VICTOR A. BUBAS

Victor Albert Bubas was a college basketball coach for Duke University and the first commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference. He graduated from Gary Lew Wallace High School in 1944. After finishing high school, he enrolled at the University of Illinois, playing the 1944–1945 season for the Fighting Illini. He then went on to North Carolina State University where he played for Everett Case winning four Southern Conference titles. Bubas was an All-Southern Conference selection twice and played in the 1950 NCAA Final Four. After he graduated in 1951, he stayed on as the assistant coach until 1959, at which time he was named the Head Basketball Coach at Duke University. He took the Blue Devils to the Final Four in 1963, 1964 and 1966. The team was ranked in the top fifteen of the nation in eight of ten seasons. Bubas was 10th in the all-time won and lost category with a winning percentage of .761 of all NCAA coaches. He served as a Duke administrator from 1969-1976, and during his last three years, he served as Vice-President of the University. The year of 1976 was when he became the first Commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, and he held that post for fourteen years until his retirement in 1990. The Sun Belt's all-sports championship trophy, the Vic Bubas Cup, is named after him.