VANDERBILT ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME – CLASS OF 2008
Clyde Lee (Basketball, 1963-1966)
A tall and unpolished freshman from nearby Lipscomb High School enrolled at Vanderbilt in 1963 to play basketball for Coach Roy Skinner and Vanderbilt basketball was never the same again. Attendance boomed as fans flocked to watch “Colossal Clyde” Lee lead his team to 65 victories over three unforgettable seasons and establish himself as the standard by which all future Commodore stars would be measured. Old-timers call Memorial Gym’s second and third tiers “the balconies that Clyde built.”
- Graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,691 points (three years), a total good enough to still rank No. 6 at Vanderbilt.
- Consensus first-team All-America center in 1966
- Two-time SEC “Player of the Year”, 1965, 1966
- NCAA All-Tournament team 1965
- Led Commodores to SEC title in 1964-65
- Title team ranked No. 5 at end of year and a school all-time best No. 2 on Dec. 28, 1965
- Was the No. 3 choice in the 1966 NBA draft, going to San Francisco
- Had 11-year professional career
- Set school rebounding records that may never be broken, averaging 15.5 boards in his career, hauling in 420 rebounds in a season, 1,223 caroms in his three years and 28 against Ole Miss in 1966.
- Holds school record with eight 30-point games, his best a 41-point barrage against Kentucky in 1965.
- First Vanderbilt student-athlete to have his jersey retired and one of only three.