Alva Duer
From Hoopedia
Alva O. "Al" Duer (November 18, 1904, Sylvia, Kansas, US — November 18, 1987) was a college basketball coach and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and United States Olympic Committee administrator. He was known as "Mr. NAIA."
He went to Stafford High School in Stafford, Kansas and was captain of the basketball team all four years he attended. He graduated from high school in 1923.
He coached college basketball at Pepperdine College (Los Angeles, CA, 1939-48. During that time, he accumulated a record of 176-94 (.651). He led Pepperdine to six postseason appearances (five NAIA and one NCAA. He led Pepperdine to the 1945 NAIA finals.
He became executive secretary of the NAIA (then still known as the NAIB) in 1949 and ran the NAIA tournaments until his retirement in 1975. In 1954 he was a vigorous proponent of including an all-Black college in the tournament for the first time; three years later John McLendon and his Tennessee State Tigers won the first of their three consecutive NAIA titles.
Alva O. Duer was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1982. He is a also member of the NAIA Hall of Fame.
