Bruce Drake

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Bruce Drake
Biographical details
Born(1905-12-05)December 5, 1905
DiedDecember 4, 1983(1983-12-04) (aged 77)
Playing career
Basketball
1926–1929Oklahoma
Track and field
1927–1929Oklahoma
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1938–1955Oklahoma
Head coaching record
Overall200–182 (.524)
Tournaments4–3 (.571)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
5 Big Six Championship (1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1947)
Big Seven Championship (1949)
NCAA Runner-up (1947)
NCAA Final Four (1939)
Awards
Helms Foundation All-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 coach. The Gentry, Texas native was head coach at the University 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 for Hugh McDermott's Oklahoma team. He was a 1928–29 Helms Foundation All-American. He was a multi-sport athlete at Oklahoma.[1]

As a coach, Drake led the Sooners to two Final 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 additional NCAA 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 behind Billy Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson.

He coached 5 Olympic (Wayne Glasgow and Marcus Freiberger of University of Oklahoma, 1952; Bill Evans, Ron Tomsic and Gib Ford of Air Force team, 1956) and three All-Americans (Jimmy McNatt, 1940; Gerald Tucker, 1943, 1947; Allie Paine, 1944)

Drake was selected as the assistant coach for the 1956 USA Men's Basketball Gold Medal Olympic Team [2]

In 1958 he coached the Wichita Vickers in the National Industrial Basketball League getting 30–21 record tying him for first with his old player Gerald Tucker who was coaching the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers.

One of the lasting contributions Drake developed is the shuffle 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.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
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  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

See also

References

  1. ^ CBS Sports Archived April 4, 2019, at the Wayback Machine 2007 University of Oklahoma Track & Field Guide, p130
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2008-04-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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