Winston-Salem State
In 1946, Wilson left for Shaw University, leaving Gaines as the head coach for football and basketball, athletic director, trainer, and ticket manager. He also taught. He served as football coach for three years (1946–49), and in 1948 was named Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) "Football Coach of the Year" after leading his team to an 8-1 season. He dropped coaching football to focus on basketball in 1949. He earned his Master of Arts in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1950.
Gaines coached basketball at WSSU from 1946 to 1993, compiling an 828-447 record. He led the Rams to 18 20-win seasons, eight CIAA titles, and in 1967 led WSSU to a Division II NCAA Championship, making the Rams the first basketball program from a historically black college or university to capture an NCAA national championship.
Towards the end of his coaching career, Gaines found himself struggling to recruit. The end of the Jim Crow Era laws that prevented him from going to certain universities had been rescinded and college basketball had become fully integrated at all levels. This made it difficult to lure star talent to WSSU.
Among his former players were Earl Monroe; Cleo Hill, the first African-American from an historically Black college and university to be drafted #1 by the National Basketball Association (St. Louis Hawks, 1961); and noted commentator and columnist Stephen A. Smith.
Read more about this topic: Clarence Gaines
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