Claude Robbins "Chena" Gilstrap (July 31, 1914 – August 9, 2002) was an

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

coach. He was the ninth head football coach at Arlington State College—now known as the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of ...

—serving for 13 seasons, from 1953 to 1965, compiling a record of 85–40–3. This ranks him first at UT Arlington in total wins and second at UT Arlington in winning percentage.UTA Magazine Online, Legendary Coach and Athletic Director Dies
The school discontinued its football team after completion of the 1985 season. Gilstrap is only former UTA coach or player inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He was athletic director and head football coach from 1952 to 1965 and remained as athletic director until 1975. His teams won consecutive

Junior Rose Bowl The Pasadena Bowl, known as the Junior Rose Bowl from 1946 to 1966 and again in 1976 and 1977, was a college football bowl game. Between 1946 and 1966 and again in 1976 and 1977, the game pitted the California Junior College football champions ag ...

games in Pasadena beginning in 1956. The ’57 Arlington State College squad was undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally among junior colleges. Gilstrap guided UTA from junior college status to a four-year program in 1959. He died in 2002; he had been suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

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* 1914 births 2002 deaths Schreiner Mountaineers football coaches UT Arlington Mavericks athletic directors Texas–Arlington Mavericks football coaches People from Granger, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub