Joseph G. Echols (March 23, 1917 – March 28, 1977) 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 wi ...

coach, college athletics administrator, and Negro league baseball player.

Early life and baseball career

Raised in Englewood, New Jersey, Echols played prep football at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood. In 1939, Echols played for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

of the Negro National League.

Coaching career

Echols served as the head football coach at Morehouse College in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

from 1950 to 1954 and at

Norfolk State University Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

in Norfolk, Virginia from 1955 to 1960. The home basketball arena on Norfolk State's campus is named

Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall is a 4,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Norfolk, Virginia, located to the northeast of Dick Price Stadium on the eastern edge of Norfolk State University. It was built in 1982 to replace Gill Gymnasium as home to the No ...

in his honor.

Death

Echols died at the age of 60, on March 28, 1977.

Head coaching record

References

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echols, Joe 1917 births 1977 deaths Morehouse Maroon Tigers football coaches Newark Eagles players Norfolk State Spartans athletic directors Norfolk State Spartans football coaches African-American coaches of American football African-American college athletic directors in the United States Sportspeople from Englewood, New Jersey Baseball players from Bergen County, New Jersey St. Cecilia High School (New Jersey) alumni Coaches of American football from New Jersey 20th-century African-American sportspeople