Lyles Alley graduated from Furman in 1933 as a four-year letterman in track, baseball, football, and basketball. He served in the Navy during World War II, and, after his return, accepted a position in Furman athletics. Over a 33-year career at his alma mater, Alley served as an assistant football coach, head basketball and baseball coach, a faculty member in the Physical Education Department, and the university’s athletic director. In total, he supervised twenty seasons of basketball, and Alley retired from coaching in 1966 as Furman’s most successful coach overseeing 245 victories. Alley died in 1990.

Eleanor B. Hunter was a 1942 graduate of Furman University and was a friend of the J. Lyles Alley family.  Hunter collected these materials between 1975 to 1990.