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Former
SC State Coach Dies
November 18, 2004
ORANGEBURG, SC - Willie J. Simon, who coached five sports at South Carolina State
during a more than 20-year tenure at the institution, and is a member of the
school's Athletic Hall of Fame, died Wednesday following a short illness. The
retired coach was 68.
Funeral services for Simon will be held Monday (Nov. 22) at 2 p.m. at Brookland
Baptist Church, 1066 Sunset Blvd. (Hwy 378), West Columbia. Bostick Thompkins
Funeral Home of Columbia is in charge of arrangements.
Simon, an Allen University graduate and West Columbia native, began his
coaching career at SCSU in 1968 as an assistant football coach and head baseball coach.
When the university discontinued its baseball program after the 1973-74 season and
started a women's basketball program, Simon was tabbed as women's head coach.
He went on to guide the Lady Bulldogs to 305 victories against just 91 losses
during a 14-year stint (1974-88). In 1979, the SCSU women captured the AIAW
(Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Division II national championship
with a 72-67 victory over Dayton at Fargo, ND. The Lady Bulldogs had been runner-ups
the year before, losing in the title game to High Point.
As an assistant under Willie Jeffries, who took over the SCSU football program in
1973, Simon helped the Bulldogs to a sparkling 50-13-4 record during a six-year stint
(1973-78). SCSU also captured five Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles and made
five postseason appearances during that period.
As baseball coach, his teams captured conference championships in both the
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and the MEAC.
Simon was inducted into the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.
He is survived by his wife Lula of the home, a daughter, Denise, also of the home,
and a son Willie II, of West Columbia.
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