Clair Bee
{{Short description|American basketball coach (1896–1983)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Clair Bee
| image = Clair Bee headshot.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|3|2}}
| birth_place = Pennsboro, West Virginia, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1983|5|20|1896|3|2}}
| death_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
| player_years1 = 1922–1925
| player_team1 = Waynesburg (football, baseball, tennis)
| coach_sport1 = Football
| coach_years2 = 1929?–1930?
| coach_team2 = Rider
| coach_years3 = 1931
| coach_team3 = LIU Brooklyn
| coach_years4 = 1939–1940
| coach_team4 = LIU Brooklyn
| coach_sport5 = Basketball
| coach_years6 = 1925–1926
| coach_team6 = High school
| coach_years7 = 1928–1931
| coach_team7 = Rider
| coach_years8 = 1931–1943
| coach_team8 = LIU Brooklyn
| coach_years9 = 1945–1951
| coach_team9 = LIU Brooklyn
| coach_years10 = 1952–1954
| coach_team10 = Baltimore Bullets
| coach_sport11 = Baseball
| coach_years12 = 1929
| coach_team12 = Rider
| coach_years13 = 1934–1938
| coach_team13 = LIU Brooklyn
| admin_years1 = 1929–1931
| admin_team1 = Rider
| admin_years2 = 1954–1967
| admin_team2 = New York Military Academy
| overall_record =
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record = Basketball
6–5 (NIT)
| championships = Basketball
Helms National (1939)
2 Premo-Porretta National (1936, 1941)
2 NIT (1939, 1941)
| awards =
| coaching_records =
| BASKHOF_year = 1968
| CBBASKHOF_year = 2006
| BASKHOF_id = 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.
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 posted a winning record in 21 of his 23 seasons, and compiled a 43-game winning streak from 1935 to 1937.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mindspring.com/~luckyshow/basketball/LIUstreaks.htm |title=LIU streaks |access-date=2005-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041222223234/http://mindspring.com/~luckyshow/basketball/LIUstreaks.htm |archive-date=2004-12-22 |url-status=dead }} Bee holds the Division I NCAA record for highest winning percentage, winning 83% of the games he was head coach.{{cite web |url=http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/calipari_john00.html |title=Player Bio: John Calipari - KENTUCKY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE |access-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726202919/http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/calipari_john00.html |archive-date=2009-07-26 }} 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.{{cite news |last1=Luchter |first1=P.S. |title=Long Island University All-Time Football Records |url=http://www.luckyshow.org/football/LIU%20football.htm |access-date=4 February 2020 |publisher=List Of Amazing Sports Lists |date=May 21, 2010}}
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 and was a member of the Inaugural Class inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/bhof-clair-bee.html|title=Basketball Hall of Fame bio|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003083829/http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/bhof-clair-bee.html|archive-date=2007-10-03}}
One of Bee's grandfathers was Ephraim Bee, a member of the first West Virginia Legislature.
Head coaching record
=College=
==Football==
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Rider Roughriders
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1929?
| endyear = 1930?
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1929
| name = Rider
| overall =
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1930
| name = Rider
| overall =
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Rider
| overall =
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Long Island Blackbirds
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1931
| endyear = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1931
| name = Long Island
| overall = 7–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Long Island Blackbirds
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1939
| endyear = 1940
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1939
| name = Long Island
| overall = 5–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1940
| name = Long Island
| overall = 5–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname =
| bowloutcome =
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Long Island
| overall = 17–5
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall =
| bowls = no
| poll = no
| polltype =
| legend = no
}}
==Basketball==
{{CBB yearly record start|type=coach}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
|name=Rider Roughriders|conference=Independent|startyear=1928|endyear=1931}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1928–29
| name = Rider
| overall = 19–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1929–30
| name = Rider
| overall = 17–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1930–31
| name = Rider
| overall = 17–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Rider
| overall = {{Winning percentage|53|8|record=y}}
| confrecord =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead|name=Long Island Blackbirds|conference=Independent|startyear=1931|endyear=1943}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1931–32
| name = Long Island
| overall = 16–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1932–33
| name = Long Island
| overall = 6–11
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1933–34
| name = Long Island
| overall = 26–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1934–35
| name = Long Island
| overall = 24–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = national
| season = 1935–36
| name = Long Island
| overall = 25–0
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = Premo-Porretta National Champions{{cite book|title=ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game|editor-last=ESPN|publisher=ESPN Books|location=New York|year=2009|page=544|isbn=978-0-345-51392-2}}
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1936–37
| name = Long Island
| overall = 28–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1937–38
| name = Long Island
| overall = 23–5
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NIT Quarterfinals
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = national
| season = 1938–39
| name = Long Island
| overall = 23–0
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = Helms Foundation National Champions
NIT Champions
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1939–40
| name = Long Island
| overall = 19–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NIT Quarterfinals
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = national
| season = 1940–41
| name = Long Island
| overall = 25–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = Premo-Porretta National Champions
NIT Champions
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1941–42
| name = Long Island
| overall = 25–3
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NIT Quarterfinals
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1942–43
| name = Long Island
| overall = 13–6
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1945–46
| name = Long Island
| overall = 14–9
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1946–47
| name = Long Island
| overall = 17–5
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NIT Quarterfinals
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1947–48
| name = Long Island
| overall = 17–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1948–49
| name = Long Island
| overall = 18–12
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1949–50
| name = Long Island
| overall = 20–5
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason = NIT Quarterfinals
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1950–51
| name = Long Island
| overall = 20–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Long Island
| overall = {{Winning percentage|360|80|record=y}}
| confrecord =
}}
{{CBB yearly record end|overall={{Winning percentage|413|88|record=y}})}}
==Baseball==
{{CBB yearly record start|type=coach}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead|name=Rider Roughriders|conference=Independent|startyear=1929|endyear=single}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 1929
| name = Rider
| overall = 3–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal|name=Rider|overall={{Winning percentage|3|2|record=y}})|confrecord=}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead|name=Long Island Blackbirds|conference=Independent|startyear=1934|endyear=1939}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal|name=Long Island|overall={{Winning percentage|75|22|4|record=y}})|confrecord=}}
{{CBB yearly record end|overall={{Winning percentage|78|24|4|record=y}})}}
= Professional =
== NBA ==
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|BAL
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1952|trunc=y}}
| 70||16||54||.229|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||2||0||2||.000
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Div. Semifinals
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|BAL
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1953}}
| 72||16||56||.222|| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Eastern||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|Career
| ||142||32||110||.225|| ||2||0||2||.000|| |
{{S-end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Basketballhof|clair-bee}}
{{navboxes|list=
{{Rider Broncs men's basketball coach navbox}}
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{{LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds baseball coach navbox}}
{{Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) coach navbox}}
{{1968 Basketball HOF}}
{{Basketball Hall of Fame contributors}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bee, Clair}}
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) head coaches
Category:Basketball coaches from West Virginia
Category:Basketball players from West Virginia
Category:LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds baseball coaches
Category:LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball coaches
Category:Long Island Blackbirds football coaches
Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Category:National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Category:People from Grafton, West Virginia
Category:Rider Broncs athletic directors
Category:Rider Broncs baseball coaches
Category:Rider Broncs men's basketball coaches
Category:Rider Roughriders football coaches
Category:Rider University faculty
Category:Waynesburg Yellow Jackets baseball players
Category:Waynesburg Yellow Jackets football players