Howard Cornelius Gentry Sr. (April 15, 1921 – February 14, 1995) 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. He was the 12th head football coach at Tennessee A&I State College—now 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

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 ...

, serving for six seasons, from 1955 until 1960, and compiling a record of 42–10–1. Gentry was also the athletic director at Tennessee State from 1961 to 1976. Gentry played

as a tackle at

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

under head coaches William M. Bell and

Jake Gaither Alonzo Smith "Jake" Gaither (April 11, 1903 – February 18, 1994) was an American college football coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) for 25 years, from 1945 to 1969, compilin ...

. His coaching career began at

North Carolina A&T University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black, land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Car ...

under Bell and was then an assistant coach at Wilberforce State College—now known as

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio, United States. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-y ...

—in

Wilberforce, Ohio Wilberforce is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,410 at the 2020 census. History After Wilberforce University was established in 1856, the community was also named for the English stat ...

under head coach Gaston F. Lewis. Gentry moved to Tennessee A&I in 1949 to become and assistant football coach under Henry Kean.

Head coaching record

References

1921 births 1995 deaths American football tackles Central State Marauders football coaches Florida A&M Rattlers football players North Carolina A&T Aggies football coaches Tennessee State Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Tennessee State 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 Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub