Jake Gaither

CTL-E-7053 · Person · other · 1903–1994

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07925 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7053.

Alonzo Smith 'Jake' Gaither, born April 11, 1903, and deceased February 18, 1994, was head football coach at Florida A&M from 1945 to 1969. The College Football Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1975, gives his Florida A&M record as 203-36-4, a .844 winning percentage, with twenty-two conference titles in some accounts and six Black College Football National Championships; the National Football Foundation's profile gives the same 203-36-4 record and six national titles. Gaither's mantra, quoted by the Hall, was that he wanted his players 'mo-bile, ag-ile and hos-tile,' and he called his first, second and third teams 'Blood, Sweat and Tears.' The Hall also records that in 1969 he arranged the first game played by an HBCU school against a white team, a 34-28 Florida A&M win over Tampa before nearly 50,000 spectators, and that his book The Split-Line T Offense was hailed by coaches nationwide.

The record

• Also known as: Alonzo Smith Gaither, Alonzo S. "Jake" Gaither

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0433. Firsts disposition: the 1969 Florida A&M–Tampa game is carried in the College Football Hall of Fame's form — 'the first game played by a HBCU school against a white team' as the Hall states it, attributed to the Hall. Career record carried as the Hall/NFF state it (203-36-4 at Florida A&M); other compilations give 204-36-4 or higher overall figures including his earlier stop, and those variants are not blended into the Hall figure. The 'blood, sweat and tears' maxim is carried as the Hall states it: his name for his first, second and third teams. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Gaither built a national power at a segregated HBCU and then helped break the color line in scheduling itself; the record and the 1969 Tampa game belong together. Photo: CLEARED, Public domain, Florida Memory portrait, file description names Jake Gaither.

Sources

• College Football Hall of Fame. "Throwback Thursday: Jake Gaither." CFBHall.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• National Football Foundation. "Jake Gaither — Hall of Fame profile." FootballFoundation.org. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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