Charlie Tate
Tate from The 1963 Blue Print
Biographical details
Born(1919-02-20)February 20, 1919
Tracy City, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJune 10, 1996(1996-06-10) (aged 77)
Morganton, Georgia, U.S.
Playing career
1939–1941Florida
Position(s)Fullback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1951–1955Miami HS (FL)
1956Florida (freshmen)
1957–1963Georgia Tech (backfield)
1964–1970Miami (FL)
1971New Orleans Saints (offensive backs)
1974Jacksonville Sharks
1975Jacksonville Express
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1968–1971Miami
Head coaching record
Overall34–27–3 (college)
8–11 (WFL)
Bowls1–1
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
Florida Sports Hall of Fame

Charles William Tate (February 20, 1919 – June 10, 1996) was an American football player and coach. Tate served as the head coach of the University of Miami for six seasons during the 1960s and two games during the 1970 season.

Early life

Charlie Tate was born in the small town of Tracy City, Tennessee,[citation needed] and later attended Julia E. Landon High School in Jacksonville, Florida.[citation needed]

Career

Tate attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a starting fullback for coach Josh Cody and coach Tom Lieb's Florida Gators football teams from 1939 to 1941.[1][2] Memorably, he scored the Gators' only touchdown in their 7–7 tie of the Auburn Tigers in the first varsity game ever played in the Tigers' new Auburn Stadium.[3] Tate graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in education in 1942.

Tate was the head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, from 1964 to 1970. In six seasons and part of a seventh, he compiled an overall win–loss record of 34–27–3. His best season with the Hurricanes came in 1966, when his team went 8–2–1 and won the Liberty Bowl against Virginia Tech. Tate's departure from Miami was surrounded by controversy and attracted national media attention when he abruptly resigned as the Hurricanes' athletic director and head football coach after the second game of the 1970 football season.[4][5]

Chuck Foreman was Tate's most famous recruit in the late 1960s. When interviewed at the ESPN Club in Orlando, Florida, Foreman, who went on to have a great career in the National Football League for the Minnesota Vikings, said of Tate, "He had faith in me, as a black athlete in the South during that tumultuous time, and I will never forget him. He was a great, generous man."[6]

Tate also served as the head coach of two professional football teams, the Jacksonville Sharks and Jacksonville Express in the short lived World Football League in the mid-1970s. He was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.[6]

Death

Tate died in 1996 from complications related to pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Head coaching record

College

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Miami Hurricanes (NCAA University Division independent) (1964–1970)
1964 Miami 4–5–1
1965 Miami 5–4–1
1966 Miami 8–2–1 W Liberty 10 9
1967 Miami 7–4 L Bluebonnet 16
1968 Miami 5–5
1969 Miami 4–6
1970 Miami 1–1
Miami: 34–27–3
Total: 34–27–3

See also

References

  1. ^ 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 186 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  2. ^ "#3 Miami: Even Jolly Cholly may have to start smiling now", Sports Illustrated (September 11, 1967). Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  3. ^ Tom McEwen, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, p. 115 (1974).
  4. ^ "Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search".
  5. ^ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search".
  6. ^ a b Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Inductees, Charlie Tate. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
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