship.
Always at the cutting edge of technology, he loved working with computers, and he designed a website for the Class of 1956’s reunions.
Albert Faunce died in 2015, leaving behind a legacy reflective of the best that Marion Giants have to offer.