Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE MACENKA ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
'BIGHOUSE' GOES OUT QUIETLY
When your career accomplishments have landed you in eight halls of fame, it would be natural to expect a rousing sendoff when you retire.Not so with Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines.
There were no ceremonies, lengthy testimonials or gifts Wednesday night when Gaines coached his last basketball game for Winston-Salem State.
After 47 years and 828 victories, Gaines simply accepted a few hugs and handshakes, then walked off the court at the Richmond Coliseum.
"I've been honored around the country - just about anywhere a guy could be honored, to be frank with you. And I appreciate it," said Gaines, whose achievements include being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. "But rather than getting me a plaque or a watch or that type of thing, I'd like for them to go ahead and maybe make a donation to the WSSU Athletic Foundation."
The statement marked another step in Gaines' transition to his new role at Winston-Salem. He is to officially retire as basketball coach on June 30 and become a professor emeritus and a fund-raiser for the school.
Gaines said a lack of money was one of the main reasons his program had slipped in recent years.
While enrollment and athletic department budgets grew at most of the 14 schools in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, they stayed petty much constant at 2,500-student Winston-Salem.
Gaines began losing recruits to larger, richer schools, and it started showing in Winston-Salem's record. The Rams, who had just two losing seasons in Gaines' first 42 years, went 6-20 last season and 6-17 this year.
Gaines' final team had no player taller than 6 feet 7, putting the Rams at a distinct disadvantage in a conference that has produced a sizable number of NBA players.
"The base of your budget happens to be student fees at the Division II level," he said. "So really what they had, I gave them exactly what they asked for. They wanted a $31,000 basketball team, and that's what they got."
Gaines also said the NCAA's revised academic standards have prompted high school prospects to change their attitude about going to smaller colleges.
"Now everybody who can read and write and make 700 on his SAT test is concerned about going to a Division I school," he said. "Now it's, `Coach, what kind of apartments do you have? Coach, are we going to be on television? Coach, we want to have this and have that.' A lot of spoils goes along with it."
Gaines couldn't bring in the players he needed to remain competitive, so he's out after compiling an 828-446 record. Only Kentucky's Adolph Rupp, who was 875-190, had more college victories.
Gaines, who will turn 70 on May 21, had applied for a waiver to the law requiring mandatory retirement at age 70 for employees of the University of North Carolina's system. Chancellor Leon Thompson elected against acting on Gaines' request, in effect forcing out the coach.
Gaines said he was trying not to be bitter about the way the matter was handled.
"The only thing was I was beginning to be a little sensitive," he said, "because I think at a point they were just tolerating me until this point came."
To hear his players tell it, it's a point they were hoping wouldn't come.
"The man's a legend. He's the reason I came to Winston-Salem," senior forward Anthony Simes said.