Alexander Durley (December 18, 1912 – July 18, 1980) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach, college athletics administrator, and mathematics professor. He served as the head football coach at

Texas College Texas College is a private, historically black Christian Methodist Episcopal college in Tyler, Texas. It is affiliated with the United Negro College Fund. It was founded in 1894 by a group of ministers affiliated with the Christian Methodist Ep ...

from 1942 to 1948, at

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...

from 1949 to 1964, and at

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

from 1969 to 1970. He was inducted into the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

Hall of Fame in 1992.

Career

Durley was the head football coach at

from 1942 to 1948, compiling a record of 45–15–6. From 1949 to 1964, Durley was head football coach and director of athletics at Texas Southern University. His coaching record there was 101–55–8. In their second year in the

Midwest Athletic Association The Midwest Athletic Association was an intercollegiate athletic conference of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that existed from 1926 to 1970. It was later known as the Midwest Conference from 1962 to 1963 and as the Midwestern ...

, Texas Southern went undefeated; in 1952 they beat Prairie View A&M in the

Prairie View Bowl The Prairie View Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game normally held on New Year's Day in Houston, Texas. The game was first held following the 1928 season. The annual game matched Prairie View A&M against a team from another historica ...

to win the

black college football national championship The Black college football national championship, also named the HBCU football championship, is a National championship#Football, national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best College football teams among ...

; in their first season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, 1958–1959, they shared the league championship with

Wiley College Wiley University (formerly Wiley College) is a private historically black college in Marshall, Texas. Founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and certified in 1882 by the Freedman's Aid Society, it is one of the ...

. He was also a mathematics professor at TSU. Durley was also the tenth head football coach at Prairie View A&M University for two seasons, from 1969 to 1970. His coaching record at Prairie View was 8–10–1.

Death and honors

Durley died on July 18, 1980, in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He was survived by his wife, Wilma, and two daughters. In 1992 Durley was inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. The Alexander Durley Sports Complex at TSU is named for him.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durley, Alexander 1912 births 1980 deaths Prairie View A&M Panthers and Lady Panthers athletic directors Prairie View A&M Panthers football coaches Texas College Steers football coaches Texas College Steers football players Texas Southern Tigers athletic directors Texas Southern Tigers football coaches African-American coaches of American football African-American college athletic directors in the United States 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen