Clair Bee

Clair Bee (1896-1983)

Teams coached: Rider Broncs, Long Island Blackbirds, Baltimore Bullets
Rider record: 53-8 (.869)
Long Island record: 360-80 (.818)
Overall record^: 413-88 (.824)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  0
• NIT Championships:  2  (1939, 1941)
• NIT Appearances:  7  (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1950)
• Metro NY Regular Season Champion:  3  (1936, 1937, 1939)
• Premo-Porretta National Championships:  3  (1936, 1939, 1941)
• Helms Foundation National Championships:  1  (1939)

Awards:

• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1968)
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1952-1954	Baltimore Bullets
1945-1951	Long Island
1931-1943	Long Island
1928-1931	Rider

Clair Bee Facts

• Clair Francis Bee
• Born March 2, 1896
• Died May 20, 1983
• Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia
• Alma Mater: Waynesburg College (BA, 1925)
• Played baseball, football and tennis at Waynesburg College (now University) in Pennsylvania
• After briefly coaching at the HS level, Bee was hired as the first-ever head basketball coach at Rider in 1928
  • Went 53-8 in three seasons with the basketball program, never losing more than 3 games in a season
  • Was also the athletic director, spent two seasons coaching the football team and one season coaching baseball
• Left for Long Island in 1931, spending the next 20 years at that University
  • Was 360-80 in 18 seasons as the Blackbirds’ basketball coach, winning two NIT titles in 7 appearances
  • Had just one losing season during his tenure and twice finished undefeated (1935-36) and (1938-39)
    • Retroactively won the 1936 Premo-Porretta and 1939 Helms Foundation National Championships
  • Among his many contributions to the game include implementing the first 1-3-1 zone defense
  • In addition to basketball, Bee served as head football coach for one season (5-1) and baseball coach for five (75-22-4)
• Bee was forced to resign in 1951 after several LIU players were implicated in the CCNY point shaving scandal
  • The Blackbirds had gone 40-9 in the previous two years and achieved Top-5 AP rankings both seasons
  • The basketball program was shut down that same year and did not return to competition until 1957
• Hired in 1952 to lead the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, going 32-110 in two seasons at the helm
• Became athletic director at New York Military Academy (Cornwall, NY) in 1954, remaining there until his retirement in 1967
• Was an author throughout the latter part of his career, writing technical books and the “Chip Hilton” series of novels for kids
  • From 1996-2011, the Clair Bee Coach of the Year and Chip Hilton Player of the Year awards were given in his honor
• Inducted into the Naismith Basketball HOF in 1968 and was in the inaugural 2006 class of the National College Basketball HOF

Clair Bee Coaching Tree

• Jim Baechtold (Eastern Kentucky)
• Fred Lewis (Sacramento State, Syracuse, Southern Miss)
• Al McGuire (Marquette, Belmont Abbey)
• Ken Norton (Manhattan)
• George Wolfe (Long Island)

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA level only