Vance played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini where he led the team as a member of the famed "Whiz Kids" of the 1940s.

He and the other Whiz Kids, Andy Phillip, Art Mathisen, Ken Menke, and Jack Smiley, are regarded as some of Illinois' all-time greats, but only he and Phillip are on the team's all-century team.

Vance and his Whiz Kids teammates left basketball to serve in World War II in 1943.

Vance was selected by the Stags in the 1948 NBA draft, and played professionally for five seasons.

This biographical article relating to a United States basketball player, coach, or other figure born in the 1920s is a stub.