George Levis

For the French adult comic artist, see Georges Lévis.

George Levis

Levis from The Arbutus 1922
Sport(s)	Basketball
Biographical details
Born	November 22, 1894
Died	October 1980 (aged 85)
Playing career
1912–1916	Wisconsin
Position(s)	Forward
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1920–1922	Indiana
Head coaching record
Overall	25–16
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As a player— 1915–16 Helms National Champions 2× Big Ten Conference
Awards
As a player— 2× NCAA All-American Helms National Player of the Year (1916) 2× First Team All-Conference

George Levis (November 22, 1894 – October 1980) was an American college basketball player and coach during the 1910s and 1920s, respectively. He was a two-time All-American as a player while at Wisconsin from 1912–13 to 1915–16, and was also the Helms Foundation National Player of the Year as a senior in 1915–16. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Levis decided to stay in his hometown for college, and while enrolled he also played on the school's baseball team.

Levis played the forward position and helped lead the Badgers to a 20–1 overall record and the Big Ten Conference championship in 1915–16, and that season would also see them retroactively declared as national champions by the Helms Foundation. Levis also led the conference in scoring as a senior: in 12 Big Ten contests he scored 109 points, which was a lot of points for an era of basketball in which very low scoring games were standard.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1916, Levis became the head coach at Indiana. He spent two seasons guiding the Hoosiers and compiled an overall record of 25–16, including a 9–12 record in conference play. He was set to start his third season as coach in 1922–23 but resigned during the preseason in order to work at his family's glass company in Illinois. It was at Illinois Glass Company where Levis was instrumental in helping to design the glass backboard, the predecessor to the plexi-glass backboards used in basketball today.

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Indiana (Big Ten Conference) (1920–1922)
1920–21	Indiana	15–6	6–5	6th	—
1921–22	Indiana	10–10	3–7	9th	—
Total:		25–16
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion