Jay L. "Biffy" Lee Scrapbooks

Jay L. "Biffy" Lee (1887-1970) was a football coach who later worked as an insurance salesman. Lee was born in Tuscola County, Michigan, and graduated from West Bay High School in 1904. After high school, he worked on the railroads and in factories for four years and played football for the Detroit Athletic Club. In 1908, he enrolled at Albion College and eventually transfered to the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, he was a backup quarterback for the football team in 1911 and was Knute Rockne's roommate. Lee graduated from Notre Dame in 1912 and workled at the Gary Iron Works in Gary, Indiana, where he also played semi-pro baseball for the Iron Works. In 1915, he became the Athletic Director and coached football at Penn College (now William Penn University) in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He also started selling life insurance while in Iowa. In 1916, he moved back to South Bend to sell insurance, and he helped coach the Notre Dame freshman football team. The following year he returned to Iowa to sell insurance and coach the Penn football team. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1918, but he did serve overseas. After the war he coach at Penn College and Cornell College fat various times. Lee moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to work for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1925, and he would stay with the company until he retired. He was appointed to manage a branch near Buffalo, New York in 1925. He was hired as the Head Coach of the University of Buffalo football team in 1929, a position he would hold for two seasons. During these years, he also lectured about insurance at the University of Buffalo Business School and continued his job as an insurance salesman. Lee resigned as football coach to focus on his insurance career in 1931, and he worked for Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company until 1952. Lee died in Traverse City, Michigan, in 1970.