Charles Adams Bates (born ) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU, and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second ...

from 1967 to 1969 and

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

from 1972 to 1977.

Early life and playing career

A native of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, Bates played college football at Alabama A&M College—now known as

Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or AAMU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. It was one of about 180 " normal s ...

—and then in 1957 and 1958 with the

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

football team while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He signed with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) as a rookie in 1959.

Coaching career

Bates began his coaching career at the high school level, at West Highland in

Fayette, Alabama Fayette is a city and the county seat of Fayette County, Alabama, Fayette County, Alabama, United States. The population was 4,619 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, down from 4,922 at the 2000 census. History Originally known as " ...

and Westfield in Birmingham. He spent three seasons as a defensive assistant coach at

before being hired in the same capacity at

in 1966. After a year at Southern, Bates returned to Kentucky State at head football coach. In 1972, Bates succeeded Alva Tabor as Southern University's head football coach. After a 2–7–1 start to his career at Southern in 1982, Bates and the Jaguars posted two eight-win seasons (1974, 1976) and a nine win-season in 1975 in which Southern captured a share of 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 ...

(SWAC) title and won the

Pelican Bowl The Pelican Bowl is a defunct, Louisiana-based NCAA Division II bowl game that was intended to match the overall champions or top-seeded co-champions from the then-new Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the long-established Southwestern A ...

over

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. It is the only public, historically black land-grant research university in South Carolina, is a member o ...

. After a rough 3–3–1 start to the 1977 season, Bates stepped down mid-season, and Ken Tillage took over coaching duties for the rest of the season.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Charles Year of birth missing (living people) 1930s births Living people Alabama A&M Bulldogs football players Kentucky State Thorobreds football coaches Southern Jaguars football coaches Coaches of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen