Caesar Felton "Zip" Gayles (May 22, 1900 – November 5, 1986) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

and

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial 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 Tenness ...

—in 1927, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—now known as

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a public historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or university in the state of Arkansas. UAPB is part of the University of ...

–from 1928 to 1929, and at

Langston University Langston University (LU) is a public land-grant historically black university in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state. Though located in a rural setting east of Guthrie, Langston also serves an urban missio ...

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 The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National ...

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 Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, now called

. 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

—for two seasons, from 1928 to 1929, compiling a record of 8–9–3.

Langston

Gayles coached for 35 years at

Langston, Oklahoma Langston is a town in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,724 at the 2010 census, an increase of 3.2 percent from the figure of 1,670 in 2000. Langston is home ...

. 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 Muskogee () is the thirteenth-largest city in Oklahoma and the county seat of Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of the 2020 census, a 6.0 percent decrease ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayles, Caesar Felton 1900 births 1986 deaths Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football coaches Langston Lions football coaches Langston Lions basketball coaches Morehouse Maroon Tigers football players Tennessee State Tigers football coaches African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American basketball coaches 20th-century African-American sportspeople