The Class of 1974
George Proctor

George S. "Gummy" Proctor was doing big things in sports at a young age.  The future official, coach and college athletic director was only 15 when he officiated his first big basketball game, featuring Wake Forest College against the Richmond Blues.  He was paid $5.00 for the effort.

Procter was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, September 30, 1907.  He played baseball and basketball. Proctor was high scorer and named MVP several times for the Richmond Blues Basketball team.  He began his career in sports while still very young, working with and coaching the Richmond Rotary Boys Club. He coached basketball, baseball, football, and track. In 1929 he was named coach of the basketball and baseball teams for Benedictine High School in Richmond.

He later organized the Richmond Football Officials Association and in 1928 was selected as head official for the Southern YMCA Basketball Tournament, which included teams from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia.   In 1931, at the age of 24, he was named coach of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) basketball team.  His first team won 8 and lost 9, but won the last 6 straight games. VPI was then a member of the Southern Conference.

He was 35 when he became coach at Washington & Lee University.  It was 1942-43 and the war had decimated the ranks of the varsity players so he had to pick up boys from intramural athletic teams to finish the season.  He coached basketball and officiated at football games.  

Among Proctor's officiating highlights was the Army-Duke football game played at Yankee Stadium in New York and the Alabama -Duke Sugar Bowl game played in New Orleans.

Proctor was appointed Athletic Director and basketball coach at Hampden-Sydney College in 1947, where his first team compiled a 20-2 record and won the state championship.  His record there as a coach was 49-23 with a  .681 winning percentage.  He remained AD until his retirement in 1954.


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