Tink Gillam
Monroe Parker "Tink" Gillam[1] was a college football, baseball, and basketball coach. Born in Dadeville, Alabama, Gillam attended Birmingham College, where he played baseball, basketball, and was a halfback on the football team.[2] After graduating in 1919, Gillam was athletic director at Southern Military Academy in Greensboro, Alabama, from 1920–1921 and assistant athletic director at Mississippi College from 1921–1923.
Gillam in 1926 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1896 Dadeville, Alabama |
| Died | February 18, 1988 (aged 91) Birmingham, Alabama |
| Playing career | |
| 1915–1919 | Birmingham–Southern |
| Position(s) | Halfback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1917 | Hamilton (AL) Agricultural School |
| 1923–1924 | Mercer (assistant) |
| 1925–1927 | Clemson (assistant) |
| Basketball | |
| 1923–1925 | Mercer |
| 1925–1927 | Clemson |
| Baseball | |
| 1927 | Clemson |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1920–1921 | Southern Military Academy |
| 1921–1923 | Mississippi College (assistant)[1] |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 11–13–1 (baseball) 42–42 (basketball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Basketball 2 SIAA (1924, 1925) | |
| Awards | |
| Birmingham–Southern Sports Hall of Fame (1990) | |
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Beginning in 1923, Gillam was an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at Mercer University.[3] He won back-to-back Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball titles as coach at Mercer, earning him the title "the Napoleon of Southern basketball".[4]
Gillam then moved to Clemson College, where he spent two seasons as a football assistant, and was head basketball coach in 1925–26 and 1926–27, and head baseball coach in 1927.[5]
Gillam was inducted into the Birmingham–Southern Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.[6]
Head coaching record
Basketball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer Bears (SIAA) (1923–1925) | |||||||||
| 1923–24 | Mercer | 22–6 | 6–1 | ||||||
| 1924–25 | Mercer | 14–6 | ? | ||||||
| Mercer: | 36–12 (.750)[7] | ||||||||
| Clemson Tigers (SoCon) (1925–1927) | |||||||||
| 1925–26 | Clemson | 4–17 | 1–7 | ||||||
| 1926–27 | Clemson[8] | 2–13 | 1–7 | ||||||
| Clemson: | 6–30 (.167) | 2–14 (.125) | |||||||
| Total: | 42–42 (.500) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Baseball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Clemson | 11–13–1 | |||||||
| Total: | 11–13–1 (.460) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- "Bulletin of Mississippi College". May 1922. p. 10. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- "Birmingham Battles Spring Hill Thursday". Birmingham College Reporter. October 27, 1916. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- Wilder, Robert E. (August 12, 2011). Gridiron Glory Days: Football at Mercer, 1892-1942. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881462678 – via Google Books.
- "N.C. Declines To Play Bears For The Honor" (PDF). The Mercer Cluster. March 6, 1925. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- "Clemson Tiger Invades Blue Camp for Game". The Kentucky Kernel. University of Kentucky. October 9, 1925. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- "Sports Hall of Fame". Birmingham-Southern College. Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- Tharp, Will. "2018-19 Mercer Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Mercer University. pp. 49–50, 62. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- Mitchell, Red (December 15, 1926). "Thru the Field Glasses". The Tiger. Retrieved August 23, 2023.