Audio recording of an interview of Wentford Gaines by Jerone Dudley conducted over Zoom for the Black Cultural Center Oral History Project. The recording duration is 59 minutes, 55 seconds. Gaines was born on February 4, 1953. He attended Tennessee Tech in the spring quarter of 1973. The football coaches recruited Gaines to play football at Tech. Gaines and other Black student athletes were dismissed from the team for refusing to practice after Tennis Coach Larry Ware abandoned David Brents, a Black tennis player in Johnson City, Tennessee. Gaines describes growing up as a Black child in a single-parent household in Anderson, South Carolina; his time attending and playing football at Ferrum College in Virginia; being recruited to Tennessee Tech; the broken promises, racism, and isolation he faced at Tennessee Tech and in Cookeville; and his life after transferring from Tech. Gaines details going to the University of Cincinnati, his time playing in the National Football League (NFL), living in Texas and New Jersey, teaching and coaching in Jersey City, teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, playing athletics in high school, his sons’s athletic and academic experiences. Gaines describes the isolation of being Black in Cookeville, the lack of interaction between non-local Black students and the Black community in Cookeville, and how he only felt comfortable going out to one bar (likely John’s Place) in the area and otherwise went to Nashville to socialize. Dudley makes comparisons between his experiences and Gaines’s experiences in Cookeville. For a transcript of the interview, see item BCCOH_Gaines_20201127_transcript.
title:
Interview with Wentford Gaines
creator:
Dudley, Jerone L.
creator:
Gaines, Wentford E., 1953-
subject:
African American college athletes
subject:
African American college students
subject:
African American educators
subject:
African American football players
subject:
African American men
subject:
African American professional athletes
subject:
African American teachers
subject:
African American young adults
subject:
African Americans
subject:
African Americans--Education (Higher)
subject:
African Americans--Segregation
subject:
Bonds, Jay
subject:
Brents, David
subject:
Career changes
subject:
Chicago Bears (Football team)
subject:
College athletes
subject:
College athletes--Recruiting
subject:
College students
subject:
College students--Recruiting
subject:
Educators
subject:
Ferrum College
subject:
Football
subject:
Football players
subject:
Hunter, Paul
subject:
Interviews
subject:
John's Place (Cookeville, Tenn.)
subject:
Minority college students -- Recruiting
subject:
National Football League
subject:
Occupations
subject:
Pittsburgh Steelers (Football team)
subject:
Professional athletes
subject:
Racism
subject:
Racism in sports
subject:
Teachers
subject:
Tennessee Technological University
subject:
Tennessee Technological University Golden Eagles (Football team)
subject:
Universities and colleges -- Alumni and alumnae
subject:
University of Cincinnati
subject:
Urban League of Hudson County
subject:
Wade, Don
subject:
Ware, Larry
subject:
Young adults
subject:
Oral histories
subject:
Gaines, Wentford E., 1953-
description:
Audio recording of an interview of Wentford Gaines by Jerone Dudley conducted over Zoom for the Black Cultural Center Oral History Project. The recording duration is 59 minutes, 55 seconds. Gaines was born on February 4, 1953. He attended Tennessee Tech in the spring quarter of 1973. The football coaches recruited Gaines to play football at Tech. Gaines and other Black student athletes were dismissed from the team for refusing to practice after Tennis Coach Larry Ware abandoned David Brents, a Black tennis player in Johnson City, Tennessee. Gaines describes growing up as a Black child in a single-parent household in Anderson, South Carolina; his time attending and playing football at Ferrum College in Virginia; being recruited to Tennessee Tech; the broken promises, racism, and isolation he faced at Tennessee Tech and in Cookeville; and his life after transferring from Tech. Gaines details going to the University of Cincinnati, his time playing in the National Football League (NFL), living in Texas and New Jersey, teaching and coaching in Jersey City, teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, playing athletics in high school, his sons’s athletic and academic experiences. Gaines describes the isolation of being Black in Cookeville, the lack of interaction between non-local Black students and the Black community in Cookeville, and how he only felt comfortable going out to one bar (likely John’s Place) in the area and otherwise went to Nashville to socialize. Dudley makes comparisons between his experiences and Gaines’s experiences in Cookeville. For a transcript of the interview, see item BCCOH_Gaines_20201127_transcript.
publisher:
Tennessee Technological University. Archives and Special Collections
date:
2020-11-27
type:
Sound
format:
mp3
identifier:
BCCOH_Gaines_20201127
source:
Black Cultural Center Oral History Collection
language:
eng
temporal:
1970s
temporal:
2020s
spatial:
Anderson (S.C.)
spatial:
Chicago (Ill.)
spatial:
Cincinnati (Ohio)
spatial:
Cookeville (Tenn.)
spatial:
Jersey City (N.J.)
spatial:
Knoxville (Tenn.)
spatial:
Nashville (Tenn.)
spatial:
Putnam County (Tenn.)
rights:
In copyright
rights Holder:
Wentford Gaines, Jerone Dudley, and Tennessee Technological University
access Rights:
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