Herbert Bunker (August 24, 1896 – December 6, 1980) was an American college athlete, coach and administrator. He played four varsity sports at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, earning

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

for all three of his varsity seasons. He then went on to coach football and basketball at several schools, later becoming the head football coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

Culver–Stockton College Culver–Stockton College is a private Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian liberal arts college in Canton, Missouri. It was founded as Christian University in 1853 as the first institution west of the Mississippi River chartered sp ...

. Bunker was born in

Nevada, Missouri Nevada ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vernon County, Missouri, Vernon County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,386 at the 2010 census, and 8,254 in the 2018 estimate. The local government has a council-manager model. Histo ...

, and attended the University of Missouri, where he earned varsity letters in football, basketball,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and track. It was in basketball where Bunker distinguished himself the most, earning All-

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

three times. In 1943, the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

retroactively named Bunker to All-America teams for each of these three years. Following his college career, Bunker served as freshman coach for football and basketball at his alma mater. He was hired as assistant football and head basketball coach at Auburn University in 1924. After a short stint as an assistant football coach at Florida, he became head football coach and athletic director at

. He later was head of the physical education department at his alma mater. Bunker died on December 6, 1980, in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunker, Herb 1896 births 1980 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Auburn Tigers football coaches Auburn Tigers men's basketball coaches Baseball players from Missouri Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from Missouri Coaches of American football from Missouri College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Culver–Stockton Wildcats athletic directors Culver–Stockton Wildcats football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Missouri Tigers baseball players Missouri Tigers football coaches Missouri Tigers football players Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball players Missouri Tigers men's track and field athletes People from Nevada, Missouri Players of American football from Missouri Track and field athletes from Missouri 20th-century American sportsmen