Cliff Wells
Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame
Basketball Coach, 1945-63
Tulane University
Inducted: 1976
Cliff Wells coached basketball at Tulane University for 18 years, winning 259 games and losing only 171. His .602 winning percentage ranks second all-time among Tulane coaches with 50 or more games while his win total is tops at the school, 74 more than his closest competition.
Â
Wells’ Green Wave teams posted three straight 20-win seasons from 1946-49 including a 23-3 campaign in 1947-48 that included a victory over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl Tournament. The Wave went 24-4 in 1948-49. Both of those teams earned second-place finishes in the SEC. Tulane would not achieve the 20-win plateau again for more than 40 years after Wells.
After retiring from Tulane in 1963, Well would become the first full-time executive secretary and director of the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., a position he held for three years.
Â
Prior to his days at Tulane, Wells had a successful high school coaching career spanning three decades in Indiana. He coached teams that captured more than 50 regional, district, and invitational titles, including two Indiana state championships (1919 at Bloomington and 1934 at Logansport).Â
Wells was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1972. He was also inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965.
Born March 17, 1896, in Indianapolis, Wells died Aug. 15, 1977, at the age of 81.
