Amory Tingle "Slats" Gill was an American college basketball coach, the head coach at Oregon State University in Corvallis for 36 seasons.
20 Facts About Slats Gill
2.
Slats Gill was the head coach of the baseball team for six seasons and later was the OSU athletic director.
3.
Slats Gill is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
4.
Slats Gill is honored as the namesake of Gill Coliseum, opened in 1949, venue for basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics at OSU.
5.
Slats Gill was an athlete from his youth, excelling in basketball and baseball at Salem High School and graduated in 1920.
6.
Slats Gill was named to all-state teams as a junior and senior.
7.
Slats Gill attended Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis.
8.
Slats Gill met his wife, the former Helen Boyer of Portland, on a blind date at OAC in the early 1920s.
9.
Slats Gill was tapped to serve as head coach of the OAC freshman men's basketball team and to help coordinate the school's program of intramural athletics and general gymnastics.
10.
An incredible 106 aspirants responded to Slats Gill's call to try out for the team, with the horde winnowed down to a squad of 25 through successive cuts.
11.
Slats Gill's teams were frequently involved in low-scoring defensive struggles.
12.
Slats Gill was taken to Providence Hospital and stayed for more than three weeks.
13.
When Slats Gill retired from coaching in 1964, he became the OSU athletic director, a position he held for two years, until his death.
14.
Slats Gill promoted assistant Valenti to replace him as head coach, and after the 1964 football season concluded with a Rose Bowl appearance on New Year's Day, head coach Tommy Prothro left for UCLA.
15.
Slats Gill hired Dee Andros of Idaho, who led the Beavers to two of their best seasons on the gridiron in his eleven years as head coach and became AD himself in 1976.
16.
In 1966, Slats Gill was hospitalized in Corvallis on March 26 following what was described as a minor stroke.
17.
Slats Gill's funeral was held at Gill Coliseum and he was buried at St Mary's Cemetery in Corvallis.
18.
Slats Gill was elected a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
19.
Oregon State's basketball arena, Slats Gill Coliseum, is named for him.
20.
Slats Gill was the first OSU coach to include an African American player on the team.