Early Years
Gaines was born in Paducah, Kentucky to Lester and Olivia Bolen Gaines. He helped his family by working in a garage. 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.
Despite his academic qualifications, Jim Crow Era segregation laws and the suggestions of a friend of the family led him to attend Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland. He entered in the fall of 1941 on a football scholarship.
It was at Morgan State that Gaines got his nickname "Big House": a 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 described himself as "a very average basketball player." In 2004, he explained that "I was an All-America in football, but I was just on the basketball team to have something to do."
Gaines graduated from Morgan State in 1945 with a Bachelor's of Science in Chemistry. He intended to go on into dental school, however his college football coach, Eddie Hurt, suggested that he temporarily go to what was then known as Winston-Salem Teachers College. At the time, the small southern college had one coach for all sports, Brutus Wilson, who as also a Morgan State graduate; Hurt suggested that Gaines would make a good assistant coach. Gaines agreed and went to Winston-Salem.
Read more about this topic: Clarence Gaines
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