Quick Facts
Biography
Birch Evans Bayh, Sr. (September 29, 1893 – August 26, 1971) was an NCAA Head Basketball Coach. He was the Head Coach at Indiana State University from 1918 to 1923. During this time, he also served as the Head Baseball Coach, Athletic Director and Professor of Physical Education.
Life and career
Bayh was born in Quincy, Indiana, the son of Mettie/Nettie (née Evans) and Frederick C. "Fred" Bayh. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants.
Bayh led the Sycamores to their first fifteen-win season and their first twenty-win season. Bayh's .640 winning percentage at Indiana State ranks him as the sixth-winningest coach in the school's history.
He began his career as a teacher and coach in the public schools of Owen and Clay counties of Indiana; he later became director of physical education of the Terre Haute, Indiana, public school system and later held the same position for the Washington, D.C., public school system. He was a long-time high school basketball official in Indiana and officiated ten state championship games, a record that he still holds today.
He was a World War I veteran, holding the rank of Major and held an exercise certificate (an associate degree) from the North American Gymnastics Union of Indianapolis.
A second-generation alumnus of Indiana State, he was the father of former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh and Mary Alice Feather, and the grandfather of former Indiana Governor and former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh and Christopher Bayh. In 2009, Indiana State renamed its School of Education the "Bayh School of Education" to honor the Bayh family.
Head coaching records
Basketball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana State Sycamores (Independent) (1918–1923) | |||||||||
| 1918–19 | Indiana State | 6-3 | |||||||
| 1919–20 | Indiana State | 4-6 | |||||||
| 1920–21 | Indiana State | 15-7 | |||||||
| 1921–22 | Indiana State | 12-3 | |||||||
| 1922–23 | Indiana State | 20-5 | |||||||
| Indiana State: | 57-24 (.640) | ||||||||
| Total: | 57-24 (.640) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Baseball
| Overall | Conference | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | W | L | T | Pct | W | L | T | Pct | Postseason |
| 1919 | Indiana State | 11 | 4 | 0 | .733 | Indiana Collegiate Athletic League Champions | ||||
| 1920 | Indiana State | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Indiana Collegiate Athletic League Champions | ||||
| 1921 | Indiana State | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | |||||
| 1922 | Indiana State | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | |||||
| 1923 | Indiana State | 9 | 2 | 1 | .750 | Indiana Intercollegiate Conference Champions | ||||
| Overall Totals | 42 | 13 | 1 | .750 | ||||||