Bernard Hickman

Bernard "Peck" Hickman (October 5, 1911 – February 20, 2000) was an American basketball player and coach. As head coach he led the Louisville Cardinals to the 1948 NAIB Championship (today's NAIA), the 1956 NIT Championship and the school's first NCAA final Four in 1959. He never had a losing season in 23 years as head coach, finishing with a 443–183 overall record, a .708 winning percentage that ranks him among the top 45 NCAA Division I coaches of all time. where he made the All-State Tournament team in 1929 and 1931. He was also an all-state basketball player two seasons in 1930–31. He graduated from WKU in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He completed his master's degree in physical education at the University of Kentucky College of Education in 1944.

University of Louisville Hickman was hired as head coach and athletic director at Louisville in 1944.

He guided his first team to a 16–4 record. Prior to his arrival the program only had 11 winning seasons in 33 years of play.

In 1956, his team headed by All American Charlie Tyra won the NIT Championship. In 1956 his team was placed on two years probation, to include bans on postseason play, by the NCAA due to recruiting violations. In 1959, he led the Cardinals to their first NCAA Tournament Final Four.

In 1953, Hickman was named Louisville's athletic director, a position he would hold full-time until his retirement in 1973. One of Hickman's last acts as athletic director was to hire UCLA assistant coach Denny Crum, who would lead the program to two NCAA titles and six final fours en route to the College Basketball hall of fame.

In 24 years as basketball head coach for the Cardinals, Hickman compiled a record of 443–183 (.708). 82 percent of his players graduated, and was the second basketball coach in Kentucky to break the color barrier in 1962 by recruiting Eddie Whitehead, and Wade Houston.

Awards and honors Hickman was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1967 and to the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall in 1981.

Head coaching record