Vic Heyliger, with his ever present cigar clenched between his teeth, came out of the East to forge an outstanding coaching record at his alma mater, Michigan, as well as at the University of Illinois and the United States Air Force Academy.

The Stocky, black haired coach played high school hockey at Concord and prep school hockey at the Lawrence Academy in Groton, Connecticut. Entering Michigan in 1934, he starred in 1935-36-37, earning All-American honors at forward. He scored 116 goals, a school record at the time, which was later broken by one of his players, Gordon McMillan. Following graduation in 1937, Heyliger played for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1937-38 and 1943-44 while sandwiching in coaching at Illinois in the intervening years. With the Blackhawks, Heyliger alternated at left wing and center with Johnny Gottselig, who later coached the Chicago team. He attributed his own development as a coach to the teaching of former Blackhawk coaches Bill Stewart and Paul Thompson.

Heyliger's greatest years were at Michigan. Starting with the first NCAA Championships ever staged in 1948 at Colorado Springs the Wolverines captured six national titles. Dartmouth fell 8-4 that year to be followed by Boston College in 1951, Colorado College in 1952, and Minnesota in 1953. The later victory was particularly noteworthy as the Gophers had defeated the Wolverines in three of the four regular season meetings. 1955 saw Michigan oppose Colorado College in the final and take home a 5-3 victory. Heyliger's sixth and final national title followed the next year with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over St. Lawrence when Michigan's Tom Rendall scored from the faceoff. Among the outstanding American players coached by Heyliger at Michigan were John Matchefts and Willard Ikola. Both helped the United States to a silver medal victory in the 1950 Olympic.

After a period of retirement, Heyliger became coach at the United States Air Force Academy guiding that relatively new hockey program through its early years before retiring at the close of the 1973-74 season.