Clarence Gaines
| Sport(s) | Football, basketball |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
May 21, 1923 Paducah, Kentucky |
| Died | April 18, 2005 (aged 81) Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Playing career | |
| 1941–1945 | Morgan State |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1946–1993 | Winston-Salem State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 828–447 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
|
NCAA Championship (1967) CIAA Championship (1953, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1977) |
|
| Awards | |
| NCAA Division II College Coach of the Year (1967) CIAA Coach of the Year (1957, 1961, 1963, 1970, 1975, 1980) Basketball Hall of Fame (1982) |
|
|
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 |
|
Clarence Edward "Big House" Gaines, Sr. (May 21, 1923 – April 18, 2005) was an American college men's basketball coach with a 47-year coaching career at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Among his numerous honors for his achievements, he is one of the few African Americans to be inducted as a coach into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Before graduating and becoming a coach, he had an outstanding collegiate career as a football player for Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Gaines was born in Paducah, Kentucky to Lester and Olivia Bolen Gaines. Clarence helped his family by working in a garage while in high school. He attended local Lincoln High School where he excelled academically, played basketball, was an All-State football player, and played trumpet in the school band. He graduated as class salutatorian in 1941.
Jim Crow Era segregation laws and the suggestions of a family friend led him to attend Morgan State University (then Morgan State College), a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland. He entered in the fall of 1941 on a football scholarship.
At Morgan State, Gaines was given his nickname of "Big House": a fellow student saw the 6 ft. 3in., 265 lb Gaines and declared: "You're as big as a house." Gaines played as a lineman for the Bears football team, was a member of the basketball team, and participated in track. Gaines was an All-CIAA selection as a lineman in football all four seasons and twice elected an All-American. When it came to basketball, he said he was "a very average basketball player." In 2004, he explained, "I was an All-America in football, but I was just on the basketball team to have something to do."
...
Wikipedia