Jay L. "Biffy" Lee (September 27, 1887 – April 10, 1970) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Penn College—now known as William Penn University—in

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. Cens ...

in 1915 and again from 1917 to 1920 and at the University of Buffalo—now known as University at Buffalo—from 1929 to 1930, compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 17–20–4.

Playing career

In 1910, Lee attended Albion College, where he played football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. In 1911, he was the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

. He was the college roommate of

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

Coaching career

In 1916, Lee was an assistant football coach at Notre Dame. He served as the head football coach at the University of Buffalo from 1929 to 1930, compiling a record of 8–7. He was also on the faculty of the University of Buffalo, lecturing in the School of Marketing. In 1931, he unexpectedly resigned as the head coach of the Buffalo football program to attend to business duties.

Late life and death

Lee work as an executive for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company for 27 years until his retirement in 1952. He died on April 10, 1970 in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

Head coaching record

References

1887 births 1970 deaths American businesspeople in insurance American football quarterbacks Albion Britons baseball players Albion Britons football players Buffalo Bulls football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players William Penn Statesmen baseball coaches William Penn Statesmen football coaches William Penn Statesmen men's basketball coaches University at Buffalo faculty People from Tuscola County, Michigan Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Michigan Baseball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Michigan Basketball coaches from Michigan {{1920s-collegefootball-coach-stub