Ray Meyer

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The basics

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Intro

American basketball player and coach, college athletics administrator

Gender:

Male

Places:

United States of America

Is:

Athlete Sports coach Basketball coach Basketball player

Work field:

Sports

Birth:

18 December 1913(Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, U.S.A.)

Death:

17 March 2006(Wheeling, Illinois, U.S.A.)

Star sign:

Sagittarius

The details

Biography

Introduction

Raymond Joseph "Ray" Meyer (December 18, 1913 – March 17, 2006) was an American men's collegiate basketball coach from Chicago, Illinois. He was well known for coaching at DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, compiling a 724–354 record. Meyer coached DePaul to 21 post-season appearances (13 NCAA, eight NIT).

In total, Meyer recorded 37 winning seasons and twelve 20-win seasons, including seven straight from 1978 to 1984. Two Meyer-coached teams reached the Final Four (1943 and 1979), and in 1945, Meyer led DePaul past Bowling Green to capture the National Invitation Tournament, the school's only post-season title. Meyer coached a College All-Star team that played a coast-to-coast series against the Harlem Globetrotters for 11 years. One of his best players was George Mikan, who was a game-changing player and basketball's first great "big man". Meyer recruited Mikan from Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, a school Meyer had himself earlier attended.

Other top players coached by Meyer include former NBA players Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings. During Meyer's tenure the basketball rivalry between DePaul and Loyola reached an extremely high level. Meyer's great-great nephew, Mike Starkman, played basketball for Loyola as a walk-on. Meyer was a much-beloved figure in Chicago, and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was succeeded as DePaul coach by his son, Joey, who led the team for several more seasons, but less successfully than had his father.

Meyer also ran a summer basketball camp near Three Lakes in northern Wisconsin for many years.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Postseason
DePaul (Independent) (1942–1984)
1942–43	DePaul	19–5	NCAA Final Four
1943–44	DePaul	22–4	NIT Runner-Up
1944–45	DePaul	21–3	NIT Champions
1945–46	DePaul	19–5
1946–47	DePaul	16–9
1947–48	DePaul	22–8	NIT Semifinalist
1948–49	DePaul	16–9
1949–50	DePaul	12–13
1950–51	DePaul	13–12
1951–52	DePaul	19–8
1952–53	DePaul	19–9	NCAA Second Round
1953–54	DePaul	11–10
1954–55	DePaul	16–6
1955–56	DePaul	16–8	NCAA First Round
1956–57	DePaul	8–14
1957–58	DePaul	8–12
1958–59	DePaul	13–11	NCAA Second Round
1959–60	DePaul	17–7	NCAA Second Round
1960–61	DePaul	17–8	NIT First Round
1961–62	DePaul	13–10
1962–63	DePaul	15–8	NIT First Round
1963–64	DePaul	21–4	NIT First Round
1964–65	DePaul	17–10	NCAA Second Round
1965–66	DePaul	18–8	NIT First Round
1966–67	DePaul	17–8
1967–68	DePaul	13–12
1968–69	DePaul	14–11
1969–70	DePaul	12–13
1970–71	DePaul	8–17
1971–72	DePaul	12–11
1972–73	DePaul	14–11
1973–74	DePaul	16–9
1974–75	DePaul	15–10
1975–76	DePaul	20–9	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1976–77	DePaul	15–12
1977–78	DePaul	27-3	NCAA Elite Eight
1978–79	DePaul	26–6	NCAA Final Four (Defeated Penn for 3rd Place)
1979–80	DePaul	26–2	NCAA Second Round
1980–81	DePaul	27–2	NCAA Second Round
1981–82	DePaul	26–2	NCAA Second Round
1982–83	DePaul	21–12	NIT Runner-Up
1983–84	DePaul	27–3	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Total:		724–354
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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Head coaching record