Blair Gullion

Blair Gullion (1901-1959)

Teams coached: Tennessee Volunteers, Cornell Big Red, Connecticut Huskies, Washington University Bears
Tennessee record: 47-19 (.712)
Cornell record: 48-43 (.527)
Connecticut record: 15-8 (.652)
Washington (MO) record: 134-102 (.568)
Overall record^: 244-172 (.587)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  0
• NIT Championships:  0
• NIT Appearances:  0
• SEC Regular Season Champion:  1  (1936)
• SEC Tournament Champion:  1  (1936)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1953-1959	Washington (MO)
1947-1952	Washington (MO)
1945-1947	Connecticut
1938-1942	Cornell
1935-1938	Tennessee
1927-1935	Earlham College

Blair Gullion Facts

• Burton Blair Gullion
• Born December 22, 1901
• Died January 30, 1959
• Hometown: New Castle, Indiana
• Alma Mater: Purdue University (BA, 1924)
• The Indiana-native played college basketball at Purdue under legendary head coach Ward “Piggy” Lambert
  • Earned First-Team All-Big honors following the 1922 season
• First coached at the high school level, then became the basketball coach at Earlham College (Richmond, IN) in 1927
  • Went 65-42 during his eight-year tenure with the Quakers
• Spent three seasons as the head coach at Tennessee, going an impressive 47-19 overall
  • Swept the SEC regular season and Tournament titles in 1936, the first of each for Tennessee
• Went 48-43 in four seasons as the head coach at Cornell, then 15-8 in one and half seasons at UConn
  • In between these two jobs was World War II, during which Gullion served in the US Air Force
  • Named President of the NABC in 1946 after returning to the States and taking the UConn job
• Last coaching role was an 11-year tenure (in two stints) at Washington University in St. Louis, MO
  • Was 134-102 overall, finishing .500 or better in seven of eleven full seasons
  • Also served as the University’s athletic director
• Passed away in 1959 due to a heart attack; at the time he was still AD and head basketball coach at WashU
  • Posthumously inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (c/o 1971)
  • Also a member of the Earlham Hall of Fame and WashU Athletics Hall of Fame (1992 Charter Member)

Blair Gullion Coaching Tree

• coming soon

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only; note that Washington University (MO) competed at the Division I level during Gullion’s tenure (now Division III)