Ralph Jordan James Ralph " Shug " Jordan ( ; September 25 , 1910 – July 17 , 1980 ) was an American football , basketball , and baseball player and coach of football and basketball . He served as the head football coach at Auburn University from 1951 to 1975 , where he compiled a record of 176 – 83 – 6 . He has the most wins of any coach in Auburn Tigers football history . Jordan ' s 1957 Auburn squad went undefeated with a record of 10 – 0 and was named the national champion by the Associated Press . Jordan was also the head men ' s basketball coach at Auburn ( 1933 – 1942 , 1945 – 1946 ) and at the University of Georgia ( 1946 – 1950 ) , tallying a career college basketball record of 136 – 103 . During his time coaching basketball , he also served as an assistant football coach at the two schools . Auburn ' s Jordan – Hare Stadium was renamed in Jordan ' s honor in 1973 . Jordan was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1982 . Early years and playing career . Born in Selma , Alabama , Jordan was nicknamed " Shug " as a child because of his love for sugar cane . A 1932 graduate of Auburn , he lettered in football , basketball , and baseball and was voted the Most Outstanding Athlete in 1932 . 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 . Military service in World War II . During World War II , Jordan fought in four major invasions as a United States Army officer . He saw action in North Africa and Sicily before being wounded in the invasion of Normandy and receiving a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star . After recovering from his wounds , he continued action in the Pacific theater , serving at Okinawa . Head football coaching career . 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 . In his first season as head football coach , Jordan guided the Tigers to a 5 – 5 record , breaking Auburn ' s string of five straight losing seasons . In 1957 , Jordan led Auburn football to its first Southeastern Conference title and the team ' s first national championship , which is shared with Rose Bowl Champions Ohio State . Auburn was ineligible for a bowl game , however , having been placed on probation indefinitely by the Southeastern Conference , after having paid two high school players US $ 500 apiece . In 1971 , Jordan coached quarterback Pat Sullivan to the Heisman Trophy . However , Sullivan ' s Heisman - winning season ended in disappointment with a convincing loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl . The next year , Jordan ' s Tigers upset heavily - favored , arch - rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl , a victory which became known by the nickname 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 . When Jordan retired after the 1975 season , he had amassed a record of 176 – 83 – 6 for a . 675 winning percentage . His Auburn football teams had . 500 or winning records in 22 of 25 seasons he coached . Death . Jordan died on July 17 , 1980 at his home in Auburn , Alabama after a four - month fight with leukemia . 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 .