A native of York, Pennsylvania, Sease graduated from Bluefield State in 1948 and later earned a master's degree in education from Columbia University. From 1948 to 1956, he was the athletic director at Christiansburg Institute in Christiansburg, Virginia, where he also coached football, basketball, and baseball. Sease returned to Bluefield State in 1956, where he worked as an assistant football and basketball coach under Sam B. Taylor for three years. He was appointed athletic director at Bluefield State in 1959.[4]