Clarence Gaines aka Big House. Rarely has a coach symbolized a college basketball program – Winston-Salem’s – with such significance. If he marked the history of the orange ball and his community to the point of being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982, nothing promised him such a destiny, extraordinary as his physique.
Dude ! The only thing I’ve seen bigger than you is a house!
This is how Clarence Gaines inherits his nickname Big House when he is welcomed to Morgan State. Simple kid who arrives at the university to pursue the dream of education of his parents, his measurements (1m92, 120 kilos) are already those of a man. And are not for nothing in his arrival in this HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities, traditionally black universities) in Maryland, far from Paducah, his small hometown in Kentucky. Indeed, his size opened the door to high school sports teams – especially American football and basketball.
If he considers himself an average baller who is doing well thanks to his physique, his level as a blocker in US football as well as his good school results allow him to obtain a scholarship to several HBCUs: Lincoln University , Howard University and Morgan State College. It was in the latter that Clarence Gaines landed in 1941, because it offered a medical course in line with his aspiration, to become a dentist.
Except that once he graduates, he realizes that the money set aside does not allow him to pay for dental school. As he ponders his possibilities, two nudges will change his life. First of all, a former Morgan State student, Coach Wilson – in charge of sports at the Winston-Salem Teachers School – offered him to become his assistant. Direction therefore North Carolina, with the sole objective of earning enough money to pay for the rest of his studies.
If Gaines fulfills his duties, the taf – and the pay – does not make him dream. He just continues because he gave his word, waiting for the end of the year. The teams are not very brilliant: the campus of 500 students is mainly made up of girls, the boys present are those who have not been recruited by the army. Not the best athletes. And when the college shows the Wilson-Gaines duo the exit – the management thinks they are in cahoots with students who are striking for better food in the canteen – Big House returns to its thoughts to find a job that will allow him to finance his dental school.
Second boost. Winston-Salem recalled him in 1946. Without a successor to Coach Wilson, the university offers the post of main trainer to Clarence, 23 rods, without experience other than that of assistant. And who only masters American football. Despite his doubts, Gaines comes to the following conclusion: he might as well take the plunge when he sees where it takes him. While putting some money aside. He does not know it yet, but he will never resume his studies. Instead, he will go down in basketball history.
However, this sport is far from being his priority and he first feels left out. He manages the American football season without worry, but he doesn’t always know how to address his ballers. He learns on the job. Especially with a man. John McLendon, coach of the neighboring college of North Carolina College for Negroes, who is attacking his orange ball revolution by giving more speed to this sport. A strong bond is created between the two men who travel the roads together to recruit players. At the same time, Big House realizes that it cannot handle all disciplines head-on. He decides to settle for basketball because he has fewer players to enlist than for American football.
Despite a tight budget, Clarence Gaines advances Winston-Salem basketball program. As the team offered better records, its former students completed its recruitment network, to the point of offering it two nuggets that accelerated Big House’s fame: Cleo Hill in 1957 then Earl Monroe in 1963. Two players who logically propel Winston-Salem on the front of the stage by allowing the university to grow its trophy cabinet: in 1967, in the wake of Earl the Pearl, the Rams – nickname of the team – won the NCAA Division II title, a first for an HBCU. The high point of Clarence Gaines’ career.
Subsequently, recruitment becomes more and more difficult. The Brown vs. Board decision in 1954 opened white universities to African American students. In 1966, it was the title of the Texas Miners – with a major five composed entirely of African Americans – which pushed these universities to seek even more athletes from the pool of this community.. Clarence Gaines’ discourse around the fact that a kid will above all get out with a diploma, go from adolescence to adulthood and offer himself a future in active life with basketball as a simple educational means does not attract more. He cannot compete on equal terms. The program suffers. Worse, in 1985 the arrival of a new president within the university leads to a significant cut in the budget devoted to sport.
From that moment on, Big House, which has already brought back eight CIAA titles (conference reserved for establishments for African Americans), sees itself gently but surely pushed towards the exit. Until his retirement in 1993, 47 years after taking power. With 828 wins (for 447 losses) on the clock, the best total for an African-American coach (and the second at the time behind Adolph Rupp).
Mind-blowing figures, but often overlooked because they were made in an HBCU, far from the spotlight of Division I NCAA. Figures also that only tell part of the story, because more than playing basketball, what Clarence Big House Gaines and Winston-Salem offered was a future for young African Americans left on the edge. of the road without great prospects.
Source : They Call Me Big House de Clarence Gaines