George Levis

American college basketball and football standout in the early 1910s, later coached Indiana University basketball
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican college basketball and football standout in the early 1910s, later coached Indiana University basketball
PlacesUnited States of America
wasSports coach Athlete Baseball player Basketball coach
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth22 November 1894
Death1 October 1980 (aged 85 years)
The details

Biography

George Levis (November 22, 1894 – October 1980) was an American college basketball player and coach during the 1910s and 1920s, respectively. He was a two-time All-American as a player while at Wisconsin from 1912–13 to 1915–16, and was also the Helms Foundation National Player of the Year as a senior in 1915–16. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Levis decided to stay in his hometown for college, and while enrolled he also played on the school's baseball team.
Levis played the forward position and helped lead the Badgers to a 20–1 overall record and the Big Ten Conference championship in 1915–16, and that season would also see them retroactively declared as national champions by the Helms Foundation. Levis also led the conference in scoring as a senior: in 12 Big Ten contests he scored 109 points, which was a lot of points for an era of basketball in which very low scoring games were standard.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1916, Levis became the head coach at Indiana. He spent two seasons guiding the Hoosiers and compiled an overall record of 25–16, including a 9–12 record in conference play. He was set to start his third season as coach in 1922–23 but resigned during the preseason in order to work at his family's glass company in Illinois. It was at Illinois Glass Company where Levis was instrumental in helping to design the glass backboard, the predecessor to the plexi-glass backboards used in basketball today.

Head coaching record

SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Indiana (Big Ten Conference) (1920–1922)
1920–21Indiana15–66–56th
1921–22Indiana10–103–79th
Total:25–16

      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

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