MONARCH COACHING GREAT 'BUD' METHENY, 87
Arthur "Bud" Metheny, former athletic director of Old Dominion University and a former standout for the New York Yankees, has died. He was 87.
Metheny served Old Dominion University for 32 years, joining the athletic staff in 1948 as head baseball and basketball coach. His first love was baseball, a sport he devoted all of those 32 years toward, amassing a 423-363-6 record. He was honored by the NCAA as the Eastern Regional Coach of the Year in 1963 and 1964 when his Monarchs captured College Division crowns. Metheny was named National Coach of the Year in 1964.
Metheny became the namesake of the university's baseball complex in 1983 and the facility was hailed as one of the most outstanding collegiate ballparks on the East Coast. .
Metheny served as head basketball coach from 1948-1965, compiling a 198-163 record and posting 16 winning seasons. The 198 wins is the most among men's basketball coaches at Old Dominion. He served as the university's athletic director from 1963-1970.
"I've seen the school progress from an enrollment of about 1,000 to 15,000," Metheny said in 2000. "I'll always have a deep feeling for the institution. Considering my long association with Old Dominion, I'm probably one of the few people who could have this type of feeling, it's that strong."
Metheny came to Old Dominion after a career with the New York Yankees organization from 1938-47. He started for the Yankees in the second and last games of the 1943 World Series as the Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1984, to honor Metheny's Yankee career, Old Dominion adopted the white home uniform with blue pinstripes.
Metheny was enshrined in the College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in January of 1983 in Dallas, and is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the William and Mary Hall of Fame and the Tidewater Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1940 William and Mary graduate launched his managerial career in 1948 piloting the Boston Red Sox Class "D" team in Baxley, Ga. He spent the next two years in the Piedmont League (Class "B") playing outfield for the Portsmouth team in 1949-50 and managing the Newport News team in 1950.