George W. "Doc" Jacobs (February 23, 1900 – May 19, 1968) was an American coach and athletic director. He served as the third head men's basketball coach at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

from 1929 to 1936. A three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball at Villanova in the mid-1920s, Jacobs later became the school's baseball coach from 1933 to 1943, with a Villanova won-loss record of 106–37. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1947, Jacobs moved to the

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

suburb of Winooski, where he became the athletic director at

Saint Michael's College Saint Michael's College (St. Mikes or Saint Michael's) is a private Roman Catholic college in Colchester, Vermont. Saint Michael's was founded in 1904 by the Society of Saint Edmund. It grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees i ...

, serving in that and other athletic capacities until his death in 1968. Jacobs served as the school's baseball coach from 1948 through 1956, but it was as the school's basketball coach in the 1950s and early 1960s that he established St. Michael's

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

program, winning 159 games over a 12-year span and going to the NCAA National Division II tournament in

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

for three straight seasons, 1958 to 1960. He also served as the school's football coach. His 1951 "Purple Knights" went 6–0 and were declared "New England Champions". Jacobs died of a heart attack on May 19, 1968, at the age of 68, at his home in Winooski, Vermont. St. Michael's honors the memory of "Doc" annually, with their basketball season-opening tournament called "The Doc Jacobs Classic" and their athletic fields are named "Doc" Jacobs Field. Jacobs is considered "the father of modern day St. Michael's College Athletics". In 2014, Jacobs was posthumously inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Vermont Sports Hall of Fame profile
1968 deaths American men's basketball coaches Saint Michael's Purple Knights athletic directors Saint Michael's Purple Knights baseball coaches Saint Michael's Purple Knights men's basketball coaches Saint Michael's Purple Knights football coaches Villanova Wildcats baseball coaches Villanova Wildcats baseball players Villanova Wildcats football players Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches Villanova Wildcats men's basketball players American men's basketball players Year of birth uncertain {{US-basketball-coach-stub