| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1905-12-05)December 5, 1905 |
| Died | December 4, 1983(1983-12-04) (aged 77) |
| Playing career | |
| Basketball | |
| 1926–1929 | Oklahoma |
| Track and field | |
| 1927–1929 | Oklahoma |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Basketball | |
| 1938–1955 | Oklahoma |
| Golf | |
| 1933–1951 | Oklahoma |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 200–182 (.524) |
| Tournaments | 4–3 (.571) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 5Big Six Championship (1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1947) Big Seven Championship (1949) NCAA Runner-up (1947) NCAA Final Four (1939) | |
| Awards | |
| Helms FoundationAll-American (1929) First-team All-Big Six (1929) | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1973 (profile) | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 | |
Bruce Drake (December 5, 1905 – December 4, 1983) was a college men's basketball and golf coach.[1] TheGentry, Texas native was head coach at theUniversity of Oklahoma between 1938 and 1955, compiling a 200–181 record. He also coached the Air Force team to a 34–14 record in 1956.
Prior to coaching, he was also a star forHugh McDermott's Oklahoma team. He was a 1928–29Helms FoundationAll-American. He was a multi-sport athlete at Oklahoma.[2]
As a coach, Drake led theSooners to twoFinal Fours–the first one in 1939, here they lost to Oregon 55–37; the second in 1947, where he lost in the Championship Game to Holy Cross 58–47. He made only one additionalNCAA tournament appearance, in 1943. However, he coached at a time when only eight teams made the tournament. He won or shared six (Big Six/Big Seven conference titles. At the time of his retirement, he was the winningest coach in OU history, but is now third behindBilly Tubbs andKelvin Sampson.
He coached 5Olympic (Wayne Glasgow andMarcus Freiberger ofUniversity of Oklahoma, 1952;Bill Evans,Ron Tomsic andGib Ford of Air Force team, 1956) and threeAll-Americans (Jimmy McNatt, 1940;Gerald Tucker, 1943, 1947;Allie Paine, 1944)
Drake was selected as the assistant coach for the1956 USA Men's Basketball Gold Medal Olympic Team[3]
In 1958 he coached the Wichita Vickers in theNational Industrial Basketball League getting 30–21 record tying him for first with his old playerGerald Tucker who was coaching theBartlesville Phillips 66ers.
One of the lasting contributions Drake developed is theshuffle offense. He helped make goaltending illegal.
Drake was the Chairman of the NCAA Rules Committee from 1951 to 1955. He made the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1973.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Sooners(Big Six Conference)(1938–1947) | |||||||||
| 1938–39 | Oklahoma | 12–9 | 7–3 | T–1st | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| 1939–40 | Oklahoma | 12–7 | 8–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1940–41 | Oklahoma | 6–12 | 5–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1941–42 | Oklahoma | 11–7 | 8–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1942–43 | Oklahoma | 18–9 | 7–3 | 2nd | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 1943–44 | Oklahoma | 15–8 | 9–1 | T–1st | |||||
| 1944–45 | Oklahoma | 12–13 | 5–5 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1945–46 | Oklahoma | 11–10 | 7–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1946–47 | Oklahoma | 24–7 | 8–2 | 1st | NCAA Runner-up | ||||
| Oklahoma Sooners(Big Seven Conference)(1947–1955) | |||||||||
| 1947–48 | Oklahoma | 13–9 | 7–5 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1948–49 | Oklahoma | 14–10 | 9–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 1949–50 | Oklahoma | 12–10 | 6–6 | T–4th | |||||
| 1950–51 | Oklahoma | 14–10 | 6–6 | 4th | |||||
| 1951–52 | Oklahoma | 7–17 | 4–8 | T–4th | |||||
| 1952–53 | Oklahoma | 8–13 | 5–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 1953–54 | Oklahoma | 8–13 | 4–8 | 6th | |||||
| 1954–55 | Oklahoma | 3–18 | 1–11 | 7th | |||||
| Oklahoma: | 200–182 (.524) | 106–80 (.570) | |||||||
| Total: | 200–182 (.524) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)