C. Eugene Cato was born and raised in Southern Indiana, graduating from Oakland City High School in 1949, where he played basketball for his father, Alva F. Cato. Gene went on to become a star basketball player at Oakland City College, graduating in 1952.

Following graduation, Gene served as a teacher and coach at Chandler, Boonville, and Zionsville High Schools, a Principal at Huntingburg High School, and Superintendent at North Harrison Schools and Jay County School Corporation.

Continuing his passion for athletics and his belief in the intrinsic value of athletic competition, he accepted an invitation to become an IHSAA Assistant Commissioner in 1976. He then became the Commissioner of the IHSAA in 1983, a position he held until he retired in 1995. He is credited with putting the IHSAA on sound financial footing during his tenure.

In 1986, he was elected President of the National Federation of State High School Associations.

He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

In 2020-21, The IHSAA renamed their Centennial Scholarship, initiated in 2003-04, award in honor of C. Eugene Cato, recognizing his outstanding contribution to the IHSAA and student-athetes throughout the state, noting that, "His passion for athletics and his belief in the intrinsic value of athletic competition on the formation of a child’s character enabled Gene to positively impact generations of young men and women with his well-known “Firm, Fair, and Friendly” approach to caring for others."

Cato was married to his high school sweetheart, Lillian Lou Moore, on September 2, 1950. They spent 58 years together teaching, coaching, leading and loving thousands of students and their parents, before his passing in 2008.