Clarence Iba

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Clarence Iba
Title Head Coach
College Tulsa
Sport Basketball
Born 1909
Died April 21, 1997
Place of death Fort Worth, Texas
Career highlights
Overall 137-147
Championships
1955 MVC Regular Season Championship
Awards
1955 MVC Coach of the Year
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1949-1960 Tulsa

Clarence Iba (1909 - April 21, 1997) is the former head basketball coach at the University of Tulsa. Iba coached the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball team for eleven seasons, from 1949 to 1960. He is the brother of former Oklahoma State coach Henry Iba.

When Iba was hired in 1949, he became Tulsa's first full-time basketball coach.[1] Iba led the team to a NIT appearance in 1953, the first postseason appearance for Tulsa in the modern era. Tulsa also made the Associated Press college basketball rankings for the first time in the 1952-53 season, reaching as high as #8 in the poll.[2] The 1954-55 season was Iba's best at the school. Tulsa won the Missouri Valley Conference with a 21-7 record, including 8-2 in conference.[3] This was the first twenty-win season in school history. Tulsa advanced to the 1955 NCAA Tournament, its first appearance in that tourney. After being eliminated in the first round, Tulsa won the consolation bracket.[4] Additionally, Tulsa's first all-American, Bob Patterson, was from that same 1954-55 campaign.

Iba's last few years at Tulsa were not as successful as the 1954-55 campaign. He does, however, have the most career wins and longest coaching tenure in school history. Following his career as a coach, he worked as a marketing executive in Fort Worth, Texas.[5] Iba was inducted into the University of Tulsa Hall of Fame in 1994.[6]

Iba died on April 21, 1997 of a brain aneurysm.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Logsdon, Guy Williams. The University of Tulsa: A History from 1882 to 1972, Doctoral Dissertation at the University of Tulsa, 1975, pg. 262
  2. ^ Bonham, Chad. Golden Hurricane Basketball at the University of Tulsa. Chicago: Arcadia, 2004, pg. 22
  3. ^ University of Tulsa Media Guide, pg. 152
  4. ^ Logsdon, pg. 262
  5. ^ Associated Press. "Ex-Tulsa basketball coach dies." Abilene Reporter-News. http://www.texnews.com/texsports97/death042497.html
  6. ^ "Clarence Iba." University of Tulsa Hall of Fame. http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/genrel/iba_clarence00.html