Jim Mallory, 82, head football and baseball coach at Elon from 1948-1953, died Aug. 6 in Greenville, N.C. Details...
Mallory, a member of the Elon Sports Hall of Fame, posted a 28-18-3 record during his five seasons as Elon’s football coach. He won North State Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1949, guiding Elon to an 8-2 record. At the time, it was just the second eight-win season in school history. A proponent of the single-wing offense, his 1949 team scored 80 points in a win over the Edenton Marines, a school record which still stands, and the 1951 squad led the state in offense with 311 yards per game.
Equally successful as head baseball coach, Mallory led Elon to three straight conference championships from 1949-1951. His six Elon teams never had a losing record. The 1950 team won 21 games, at the time a single-season record.
Mallory left Elon for East Carolina University after the 1952 season. He coached the Pirates to an NAIA national championship in baseball in 1961.
A native of Lawrenceville, Va., Mallory graduated from the University of North Carolina. He played professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Washington Senators before beginning his coaching career in the mid-1940s.
In addition to his coaching credentials, Mallory served as dean of men at East Carolina during his career. For a number of years, he co-hosted “Carolina Today” on WNCT-TV 9 in Greenville and hosted a talk show on WITN-TV 7 in Washington, N.C.