![]() He has plenty of gratitude for her. McLeod has been teaching at FAMU since 2003, first in the journalism department, and now with the history department. Wilson, who taught at FAMU for 18 years, treats McLeod like a daughter. McLeod, a former student of Wilson’s, was instrumental in A) finding the lost manuscript for the book and B) getting the final product published. Wilson, 77, went completely blind last year.Įnter Yanela G. My point was, and I mention it in the book: Why did it take me so long?”Īs Wilson’s health deteriorated, it became tougher to put the finishing touches on the Gaither biography. “We just spent so many hours together and I got to know the man as a person. He vouched for me to the lender, told him I’d pay my bill – and I did. The first house I owned was Jake’s old house. “They bought our three kids their first bicycles for Christmas. “He and his wife kind of adopted my family,” Wilson said. As FAMU’s sports information director, Wilson spent hours riding to and from games with Gaither and his wife, Sadie, usually just the three of them in one car. The two shared a “father-son” relationship. Other writers and journalists asked for pieces of the manuscript to aid in their research to capture Wilson’s unique perspective on Gaither, who was credited with inventing Split-T offense and compiled a record of 204-36-4. That’s not to say parts of it weren’t used. Gaither died in 1994 at the age of 90.įor a while, the manuscript of the book was simply out of Wilson’s reach. "Agile, Mobile and Hostile,” according to its official website, is “a comprehensive play-by-play narrative” that serves as an “intimate account of the life and legacy of Gaither, a titan in college football coaching history. “After doing all that work, I just forgot it.” “I guess you could call it a lost manuscript because I just forgot I had it,” Wilson said with a laugh. If the process got started more than four decades ago, why is the book, titled “Agile, Mobile and Hostile,” just now seeing the light of day? I decided to do it because the other book bothered him so. “I said, ‘Well somebody needs to do an accurate account of this thing.’ I kept putting it off. Curry, one of the first African Americans to work for Sports Illustrated, came to Tallahassee to interview Gaither for the book "and Jake hated it,” Wilson said. “He said it misrepresented everything, that the guy misquoted him, and it literally brought him to tears. Gaither, FAMU's head coach from 1945 to 1969, and Wilson discussed the book at length.Ī noted black journalist George E. ![]() When Roosevelt Wilson first decided to write a biography about Alonzo “Jake” Gaither 40 years ago, it was about setting the record straight.Īt the time Gaither, Florida A&M University's legendary football coach and a College Football Hall of Famer, was upset about another book that was published about him in 1977.
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