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SCSU's Jeffries Honored With ESPN DocumentaryFebruary 19, 2002
By Thomas Grant Jr Retired South Carolina State head football coach Willie Jeffries will be immortalized by ESPN's "SportsCentury." The documentary series features the life and career of famous sports figures. Completed as part of "Black History Month", the documentary details the three-decade coaching career of Jeffries and includes interviews with friends, former players and the man himself. The 30-minute edition of the "Sports Century" feature on the Union, SC native will air for the first time this Friday (Feb 22) at 8 p.m. (EST) and 1 a.m. (EST) on ESPN 2. It will then enter the regular rotation of "Sports Century" programming on ESPN Classic. Jeffries retired from his alma mater this past season after 19 seasons and was the winningest head coach in SCSU history with 128 career wins. This past season, he posted his first winning season in four years in rallying the Bulldogs from a 1-5 mark to five straight victories and a 6-5 record. He was also the first black head coach of a NCAA Division 1-A program at Wichita State and won five Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships and two black college National Championships. In addition, Jeffries sent a slew of players into the NFL including recent Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists Donnie Shell and Harry Carson, Robert Porcher, Orlando "Zeus" Brown, Chartric Darby, Dexter Clinkscale, Jumpy Geathers and Anthony Cook. Jeffries was succeeded as head coach by University of South Carolina running backs coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough. The Orangeburg, SC native played offensive lineman under Jeffries in the 1970s.
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