Caesar Felton Gayles

Caesar Felton "Zip" Gayles (May 22, 1900 – November 5, 1986) was an American college football and college basketball coach.^[1] He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College—later known as Tennessee State University—in 1927, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—later University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff–from 1928 to 1929, and at Langston University from 1930 to 1957. He was also the head basketball coach at Langston from 1930 to 1965, tallying a mark of 571–281. Gayles was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974, the NAIA Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986, and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.^[2]

Caesar Felton Gayles

Biographical details
Born	(1900-05-22)May 22, 1900 Mississippi, U.S.
Died	November 5, 1986(1986-11-05) (aged 86) Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1920–1924	Morehouse
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1927	Tennessee A&I
1928–1929	Arkansas AM&N
1930–1957	Langston
Basketball
1930–1965	Langston
Head coaching record
Overall	145–100–24 (football) 571–281 (basketball)
Bowls	2–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 2 black college national (1939, 1941) 7 SWAC (1933, 1936, 1938–1940, 1944, 1949)
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2015

Coaching career

Tennessee A&I

After graduating, Gayles took a faculty and coaching position at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College in Nashville, Tennessee, now called Tennessee State University.^[2] As the fourth head coach of the football, he led the squad to a record of 1–2–3 in 1927.^[3]

Some records list his name as "Felton Gale" at this time but other records confirm that "Felton Gale" and "Caesar Felton Gayles" are indeed the same person.^[2]

Arkansas–Pine Bluff

Gayles was the head football coach at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff—for two seasons, from 1928 to 1929, compiling a record of 8–9–3.

Langston

Gayles coached for 35 years at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. As the basketball coach from 1930 to 1965, his teams compiled a record of 571–281. He also was the football coach for 28 seasons, from 1930 to 1957, finishing with a record of 146–78–18. His teams were National Negro champions twice in both basketball and football.^[4]

Death

Gayles died on November 5, 1986, in Muskogee, Oklahoma.^[5]

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Tennessee A&I Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1927)
1927	Tennessee A&I	1–2–3	1–1–2
Tennessee A&I:		1–2–3	1–1–2
Arkansas AM&N Lions (Independent) (1928–1929)
1928	Arkansas AM&N	2–7
1929	Arkansas AM&N	6–2–3
Arkansas AM&N:		8–9–3
Langston Lions (Independent) (1930)
1930	Langston	5–1
Langston Lions (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (1931–1957)
1931	Langston	3–3–1
1932	Langston	6–2
1933	Langston	9–1		T–1st	L Prairie View
1934	Langston	7–2	3–1	2nd
1935	Langston	2–3–2	1–3–2	5th
1936	Langston	7–1–1	4–1–1	T–1st
1937	Langston	3–4–1	3–3	4th
1938	Langston	4–1–3	3–0–3	T–1st
1939	Langston	7–0–1	5–0–1	1st
1940	Langston	6–3	5–1	T–1st
1941	Langston	9–1–1	4–1–1	2nd	W Vulcan
1942	Langston	6–2–1	1–2–1	3rd	W Prairie View
1943	Langston	2–4
1944	Langston	6–2–1	5–1	T–1st
1945	Langston	5–3	3–3	4th
1946	Langston	2–6–1	2–4	6th
1947	Langston	2–7–1	2–4–1	6th
1948	Langston	7–3	5–2	T–2nd
1949	Langston	8–1–1	6–0–1	T–1st
1950	Langston	9–1	6–1	2nd
1951	Langston	4–5	4–3	5th
1952	Langston	2–6–1	1–4–1	6th
1953	Langston	3–6	2–4	5th
1954	Langston	4–4–1	4–2	3rd
1955	Langston	6–1–2	4–1–2	4th
1956	Langston	2–7	2–4	5th
1957	Langston	0–9	0–6	7th
Langston:		136–89–19
Total:		145–100–24