Norman Shepard

Norman Shepard
	Shepard circa 1948
Biographical details
Born	August 20, 1897; Marion, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	August 22, 1977 (aged 80); Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1928	Guilford
1929–1935	Randolph–Macon
Basketball
1923–1924	North Carolina
1928–1929	Guilford
1929–1936	Randolph–Macon
1937–1949	Davidson
1949–1954	Harvard
Baseball
1940–1944	Davidson
1955–1968	Harvard
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1928–1929	Guilford
1929–1936	Randolph–Macon
1936–1949	Davidson
Head coaching record
Overall	37–27–9 (football); 323–277 (basketball); 234–154–4 (baseball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	Foosball; 1 Virginia Conference (1931); 3 Chesapeake (1933–1935); ; Basketball; Helms Athletic Foundation national (1924); Premo-Porretta national (1924); SoCon regular season (1924); SoCon Tournament (1924)

Norman Westbrook Shepard (August 20, 1897 – August 22, 1977^[1]) was a head coach of various college athletics at several American colleges and universities. He is best known for being the only Division I college basketball coach to go undefeated in his first season coaching.^[2]^: 159 His 1923–24 Tar Heels team finished the season with a 26–0 record^[3] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[4]^[5]

Background and family

He was born Norman Westbrook Shepard, third son of Alexander Hurlbutt Shepard and Mary Augusta Westbrook.

Shepard attended the University of North Carolina and after graduating played minor league baseball for a time.^[6] Before becoming a head coach, Shepard spent three years abroad in France during World War I in the United States army as an artilleryman.^[6]

In 1928, he married Edith Ruckert, of Brooklyn, NY, in Peking, China.

Norman's family had various ties to athletics at North Carolina. His brother, Bo Shepard, became the head coach for North Carolina after Norman, and two of his other brothers, Carlyle Shepard and Alex Shepard, played basketball for North Carolina.^[7]

Coach of North Carolina Tar Heels

Shepard decided to accept the head coaching job for the Tar Heels while planning to attend law school on the side.^[6]

When Shepard took over, the Tar Heels had been without a head coach for the previous two seasons.^[8] Even though the Tar Heels had been without a head coach for the previous seasons, they had managed to win the Southern Conference Tournament at the end of the 1921–22 season and tied for first in the Southern Conference during the 1922–23 season.^[9]

When Shepard took over the team, he inherited a well-rounded Tar Heel squad that included returning senior Cartwright Carmichael, who was the first North Carolina All-American in any sport, and Jack Cobb, who would later be named to the All-American team and would later have his number retired at North Carolina.^[10] Shepard's North Carolina team earned the nickname the "White Phantoms" because of their fast playmaking and defense.^[11]

The 1923–24 Tar Heels squad managed to win all 26 games they played that year. Because there was no national post-season tournament, the Tar Heels final game was in the Southern Conference tournament against the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tar Heels managed to win the game 26–18. The local news reported that hundreds of students at North Carolina "waited in the streets in front of telegraph offices and cafes" for news about the game and after the victory students "went wild" and set a bonfire on the athletic field.^[11]

In 1936, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively awarded a national championship to the team since there had been no organization to award national championships at the time.^[11] Currently Shepard holds the title of being the only head coach to go undefeated in his first year of coaching.^[2]^[12]

Living abroad

After coaching North Carolina for one season, Shepard went to the Far East to work as a sales manager for Liggett and Meyer tobacco company.^[6] While abroad, he played for and coached a basketball team in the Far Eastern Olympics.^[13] Shepard married his wife while in China and returned to the United States after being abroad for five years.^[7]

Return to coaching

After returning to the United States, Shepard took coaching jobs at Guilford College, Randolph College, Davidson College and finally Harvard University where he coached baseball, basketball and football.^[7] He retired from being the head coach in 1968.^[7]

Head coaching record

Football


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Guilford Quakers (Independent) (1928)
1928	Guilford	5–3
Guilford:		5–3
Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets (Virginia Conference) (1929–1932)
1929	Randolph–Macon	2–5	2–3	6th
1930	Randolph–Macon	3–5–2	3–2–1	3rd
1931	Randolph–Macon	7–1–1	5–1	1st
1932	Randolph–Macon	5–1–2	2–1–2	3rd
Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets (Chesapeake Conference) (1933–1935)
1933	Randolph–Macon	3–6		1st
1934	Randolph–Macon	4–3–2		T–1st
1935	Randolph–Macon	8–0–2	3–0	1st
Randolph–Macon:		32–12–9
Total:		37–27–9
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

Basketball

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
North Carolina Tar Heels (Southern Conference) (1923–1924)
1923–24	North Carolina	26–0	7–0	T–1st	Helms National Champion Premo-Porretta National Champion
North Carolina:		26–0^[14]	7–0
Guilford Quakers (Independent) (1928–1929)
1928–29	Guilford	6–12
Guilford:		6–12
Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets (Virginia Conference) (1929–1936)
1929–30	Randolph–Macon	14–7
1930–31	Randolph–Macon	16–7
1931–32	Randolph–Macon	7–12
1932–33	Randolph–Macon	11–11
1933–34	Randolph–Macon	15–4
1934–35	Randolph–Macon	11–13
1935–36	Randolph–Macon	9–11
Randolph–Macon:		83–65
Davidson Wildcats (Southern Conference) (1937–1949)
1937–38	Davidson	10–12	4–11	11th
1938–39	Davidson	19–9	9–7	5th
1939–40	Davidson	8–13	4–11	11th
1940–41	Davidson	11–12	5–7	10th
1941–42	Davidson	12–13	3–8	13th
1942–43	Davidson	18–6	7–4	4th
1943–44	Davidson	16–7	3–4	6th
1944–45	Davidson	9–9	3–6	9th
1945–46	Davidson	13–12	5–9	12th
1946–47	Davidson	17–8	7–7	9th
1947–48	Davidson	19–9	10–7	5th
1948–49	Davidson	18–8	11–6	5th
Davidson:		170–118	71–87
Harvard Crimson (Ivy League) (1949–1954)
1949–50	Harvard	9–15	3–9	6th
1950–51	Harvard	8–18	3–9	6th
1951–52	Harvard	5–17	0–12	7th
1952–53	Harvard	7–16	2–10	7th
1953–54	Harvard	9–16	2–12	8th
Harvard:		38–82	10–52
Total:		323–277
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

References

General

Powell, Adam (2005). University of North Carolina Basketball. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4150-8.
Rappoport, Ken (2002). Tales from the Tar Heel Locker Room. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-489-X.
"2008-09 North Carolina men's basketball media guide". UNC Athletic Communications. Archived from the original on September 17, 2009.

Specific

^ "Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search".
^ ^a ^b "NCAA stats" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
^ "North Carolina Tar Heels season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
^ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 536. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rappoport 2002, p. 13
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rappoport 2002, p. 14
^ Rappoport 2002, pp. 12–13
^ Rappoport 2002, pp. 14–15
^ Rappoport 2002, p. 11
^ ^a ^b ^c Powell 2005, p. 16
^ "OSU's Sutton has Cowboys unbeaten". Amarillo.com. Associated Press. December 16, 2006. Archived from the original on August 4, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
^ Powell 2005, p. 14
^ 2007-08 North Carolina men's basketball media guide 2007, p.177