Biography: Phog Allen

The first true basketball coach, Allen learned the sport at the University of Kansas, where James Naismith was coach. Naismith, who had invented basketball in 1891, felt that the sport was too spontaneous to be coached. "Well," Allen replied, "you can coach them to pass at angles and run in curves."

In his senior year, 1908/09, Allen coached the team. He also coached at two nearby schools, Baker University and Haskell Indian Institute. Kansas was 25-3 that season, Baker 22-2, and Haskell 27-5 for a combined record of 74 wins and 10 losses.

Allen went on to the Kansas College of Osteopathy. Although he never set up practice, he did treat a number of well-known athletes. He coached at Warrensburg Teachers College (now Central Missouri State) from 1912/13 through 1918/19 and at Kansas from 1919/20 through 1955/56, compiling an overall record of 770 wins and 223 losses.

Kansas won the 1952 NCAA tournament; the 1923 and 1924 teams were chosen national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation. Under Allen, Kansas won or shared thirty championships in the Missouri Valley, Big Seven, and Big Eight Conferences. Among his pupils were Adolph Rupp, Dutch Lonborg, and John Bunn, all members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Allen was a founder of the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 1927 and served as its first president. He led the drive to have basketball made an Olympic sport in 1936 and he was also instrumental in having the NCAA tournament established in 1939. The University of Kansas's 17,500-seat arena, Allen Field House, is named for him.