Clair Bee
| Clair Bee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sport(s) | Basketball, football, baseball |
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
March 2, 1896 Grafton, West Virginia |
| Died |
May 20, 1983 (aged 87) Cleveland, Ohio |
| Playing career | |
| 1922–1925 | Waynesburg (football, baseball, tennis) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football 1929?–1930? 1940 Basketball 1925–1926 1928–1931 1931–1943 1945–1951 1952–1954 Baseball 1929 1934–1939 |
Rider LIU Brooklyn High school Rider LIU Brooklyn LIU Brooklyn Baltimore Bullets (NBA) Rider LIU Brooklyn |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1929–1931 1954–1967 |
Rider New York Military Academy |
| Head coaching record | |
| Tournaments | NIT: 6–5 (.545) |
|
Statistics | |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
|
Championships
1 National (1939) 2 NIT (1939, 1941) | |
|
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1968 (profile) | |
|
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 | |
Clair Francis Bee (March 2, 1896 – May 20, 1983) was an American basketball coach, who led the team at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York to undefeated seasons in 1936 and 1939, as well as two National Invitation Tournament titles in 1939 and 1941. He was born in Grafton, West Virginia, and was a graduate of Waynesburg University (then Waynesburg College) where he played football, baseball, and tennis.
Bee's teams won 95 percent of their games from 1931 to 1951, including 43 in a row from 1935 to 1937.[1] Bee holds the Division I NCAA record for highest winning percentage, winning 82.6% of the games he was head coach. [2] Bee resigned in 1951 after several of his players were implicated in the CCNY Point Shaving Scandal. LIU shut down its athletic program shortly afterward.
Bee also coached the football team at LIU until it was disbanded in 1940.[3]
He coached the National Basketball Association's Baltimore Bullets from 1952 to 1954, amassing a 34-116 record under his tenure.
Bee was known as the "Innovator". His contributions to the game of basketball include the 1-3-1 zone defense and the three-second rule. Bee also served as co-host of the early NBC sports-oriented television program "Campus Hoopla" on WNBT from 1946 to 1947.
His influence on the game also extended to strategies sports camps (Camp All-America), (Kutsher's Sports Academy), writing technical coaching books, and conducting coaching clinics around the world. By the time he left coaching in the 1950s, Bee had already begun writing the Chip Hilton Sports Series for younger readers.
Bee was inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1968. The Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award is awarded every year to a coach who makes an outstanding contribution to the game of college basketball, and the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award is awarded to a men's basketball player.
In 1968, he cofounded the Kutsher's Sports Academy.[4]
One of Bee's grandfathers was Ephraim Bee, a member of the first West Virginia Legislature.
Head coaching record
College
Football
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider Roughriders (Independent) (1929?–1930?) | |||||||||
| 1929 | Rider | ?–? | |||||||
| 1930 | Rider | ?–? | |||||||
| Rider: | ?–? | ||||||||
| Long Island Blackbirds (Independent) (1940) | |||||||||
| 1940 | Long Island | 5–1 | |||||||
| Long Island: | 5–1 | ||||||||
| Total: | ?–? | ||||||||
Basketball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider Roughriders (Independent) (1928–1931) | |||||||||
| 1928–29 | Rider | 19–3 | |||||||
| 1929–30 | Rider | 17–3 | |||||||
| 1930–31 | Rider | 17–2 | |||||||
| Rider: | 53–8 (.869) | ||||||||
| Long Island Blackbirds (Independent) (1931–1943) | |||||||||
| 1931–32 | Long Island | 16–4 | |||||||
| 1932–33 | Long Island | 6–11 | |||||||
| 1933–34 | Long Island | 26–1 | |||||||
| 1934–35 | Long Island | 24–2 | |||||||
| 1935–36 | Long Island | 25–0 | |||||||
| 1936–37 | Long Island | 28–3 | |||||||
| 1937–38 | Long Island | 23–5 | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||||
| 1938–39 | Long Island | 23–0 | Helms Foundation National Champions NIT Champions | ||||||
| 1939–40 | Long Island | 19–4 | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||||
| 1940–41 | Long Island | 25–2 | NIT Champions | ||||||
| 1941–42 | Long Island | 25–3 | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||||
| 1942–43 | Long Island | 13–6 | |||||||
| 1945–46 | Long Island | 14–9 | |||||||
| 1946–47 | Long Island | 17–5 | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||||
| 1947–48 | Long Island | 17–4 | |||||||
| 1948–49 | Long Island | 18–12 | |||||||
| 1949–50 | Long Island | 20–5 | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||||
| 1950–51 | Long Island | 20–4 | |||||||
| Long Island: | 360–80 (.818) | ||||||||
| Total: | 413–88 (.824) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Baseball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider Roughriders (Independent) (1929) | |||||||||
| 1929 | Rider | 3–2 | |||||||
| Rider: | 3–2 (.600) | ||||||||
| Long Island Blackbirds (Independent) (1934–1939) | |||||||||
| Long Island: | 75–22–4 (.762) | ||||||||
| Total: | 78–24–4 (.755) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Professional
NBA
| Legend | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win-loss % | |
| Post season | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win-loss % | |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | 1952–53 | 70 | 16 | 54 | .229 | 4th in Eastern | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Lost in Div. Semifinals |
| BAL | 1953–54 | 72 | 16 | 56 | .222 | 5th in Eastern | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Career | 142 | 32 | 110 | .225 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
References
External links
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