Lawrence E. Simmons (July 5, 1911 – October 9, 1994) 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 with ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee A&I 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

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 ...

in 1939 and again from 1961 to 1962, and at the Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina—now known as

South Carolina State University South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a mem ...

—in

Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Garden City'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2010 United States Census and declined to 12 ...

from 1951 to 1952, compiling a career

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 ...

coach record of 20–18–3. Simmons also had two stints as the head baseball coach at Tennessee A&I, from 1947 to 1950 and 1953 to 1955. Simmons was the head football coach at

East St. Louis Lincoln High School East St. Louis Lincoln High School was a high school in East St. Louis, Illinois. It was established in 1909 as a school for blacks and consolidated with East St. Louis Senior High School in 1998. History The first school in East St. Louis named f ...

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...

from 1955 to 1960, tallying a mark of 43–14. Simmons and his wife Mildred celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1968. He and his wife are interred alongside each other at

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery is an American military cemetery located in St. Louis County, Missouri, just on the banks of the Mississippi River. The cemetery was established after the American Civil War in an attempt to put together a for ...

in Missouri.

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* 1911 births 1994 deaths American football fullbacks South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Tennessee State Tigers baseball coaches Tennessee State Tigers football coaches Tennessee State Tigers football players High school football coaches in Illinois African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American baseball coaches 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1940s-collegefootball-coach-stub