Tellis Burthorne Ellis Jr. (May 26, 1912 – March 15, 2000) 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

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. He was the head football 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 ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

. He led the Tigers to a 24–21–3 record from 1946 to 1951 before being replaced by future

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 ...

coach John Merritt. He was educated at

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. A gymnasium and the football training facility on JSU's campus are named in his honor.

References

1912 births 2000 deaths Jackson State Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Jackson State Tigers football coaches Jackson State Tigers basketball coaches Morehouse College alumni Boston University alumni People from Vicksburg, Mississippi Coaches of American football from Mississippi Basketball coaches from Mississippi 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1940s-collegefootball-coach-stub