Clair Bee

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.

Clair Bee
Biographical details
Born(1896-03-02)March 2, 1896
Grafton, West Virginia
DiedMay 20, 1983(1983-05-20) (aged 87)
Cleveland, Ohio
Playing career
1922–1925Waynesburg (football, baseball, tennis)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1929?–1930?Rider
1931
1939–1940		LIU Brooklyn
Basketball
1925–1926High school
1928–1931Rider
1931–1943LIU Brooklyn
1945–1951LIU Brooklyn
1952–1954Baltimore Bullets
Baseball
1929Rider
1934–1939LIU Brooklyn
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1929–1931Rider
1954–1967New York Military Academy
Head coaching record
TournamentsBasketball
6–5 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Basketball
1 Helms National (1939)
1 Premo-Porretta National (1936)
2 NIT (1939, 1941)
Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1968 (profile)
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Biography

Bee was born in Grafton, West Virginia to James Edward Bee (1871–1933) and Margaret Ann Skinner. Later, Bee 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 83% 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

Football
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
Rider Roughriders (Independent) (1929?–1930?)
1929 Rider ?–?
1930 Rider ?–?
Rider: ?–?
Long Island Blackbirds (Independent) (1940)
1931 Long Island 7–1
1939 Long Island 5–3
1940 Long Island 5–1
Long Island: 17-5
Total:?–?

Basketball
Statistics overview
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 25–0Premo-Porretta National Champions[5]
1936–37 Long Island 28–3
1937–38 Long Island 23–5NIT Quarterfinals
1938–39 Long Island 23–0Helms Foundation National Champions
NIT Champions
1939–40 Long Island 19–4NIT Quarterfinals
1940–41 Long Island 25–2NIT Champions
1941–42 Long Island 25–3NIT Quarterfinals
1942–43 Long Island 13–6
1945–46 Long Island 14–9
1946–47 Long Island 17–5NIT Quarterfinals
1947–48 Long Island 17–4
1948–49 Long Island 18–12
1949–50 Long Island 20–5NIT Quarterfinals
1950–51 Long Island 20–4
Long Island: 360–80 (.818)
Total:413–88 (.824)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Baseball
Statistics overview
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  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

NBA
Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs 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 701654.2294th in Eastern202.000 Lost in Div. Semifinals
BAL 1953–54 721656.2225th in Eastern———— Missed Playoffs
Career 14232110.225202.000

References
  1. "LIU streaks". Archived from the original on 2004-12-22. Retrieved 2005-01-06.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-26. Retrieved 2009-07-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Luchter, P.S. (May 21, 2010). "Long Island University All-Time Football Records". List Of Amazing Sports Lists. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  4. "Basketball Hall of Fame bio".
  5. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York: ESPN Books. p. 544. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
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