A 5-10 guard from Fort Smith, Arkansas, David Sallee came to OBU after two years at Crowder College. As OBU's point guard, Sallee quarterbacked the 1972 squad to a 19-9 record and a trip to the NAIA District 9 playoffs. In 1973, the Bison were 20-11, won the district championship, and reached the Elite Eight in the national tournament.

Sallee scored 587 career points, averaging 10.5 per game. He shot 50.1 percent from the field and 80.1 percent from the free throw line. In 1972 he received the NAIA's Emil S. Liston Award for junior scholar athletes.

After graduation, Sallee coached in high school for three seasons and then returned to OBU as assistant Bison coach.

In 1978 he became OBU's athletic director and in 1979 women's basketball coach. He led the Lady Bison to a 120-52 record over the next five seasons, winning 19 or more games each year and capturing three Sooner Athletic Conference championships and finishing second in the league the other two years. His 1980, 1982, and 1983 teams were District 9 runners-up. Sallee was SAC Coach of the Year in 1980, 1982, and 1983.

He was OBU's athletic director from 1978-84 and during this time he helped with the planning of the Noble Complex, opened in 1982.

Sallee became OBU's vice president for enrollment management in 1985. He moved to a similar post at Luther College in Iowa and was named president of William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, in 2000.