John Ayers Merritt (January 26, 1926 – December 13, 1983) was a head

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach at

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

and

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 ...

. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1994. He was born in

Falmouth, Kentucky Falmouth is a home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Pendleton County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 2,169 according to the 2010 census. It lies at the confluence of the South and Main forks of the Licking River ...

, and is an alumnus of

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons ...

, where he played

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

on the football team from 1947 to 1949. He earned the nickname "Big John". He graduated in 1950 and earned a master's degree from the University of Kentucky in 1952. He coached Jackson State University from 1953 to 1962, where he compiled a record of 63–37–5. Merritt led Jackson State to back-to-back appearances in the

Orange Blossom Classic The Orange Blossom Classic is an annual college football game first held between 1933 and 1978 and again since 2021. In its first incarnation, it featured Florida A&M and another historically black school in an unofficial ''de facto'' championsh ...

in 1961 and 1962 before being hired by what was then Tennessee A&I. At Tennessee State (as Tennessee A&I was renamed in 1968), Merritt had four undefeated seasons, claimed four

Midwest Athletic Association The Midwest Athletic Association was an intercollegiate athletic conference of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that existed from 1926 to 1970. It was later known as the Midwest Conference from 1962 to 1963 and as the Midwestern ...

titles, seven

black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

s: (1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1979 and 1982) and earned the school's first-ever NCAA Division I-AA playoff victory in 1982. Merritt coached many players who went into the National Football League, among them were

Ed "Too Tall" Jones Edward Lee Jones (born February 23, 1951), commonly known as Ed "Too Tall" Jones due to his height, is a former American football player who played 15 seasons (1974–1978, 1980–1989) in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys ...

Joe Gilliam Joseph Wiley Gilliam, Jr. (December 29, 1950December 25, 2000) was a professional football player, a quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. Primarily a backup, he started the first six ga ...

Claude Humphrey Claude B. Humphrey (June 29, 1944 – December 3, 2021) was an American professional football player who played as a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. Humphrey was inducted into t ...

Mike Hegman Michael William Hegman (born January 17, 1953) is a former American football linebacker who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Tennessee State University. Early year ...

, and

Richard Dent Richard Lamar Dent (born December 13, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Chicago Bears. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XX. He was elected to t ...

. His coaching record at Tennessee State was 172–33–7, and had an .828 winning percentage—far and away the best in school history. Tennessee State University coaching records
John Merritt Boulevard 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 ...

is named in his honor. The Tennessee State football team usually opens every home season with the John Merritt Classic game at

Nissan Stadium Nissan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Owned by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, it is primarily used for football and is the home field of the Tennessee Titans of the Natio ...

, traditionally against

Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marsha ...

but more recently the Classic has also headlined other HBCU teams, for example in 2015 Tennessee State hosted the

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

on September 6.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, John 1926 births 1983 deaths American football guards Kentucky State Thorobreds football players Jackson State Tigers football coaches Tennessee State Tigers football coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Pendleton County, Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links