Caesar Felton "Zip" Gayles (May 22, 1900 – November 5, 1986) 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 ...

and

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College—later known as

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

—in 1927, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—later

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a Public University, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or univer ...

–from 1928 to 1929, and at

Langston University Langston University (LU) is a public land-grant historically black university in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state and the westernmost four-year public HBCU in the United States. The main campus in Lan ...

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 The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nation ...

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 Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, now called

. As the fourth head coach of the football, he led the squad to a record of 1–2–3 in 1927. 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.

Arkansas–Pine Bluff

Gayles was the head football coach at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—now known as the

—for two seasons, from 1928 to 1929, compiling a record of 8–9–3.

Langston

Gayles coached for 35 years at

Langston, Oklahoma Langston is a town in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 1,619 as of the 2020 United States census. Langston is home to Langston University, the only historically black c ...

. 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.

Death

Gayles died on November 5, 1986, in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayles, Caesar Felton 1900 births 1986 deaths Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football coaches Langston Lions football coaches Langston Lions basketball coaches Morehouse Maroon Tigers football players Tennessee State Tigers football coaches National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees African-American coaches of American football African-American basketball coaches 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen