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OBU Athletics Hall of Fame

Victor Hurt_HOF

Victor C. Hurt

  • Class
  • Induction
    1969
  • Sport(s)
    Men's Basketball Coach, Athletics Director, Football Coach, Track & Field Coach

Known as "the gentleman coach," Victor C. Hurt was coach of all sports and athletic director at OBU from 1923-30 and 1931-35. (He left OBU for one year to serve as president of a Shawnee bank.)

His football teams were 63-29-7 in 11 seasons, including a record of 36-10-3 on the home field. He coached numerous all conference and "All Oklahoma Collegiate" players. In basketball his teams record 81 wins against 86 losses.

His track teams were dominant, tying for the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference championship in 1925; winning the OIC title outright from 1926-1929; and capturing Big Four Conference titles from 1932-1935. In addition, his relay teams of 1927, 1928, and 1929 won numerous titles at the Texas, Kansas, Drake, Oklahoma, Rice, and Southern Methodist University Relays.

He recruited and coached such outstanding track stars as Riley Williamson, Sam Allen, and Harold Cagle. From Kansas, Hurt was a graduate of the College of Emporia where he participated in track, football, and basketball.

He coached in high school at Coldwater and Topeka, Kansas, before coming to OBU.

He left OBU in 1935 to become track coach and first assistant football coach at SMU. He was head football coach at the University of Tulsa from 1936-38, winning or sharing three Missouri Valley Conference titles. He then was line coach and first assistant coach at the University of Kansas from 1939-42.

A member of the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, Hurt became president in 1944 of the Southwestern Art Association in Tulsa—the organization which owns and operates Philbrook Museum. He retired in 1971.

He is deceased.
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