HBCU Legends: Florida A&M coach Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither

Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither built one of the first HBCU powerhouses in the 1940s. 

When Eddie Robinson was building a football powerhouse at Grambling State, Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither began building a football dynasty at Florida A&M College for Negroes in Tallahassee. By the time Gaither retired in 1969, the Rattlers were an NAIA powerhouse.

Gaither has one of the most impressive win-loss records in the history of college football. In 25 years at Florida A&M, Gaither’s record of 204-36-4 is the best win-loss record of his era. His winning percentage (.844) is third-best in all of college football.

One of Gaither’s coaching resume’s more impressive points is that the Rattlers lost more than two games only twice in 25 years. The Rattlers played in the  Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), winning 20 conference titles in 25 years. That includes a run of fourteen straight conference titles.

How it all started

Legend has it that Gaither was given the job because the president of the school could not find anyone else for the job in 1945. Before Gaither was hired as head coach, he served as an assistant under William Bell. While an assistant under Bell, the Rattlers won two black collegiate national titles in 1936 and 1942.

Gaither would leave the Rattlers in 1943 for the military. After two years of trouble with the football team (Bell had left to coach North Carolina A&T), Gaither returned from military service and took the job with the rattlers.

The Run, The Record

Gaither and the Rattlers hit the ground running in 1945, winning their first of six consecutive SIAC conference titles. That season, the Rattlers’ only loss was to black college national champion Wiley College. The 1945 team surrendered ten points or fewer four times, including two shut-outs.

Standouts from that team included quarterback Leroy Cromartie, halfback Ted Montgomery; end Nathaniel Powell; and tackle Bill Brewington. The Rattlers won their first black collegiate title in 1950. After finishing third in the SIAC in 1951, the Rattlers would begin a new and more incredible streak of SIAC titles in 1952.

Beginning in 1952, the Rattlers won the first of an incredible fourteen consecutive conference titles.  During that run, Florida A&M would have their first undefeated season under Gaither (1957). That team dominated its competition.

The Rattlers pitched four shutouts and gave up under 10 points in every game that season. The only team to give Florida A&M some competition that season was Maryland State in the championship game. The Rattlers were able to eke out a 27-21 win in the Orange Blossom Classic.

FAMU v. Tampa  1969

Perhaps the most important accomplishment happened in November of 1969. Amid heavy racial tension, Jake Gaither along with Tampa head coach Fran Curci orchestrated the first game between a historically black college and a white college, when FAMU played the University of Tampa.

Gaither had always wanted to be known as a great coach, not just a great “black” coach. Two years in the making, the game was an opportunity for these teams to prove that an integrated game in the southern-most segregated state could play a game peacefully.

The Rattlers defeated the Spartans 34-28 in a well-played game.

By the time Gaither died in 1994, Gaither was known as an all-time winning coach and pillar of the Tallahassee community.