Billy Laval
Greensboro Patriots | |
1919 | Greenville Spinners |
---|---|
Position(s) | Newberry |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
1920–1928 | Furman |
1928–1934 | South Carolina |
1936–1938 | Emory and Henry |
1938–1950 | Newberry |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 168–136–17 (football) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
Football 3 SIAA (1922, 1923, 1927) 1 South Carolina Little Four (1947) Basketball 1 SoCon Tournament (1933) | |
William Lawrence Laval (January 15, 1885 – January 20, 1957) was an American
Early life
Laval was born on January 15, 1885, in Columbia, South Carolina. At the age of 18, he coached baseball at Erskine College. The following year, he held the same position at Sewanee before returning to Erskine. From 1904 to 1905, he played baseball as a pitcher for Furman University. According to The State, there is no record of his enrollment at the school, however, which presumably made him a ringer. During the 1905 season, he proposed to his girlfriend Elizabeth, who responded "If you beat Clemson today, I will marry you."[1] Laval pitched Furman to a win, 2–1, and the two were married soon after. He would later joke in speeches, "She has hated Clemson ever since."[1]
Minor league career
In his early years, Laval played
In 1907, the manager of the Greenville Mountaineers, Tommy Stouch, signed Shoeless Joe Jackson, and to evaluate him, had Laval pitch against Jackson for five days of batting practice. He chose Laval for his assorted repertoire of curveballs and spitballs.[1]
Coaching career
Laval was described as an innovative football coach, and he implemented the "crazy quilt" offense, where pre-snap motion was used to create confusion for the defense.
Around 1912, Laval was invited by Clemson coach Frank Dobson to watch their football game against Georgia Tech. The event piqued Laval's interest in the sport, and he began studying it in earnest.[1]
Despite never having played a single
In 1927, Laval accepted a three-year contract worth $8,000 per year to coach at the University of South Carolina, which made him the highest-paid coach in the state.[1] He coached South Carolina from 1928 to 1934 and compiled a 10–14–4 record.[4] Opposing coaches began demanding rule changes to limit the pre-snap shifts and motion of the "crazy quilt". Rules began to change toward the end of his tenure.[1]
In 1932, Laval recruited four players from the 1930 Texas state high school basketball champions. South Carolina basketball coach Rock Norman did not want to play the new recruits ahead of his more seasoned players, so Laval agreed to coach the team for the season. Because of his lack of basketball knowledge, Laval had one of Norman's players, team captain Buck Smith act as an assistant coach. South Carolina ended the season on a fifteen-game winning streak and captured the Southern Conference tournament championship. Jeff Sagarin retroactively ranked South Carolina that season's third-best team in the nation. Norman returned to take over the basketball team the following year.[1]
In 1933, the South Carolina athletic department reported a $15,200 deficit, and Laval reluctantly agreed to take a pay cut to $5,000. However, the department's financial difficulties worsened, and the next year it requested Laval take a second pay cut to $3,600, which he refused. The school allowed his contract to lapse after the 1934 season.[1]
Laval then moved on to Emory and Henry College to serve as its head football, basketball, and baseball coach from 1936 to 1937. In 1938, he returned to his home state to coach at Newberry College. He remained there until retirement in 1950.[1] In 12 seasons as head football coach at Newberry, Laval compiled a record of 45–61–5.[5]
Later life
After coaching, Laval ran a chain of sporting goods stores throughout South Carolina. He also worked in the front office of minor league baseball teams in Rock Hill and Greenwood. He and his wife had three children: two sons and a daughter. His wife died on November 22, 1956, after a long illness. Laval himself died shortly thereafter on January 20, 1957, from a heart attack at his son's home in Columbia. The South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame inducted him in 1961, and the Furman University Athletic Hall of Fame inducted him in 1981.[6]
Head coaching record
"Laval earned the right to be called the greatest collegiate coach in South Carolina athletics history. Mind you, we're not talking just about USC history. We're talking about the entire state to include all the best coaches over the years at any level, from Erskine to Clemson, from Charleston Southern to College of Charleston."[1]
— Ron Morris, The State, November 2009
Football
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Furman Baptists / Purple Hurricane (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1915–1926) | |||||||||
1915 | Furman | 1–0[n 1] | 1–0[n 1] | T–10th | |||||
1916 | Furman | 4–5 | 1–4 | T–17th | |||||
1917 | Furman | 3–5 | 1–3 | T–13th | |||||
1918 | Furman | 3–5–1 | 1–3 | 8th | |||||
1919 | Furman | 6–2–1 | 2–1–1 | 9th | |||||
1920 | Furman | 9–1 | 4–1 | T–5th | |||||
1921 | Furman | 7–2–1 | 4–2–1 | 9th | |||||
1922 | Furman | 8–3 | 3–0 | 1st | |||||
1923 | Furman | 10–1 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
1924 | Furman | 5–5 | 1–2 | 12th | |||||
1925 | Furman | 7–3 | 3–1 | T–5th | |||||
1926 | Furman | 8–1–1 | 3–1–1 | T–4th | |||||
1927 | Furman | 10–1 | 3–0 | T–1st | |||||
Furman: | 80–35–4 | ||||||||
South Carolina Gamecocks (Southern Conference) (1928–1934) | |||||||||
1928 | South Carolina | 6–2–2 | 2–2–1 | T–10th | |||||
1929 | South Carolina | 6–5 | 2–5 | 15th | |||||
1930 | South Carolina | 6–4 | 4–3 | T–11th | |||||
1931 | South Carolina | 5–4–2 | 3–3–1 | T–8th | |||||
1932 | South Carolina | 5–4–2 | 2–2–2 | T–10th | |||||
1933 | South Carolina | 6–3–1 | 3–0 | 2nd | |||||
1934 | South Carolina | 5–4 | 2–3 | 7th | |||||
South Carolina: | 39–26–7 | 18–18–4 | |||||||
Emory and Henry Wasps () (1936–1937)
| |||||||||
1936 | Emory and Henry | 1–7–1 | |||||||
1937 | Emory and Henry | 3–7 | |||||||
Emory and Henry: | 4–14–1 | ||||||||
Newberry Indians (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association ) (1938–1941)
| |||||||||
1938 | Newberry | 5–5 | 4–2 | T–13th | |||||
1939 | Newberry | 4–1–4 | 3–1–1 | T–10th | |||||
1940 | Newberry | 7–2–1 | 4–0 | 2nd | |||||
1941 | Newberry | 5–6 | 2–3 | T–19th | |||||
Newberry Indians (Independent) (1942–1945)
| |||||||||
1942 | Newberry | 4–5 | |||||||
1943 | Newberry | 2–5 | |||||||
1944 | Newberry | 0–7 | |||||||
1945 | Newberry | 6–1 | |||||||
Newberry Indians (South Carolina Little Four ) (1946–1949)
| |||||||||
1946 | Newberry | 4–7 | 2–1 | ||||||
1947 | Newberry | 3–7 | 2–1 | T–1st | |||||
1948 | Newberry | 2–7 | 1–2 | ||||||
1949 | Newberry | 3–8 | 1–2 | ||||||
Newberry: | 45–61–5 | 19–12–1 | |||||||
Total: | 168–136–17 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth |
Notes
- ^ a b W. B. Bible helmed the team for its first seven games in 1915, before resigning in mid-November. Laval succeeded him and led the team for the final game of the season. Furman finish the year with an overall record of 5–3 and a mark of 1–1 in conference play.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Morris: Laval knew how to win, no matter the sport Archived February 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, The State, November 15, 2009.
- ^ a b c Billy Laval Minor League Statistics & History, Baseball Reference, retrieved July 18, 2010.
- .
- ^ a b All-Time Coaching Records by Year Archived 2008-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved July 19, 2010.
- ^ "Newberry Wolves 2010 Football Media Guide" (PDF). Newberry College. p. 106. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
- ^ One of USC's best coaches not in Hall, The State, November 15, 2009.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Billy Laval at Find a Grave