Caesar Felton Gayles


Caesar Felton "Zip" Gayles was an American college football and college basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College—later known as Tennessee State University—in 1927, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—later University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff–from 1928 to 1929, and at Langston University 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] 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, now called Tennessee State University. 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 University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff—for two seasons, from 1928 to 1929, compiling a record of 8–9–3.

Langston

Gayles coached for 35 years at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. 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.