Born in Selma, Alabama, Jordan was nicknamed "Shug" as a child because of his love for sorghum sugar cane. A 1932 graduate of Auburn, he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball and was voted the Most Outstanding Athlete in 1932, awarded the Porter Loving Cup.[1] Jordan was initiated into Theta Chi Fraternity at Auburn, and he started the Delta Beta chapter of Theta Chi at the University of Georgia.
Early coaching career
After graduation, Jordan became the head basketball coach and an assistant football coach at Auburn. In ten seasons (1933–1942, 1945–1946) as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team, he compiled a record of 95–77. Jordan also compiled 45 wins as head basketball coach at Georgia. In addition to having the most wins by a football coach in Auburn history, Jordan ranks fifth in wins among Tigers basketball coaches.
Prior to being hired as Auburn's head football coach in 1951, Jordan spent one season as an assistant coach of the Miami Seahawks of the All-America Football Conference in 1946, and then four years as an assistant at the University of Georgia. When he became head football coach at Auburn, he retained assistants Shot Senn (linemen), Joel Eaves (defensive ends), and Dick McGowen as head freshmen team coach, all former Auburn players who had assisted Jordan's predecessor, Earl Brown. Jordan also hired George L. "Buck" Bradberry (defensive backfield), Homer Hobbs (assistant line), Gene Lorendo (offensive ends), all former Georgia players, and Charlie Waller (offensive backfield). McGowen also served as Auburn's head baseball coach from 1951 to 1957. By 1957 Jordan led Auburn to the Southeastern Conference title and AP national championship.
In 1971, Jordan coached quarterbackPat Sullivan to the Heisman Trophy. The next year, Jordan's Tigers upset heavily favored, arch-rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl, a victory which became known as Punt Bama Punt. In 1973, the university renamed Cliff Hare Stadium as Jordan–Hare Stadium in Jordan's honor, the first stadium in the United States to be named for an active coach. Reflecting Auburn's rise to national prominence under his watch, the stadium's capacity more than tripled during his tenure, from 21,600 when he returned to the Plains in 1951 to 61,261 when he retired. When Jordan retired after the 1975 season, he had amassed a record of 176–83–6 for a .675 winning percentage.
Death
Jordan died on July 17, 1980, at his home in Auburn, Alabama after a four-month fight with leukemia.[2]
Personal life
Jordan met Evelyn Walker (1913–2011), a native of Augusta, Georgia, and a student at the University of South Carolina, when Jordan accompanied the Auburn University basketball team to a tournament there in 1934. Jordan and Walker married in 1937 and were the parents of three children. Evelyn Walker Jordan served as a Panhellenic advisor on the Auburn campus and became a licensed couples counsellor.
