Tk ^ituos Hmus
VOL. 9 WTNSTON-SAT.RM STATE UNIVERSITY
Gaines Wins 800th
Coach Gaines Receives Gifts From Loyal Fans. Photo By: Tuttle
By Ernest S. Simpson
Before starting a career
that would span five university
chancellors, nine U.S. presidents,
lOOs of players, and over 40
years you can only wonder if
even “Bighouse” Gaines himself
could foresee the astronomical
success that lie ahead of him.
Whether or not coach
Qarence Bighouse Gaines had
anticipated his phenomenal suc
cess more than 40 years ago, the
eyes of Winston-Salem State
along with those of basketball
and trivia fans around the coun
try watched with nervous antici
pation as Coach Gaines ap
proached his 800th career victory.
With all eyes focused and
fingers crossed. Coach Gaines
captured the crown jewel of his
coaching career on Wednesday ,
January 24, 1990. The jewel: win
number 800. The pawn shop:
Livingstone College. It was Liv
ingstone that gave the Rams two
wins in less than a week, the sec
ond of course, the 800th game
milestone.
The forgotten quotient lost
in “Bighouse’s” shadow are the
players who brought home the
prize. At the ceremony paying trib
ute to his legend, Bighouse praised
his players and thanked them for
their effort. Just talking to the play
ers, it becomes immediately evident
that they are extremely proud to be
a part of basketball history.
Junior Lorenzo White com
mented, “Once our time has passed,
our names will be on this earth
forever. I hadn’t seen so much
media since my high school state
championship. BET, ESPN,
WSNC, plus other local stations
were all there covering the victory
game.”
It was once said that per
severance and humility is the mark
of a champion. Humility is evi
dent in “Bighouse” Gaines. Dur
ing the ceremony in his honor,
Coach Gaines stood silentiy in the
back ground, a large but appar-
entiy friendly figure, as a succes
sion of well wishers sang his
praises. When the coach finally
addressed the audience he talked
not just about his personal achieve
ment of 800 career wins, but ex
pressed pride to have brought posi
tive national attention to Winston-
Salem State and black institutions
in general, something that has been
hard to come by lately.
One man who had the op
portunity to benefit and grow un
der Gaines’ experience is the Lady
Rams’ Head Coach Stenson Con
ley. Conley played on
“Bighouse’s” last team to go unde
feated in conference play. The sea
son was 1974-1975 and Coach
Conley points out that although
“Bighouse” has mellowed some, his
fundamental coaching philosophy is
as sound as ever.
In recounting his playing years
with Gaines, Conley recalled that
Jumped to page 10
jPRRRUARY 1990
Dick Gregory Photo By; Tuttle
Dick
Gregory
Speaks On
Campus
By Ernest S. Simpson
When you say Dick Gre
gory, you’ve said a mouthful. A
man who is a comedian, politi
cal rights activist, and a satirist
made a speaking visit to WSSU’s
Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium
on Thursday, February 8,1990.
An accomplished author
with twelve books to his credit,
Gregory has written extensively
on diet and weight control. He
is the engineer of The Gregory
Diet Plan. Much of Gregory’s
inspiration for dietary writing
could well have come from per
sonal experience.
Taking a quick glance
at Gregory’s 57 year old frame,
one would never guess that the
very same frame once carried
more than 300 pounds. This fact
could explain why nine of his
Jumped to page 7