Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 11-4-16 Online Edition

HBCU News
Former Home Of Legendary FAMU Coach Jake Gaither Gets Makeover
Coach Gaither with one of his more celebrated athletes, the late Bob Hayes, who won Olympic gold in 1964, and went on to have a celebrated NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
Cornelius Jones is a li- censed contractor in Tallahas- see, Florida, and last year he got news about a house for sale.
Jones said he looked at two houses, and actually went in- side one of them, and once he started looking through some items inside the house, he dis- covered it had been the home of legendary Florida A&M Uni- versity head football coach, Alonzo Smith “Jake” Gaither.
“When I went inside and saw pictures and other items, that’s when I knew it was Coach Gaither’s place. It had been left to his nephew.
“After entering a bid, I got a call that the house was mine, and after attending an auction, I got the house and another lot.”
Jones said he was told he had to get everything out of the house so it could be rehabbed.
“That’s when I got in touch with Coach Gaither’s nephew about the contents of the house, and discovered they were in a storage facility. I was able to get the items out of stor- age, and get the house put on the national registry.
“When everyone found out I had the home, they all wanted to see it, and I feel blessed to be able to restore such a signifi- cant residence.”
Jones is an alumnus of FAMU, but never played foot- ball at the school. He has all kinds of memorabilia from Coach Gaither that a lot of people have never seen, includ- ing photos.
Beginning Friday, Novem- ber 11th, an event called the In- augural Weekend of Champions will be held on the campus of FAMU and will run through the 13th. The event will kick off with a Champions Ban- quet at Gaither Gym on FAMU’s campus with the keynote speaker being FAMU Hall of Famer, Andre Moses White.
When White heard about
ALONZO SMITH “JAKE” GAITHER AND WIFE, SADIE
what Jones had done, he later discovered that Jones had started a foundation to provide scholarships to needy kids, and also set up a coaching clinic identical to the one Coach Gaither started.
“It was Cornelius who asked me to be the speaker at the banquet to raise funds to fix Coach Gaither’s house, and I am honored.
“We should honor our leg- ends and we need to get behind Cornelius, because this is worth doing.”
White said he discovered that Coach Gaither’s house had sustained considerable water damage, and a tree had fallen through the roof.
“Coach Gaither left a huge legacy behind at FAMU.”
Coach Gaither coached at FAMU for 25 years, and put to- gether one of the best winning records of any college football coach.
Coach Gaither’s coaching career began in 1938 as an as- sistant to FAMU head coach, William “Big Bill” Bell. The school was known as Florida A&M College for Negroes at that time.
The football team went un- defeated that year, and won their first Black College Na- tional Championship. The school won the national title again in 1942. Bell left to enter military service in 1943.
After two years of problems in the football program, Coach Gaither was hired as the head football coach in 1945.
Coach Gaither instituted an annual coaching clinic in the
ANDRE MOSES WHITE Keynote Speaker
late 1950s, and recruited major college coaches, including Paul “Bear” Bryant, Frank Broyles, Darrell Royal, Woody Hayes, and Adolph Rupp among others, to staff the clinics.
What few people know is that Coach Gaither also coached basketball and track in his early years as football coach. He later became Direc- tor of Athletics and Chairman of the Department of Health,
Physical Education and Recre- ation at FAMU. He continued to hold the last two positions after he retired as coach until his retirement from teaching in 1973.
Coach Gaither passed away February 18, 1994 in Tal- lahassee, and left behind a legacy that includes six Black College National Champi- onships, and national recogni- tion for the school and its athletic programs.
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