April 7, 2023

Coach Hugh S. Greer

Congratulations UCONN Huskies
Men's Basketball Team!

 Before there was Dan Hurley there was Jim Calhoun, and before Jim Calhoun,
there was Hugh Greer! 

Hugh S. Greer
Ellsworth Memorial High School Coach

Hugh Scott Greer was born in Suffield, CT, in 1904 and educated at Suffield Academy before attending Connecticut Agricultural College, what is now known as UConn. There he played basketball for the "Aggies" before graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1926. Hugh then made a name for himself coaching high school sports. Hugh coached at Glastonbury and Manchester before becoming the state’s winning-est coach at South Windsor's Ellsworth Memorial High School. Coach Greer was a physical education teacher, basketball coach and athletic director at the high school from 1936-1946. He won five state titles and had winning streaks of 67, 43 and 31 games.

“He was like your dad, he wasn’t a tyrant. He wasn’t a screamer, wasn’t a yeller. He was a teacher, a soft-spoken gentleman. He would have a tremendous amount of difficulty coaching today’s player. In fact, he couldn’t." - Len Carlson, UConn basketball player 1958-62. (Amore)

University of Connecticut Coach

After a successful career as a high school coach, Greer returned to the University of Connecticut in 1946. He was hired as an Assistant Professor of Physical Education and coached the Men’s Basketball team. According to one report, Greer “never lost his composure on or off the court,” and he was awarded the Gold Key from the Connecticut Sports Writer’s Alliance in 1957 for outstanding contributions to sports in his home state. (Scarminach)

Coach Greer was known as a gentleman, well dressed in a dark suit and trademark red socks. A dignified presence who seldom got off the bench to scream.  A gentleman who "had once gently, but firmly taken his best player, [Len] Carlson, out of a game, telling him, 'No showing off.'" (Amore)

"He led the Huskies to seven NCAA tournaments and 12 Yankee Conference championships, and in 1954, drew national attention when the Huskies broke Holy Cross’ 47-game home-winning streak with a one-point victory." (Journal Inquirer)

At the time of his sudden death from a heart attack in the middle of the 1962-63 season, Greer had been the UConn men’s basketball coach for 17 years, winning 71.8 percent of his games and held the record for most wins as a UConn basketball coach with a 286-112 career record. 

“Hugh did a great job. He made UConn a Yankee Conference power...Hugh was relaxed, laid back...But Hugh had a fiercely competitive side. Before practice, he’d grab me and we’d play 21. I beat him all the time. He hated to lose. He always wanted one more. He’d make me stay after practice to play him. The guy would never quit." - Vin Yokabaskas, UConn basketball player 1948-52. (Courant)

A Coach with a Lasting Legacy

Coach Greer, who has been called “The Father of Connecticut Basketball,” by UConn Coach Jim Calhoun, has left a lasting legacy both in Storrs and South Windsor. UConn’s Hugh S. Greer Field House and South Windsor High School's Hugh Greer-Charlie Sharos Gymnasium are both named for him and he has been inducted into the inaugural class of both the Connecticut Basketball “Huskies of Honor”, and South Windsor High School’s Hall of Fame.

The Hugh S. Greer Field House is named after former UConn men’s basketball coach and athletic director Hugh S. Greer. Greer served as the men’s basketball coach from 1946-1963 where he went 286-112 and led the Huskies to its first seven National Collegiate Athletic Association berths and a National Invitational Tournament appearance.

““I think it’s very difficult, impossible, to have a team just come from nothing to something on a national scene. But if you’re a regional winner on a consistent basis as Connecticut had been, it’s a leap, but it’s not a quantam leap. UConn was one of the best regional teams in the East and I think Hugh Greer set that up. I think in some ways he made the state really appreciate basketball. I’m honored to be mentioned in the same breath." - Jim Calhoun, UConn basketball coach 1986-2012. (Courant)

Contact archivist Leith Johnson with your stories and memorabilia of Coach Greer's time at Ellsworth Memorial High School. Visit our research library to peruse the information we already have in the archives pertaining to Ellsworth Memorial High School and Coach Greer.

Sources used for this Musing are listed below.

• Greer's Presence Will Be Felt, Hartford Courant, January 23, 1999, retrieved April 7, 2023.
  
• Amore, Dom, Len Carlson helped hold together UConn men in 1963, and basketball remains his game , Hartford Courant, November 25, 2019, retrieved April 7, 2023.
• Montany, Gail, SW to consider renaming gym for Greer and Sharos, Journal Inquirer, November 26, 2013, retrieved April 7, 2023.
  
• The Class of 2013 Inductees page, South Windsor High School website.
• Scarminach, Shaine, Hugh S. Greer Field House page of the UCONN Library and Special Collections blog website, accessed April, 7 2023.
  

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