Roy Edwin Lee (September 28, 1917 – November 11, 1985) was an American

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 ...

player and collegiate coach. He was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in 1945.

Coaching

Roy Lee was named the head coach of the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

program in 1960. In seven years, his Billikens built a record of 125–84–5. His teams won the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC) regular season title in 1966 and the MVC Tournament championship in 1964–66, earning a place in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) playoffs. Lee's Billikens placed third in the 1965

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

. In 1967, Lee departed the successful Division I program at St. Louis to start the new Division II program at

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

(SIUE). With no

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarshi ...

and almost no budget, he quickly built a successful program. In his eleven years as the Cougars' head coach, his teams had a record of 237–144–3 and made eight successive appearances in the NCAA playoffs. Lee's Cougars advanced to the Division II College World Series three times and finished as the 1976 runners-up.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_champs_records/2012/d2/DII.pdf On April 26, 1986, between the games of a double-header, the SIUE baseball field was rededicated and named Roy E. Lee Field.

References

External links

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Retrosheet
1917 births 1985 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Mount Vernon Kings players New York Giants (NL) players Saint Louis Billikens baseball coaches SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball coaches Sportspeople from Elmira, New York Baseball players from New York (state) Canton Terriers players Centreville Colts players Columbus Red Birds players Denver Bears players Hopkinsville Hoppers players Houston Buffaloes players Madison Blues players Omaha Cardinals players Richmond Colts players Thomasville Orioles players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1910s-stub