Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Ves Godley coached basketball at Southern Arkansas from 1927 through 1937 when the university was a junior college (Magnolia A&M).  His known record is 80-59 over an eight-year period that included two Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championships in 1933-34, and 1934-35.  His first championship team posted a 14-1 record with the only setback a 33-32 loss to an independent team, Colonial Bakers of Little Rock.  His second title team finished 13-4.
           
His Muleriders, or Aggies, as they were known at the time, played not only other members of the now defunct AIC, but independents, and present day NCAA Division I schools such as Centenary College, Northwestern State University, University of Louisiana-Monroe, and Arkansas State University.
           
Godley entered Southern Arkansas as a student when the university was not even a junior college, but known as the Third District Agricultural School for high school students from the area’s rural farms that dominated the area at the time.
           
Godley was a retired Colonel from the United States Armed Forces.  He served the Navy as a teenager in World War I, and was a commissioned Army officer in World War II.  Godley mobilized Company B, the Magnolia National Guard unit, in the early stages of World War II.  He returned to serve as mayor of Magnolia for several years.