Career
He was also a professional basketball player for the Phillips 66ers, and later became a head coach for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men"s basketball team, and an National Collegiate Athletic Association referee. Shields was a college basketball player for the Temple Owls men"s basketball team under coach James Usilton from 1935 to 1938. He was nicknamed the "spectacular splinter", and in 1938 led the Owls to victory in the inaugural National Institute of Technology (National Invitation Tournament) championship game.
He was voted as the "most valuable player" of the tournament, and in 1969 was inducted into the Temple basketball Hall of Fame.
Phillips 66ers
After college, Shields played with the Phillips 66ers (also known as the Phillips Oilers. From Bartlesville, Oklahoma) of the Amateur Athletic Union and the National Industrial Basketball League.
Tulsa Golden Hurricanes
In 1945 through 1947, Don Shields coached the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men"s basketball team Shields later became a college basketball referee and officiated in an National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament Final four game.
He was also the general manager at Mid-Continent Pipeline Company
(which would later be known as Sun Oil Company and which eventually would become Sunoco)
Don Shields died on March 30, 1993.
