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