PROFILE
\ sour moment for Legendary Coach Big ho use Gaines. His team lost in
the first round.
Big ho use extols his rams during the CIAA Tournament. This was the
last tourney for the * House*.
The 'House* ...at 69.. .It's Over
-A 47 Years J n the CIAA, 828 Career Victories
RICHMOND - He entered the Rich
mond Coliseum proudly, like he always
did, with a blue sportcoat, grey slacks and
a red tie. He walked among the people, he
was always an accessible legend, as leg
ends go, and tie shook the hands of folks
he'd never seen before in life, took them
under his big arm, and said hello.
And everyone he talked to offered
him advice* "Hey it'll be OK." "Hey^
don't worry about it." "Hey, House, what
they did to you, it wasn't right." Some told
him to fight. Some just wished him luck.
How he wanted all of them to really be *
quiet. Bighouse Gaines was at peace with
himself.
He was leaving basketball now, at age
69, not because he wanted to but because
his school, Winston-Salem State, had
made him. He would be turning 70 on
May 21, and 70 was the mandatory age for
retirement for professors at N.C. public
colleges. House asked for an extension,
met opposition from many members of the
Winston-Salem faculty. "You turn 70,
you're out of there boy, House told the
Winston-Salem Chronicle. "Hell, I can
That was it a<5 far as I was concerned."
But entering the Richmond Coliseum
for his 47th CIAA Tournament, his last
CIAA Tournament, House was finally OK
with the school's decision. He would step
down after 47 years of coaching, after 828
wins - which made him the second win
ningest college basketball coach of all
time, behind Kentucky's Adolph Rupp
who finished with 875 - and a 1967
national championship.
He'd arrived at Winston-Salem in
1946. He was just going to work there for
a year, to save up enough money to go to
dental school. At 6-3, his friends said then
that he was big as a house. He was the No.
2 man behind Brutus Wilson in a two-man
athletic department at a teachers college
that was predominately female.
In 1947, Wilson left Winston-Salem,
House took his jobs. And House never
left. He turned the Rams basketball pro
gram into one of the nation's finest. In 18
seasons, he won at least 20 games. He had
at least one player named to the CIAA all
conterence team tor 27 straight years.
Back in the old days, House's teams
played in a converted boiler room with a
70-foot ceiling. The place sat 500 people.
When the Rams went on the road. House
drove the bus, which he called "Brown
Sugar," and drove throughout the South,
past restaurants where the owners
wouldn't serve House or his team.
"And the roads weren't worth a nicjc
-?l," said Gaines, whose team now plays in
a modem 4,000-seat facility that bears his
name. "I've had breakdowns on every
major road in North Carolina and Vir
ginia."
The road to House's final game at the
CIAA Tournament was a tough one, too.
His Rams were a decided underdog
against Elizabeth City State. Winston
Salem had a 6- 18 record.
House watched the game with little
emotion. This wasn't like House.
Normally, his 300-pound body would
be moving up and down the sidelines. But
today, House sat down, his right leg
crossed over his left knee. He didn't even
sweat.
This was it, Winston-Salem would
not win this game and House seemed to
know it from the start.
This was how a legend would leave
the game. Somehow you got the feeling
that this wasn't quite right.
"House has meant so much to the
people he's taught at Winston-Salem
State, ' said North Carolina coach Dean
Smith. "If you talk to anyone in his pro
gram, they think it's one of the greatest
experiences of their young lives. He's
such an astute basketball coach.
Unfortunately, because of the climate
of racial injustice in his time, he didn't get
the attention he deserved."
Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, now an
NBA Hall of Famer. played for House in
the late 60s and helped Winston-Salem to
the 1967 small schools national champi
onship as a senior. But it was after his
freshman year that Monroe felt he wasn't
playing enough and went to talk to House
about it.
House asked Monroe why he was at
Winston-Salem State.
"I told him I was down here to play
ball," Monroe told The Charoltte Observ- "
er. "He said. 'If you're just here to play
basketball, you might as well go back to
Philadelphia right now - you're here to
leam.' He put me on the right course that
day, headed towards the Dean's List. One
of the things that I'm proud of is that I
graduated and I graduated on time."
Elizabeth City was how beating Win
ston-Salem. Badly. The lead grew and
grew. With 16:45 left to play, Elizabeth
City leads 46-30.
House stands up and fills both of his
cheeks with air. House sighs and looks a
little like Dizzy Gillespie when Gillespie
blows his trumpet.
On the~sT<Ie lines, Houselooks like
your favorite grandfather. He's big,
robust, always with a look of wonder on
his face. He draws you to him, this Big
house Gaines. He makes you ask him,
"Who are you?"
House has changed a little over the
years. While most of his younger oppos
ing coaches bend over in their teams hud
dles during time outs. House must stand
up.
With 10:16 left and Winston-Salem
down 59-41, House clasps his hands
together in front of his face, his fingers
interlocking.
"I mean, it comes to an end for all of
us," former Elizabeth City coach Bobby
Vaughn told the Richmond Times.