Slats Gill

College coach infobox
Name = Amory T. "Slats" Gill
Sport = Basketball


ImageWidth =
Caption = Banner honoring Slats Gill's 599 career coaching victories hangs in Gill Coliseum at Oregon State University. puic|

DateOfBirth = May 1 1901
Birthplace = flagicon|United States Salem, Oregon
DateOfDeath = April 5 1966
Deathplace = flagicon|United States Corvallis, Oregon
College = Oregon State
Title = Head coach
Awards =
Championships = Pacific Coast Conference championship 1933, 1947, 1949, 1955, 1958
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 599-392
Player = Y
Years = 1922-1924
Team = Oregon State
Position = Forward
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1928-1964
CoachTeams = Oregon State
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF = 1968

Amory Tingle "Slats" Gill (May 1, 1901 – April 5, 1966) was a men's basketball and baseball coach at Oregon State University.

Early life

Gill was born in Salem, Oregon, the youngest of eight children. His father died when he was a child. His nickname "Slats" was given to him at age 12. Gill was swimming in a local pond one summer afternoon. Upon exiting the pond, a buddy joked with Gill about his scrawny frame with his ribs protruding, which he said looked like slats in a picked fence. Gill was from then on known as Slats.Welsch, Jeff cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-VvQ8F8s_20C |title="Tales from Oregon State Sports"|publisher=Sports Publishing|accessdate=2007-12-17]

Gill attended Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) in Corvallis, Oregon. While at OAC, he played baseball from 1919–1921 [http://digitalcollections.library.oregonstate.edu/u?/baseball,92 Gill, the veteran OAC backstop] . Accessed 24 March 2008.] and basketball from 1922–1924. Gill was an All-American forward in 1924.cite web|url=http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/gillslats.shtml|title=Amory Gill|publisher=HickokSports.com|accessdate=2007-05-21]

Coaching career

Gill's first head coaching position was at a high school in Oakland, California. After one season there, he returned to Corvallis to be the head coach of the Rooks (the OSU freshman team). He spent two seasons in that capacity.

In the summer of 1928, OAC's current head coach Bob Hager was fired by then school president Jasper Kerr. Kerr did not look far for his new head coach. Even though Gill was only 27 years old and had just three years of coaching under his belt, Kerr hired him as the head basketball coach.

In his tenure, Oregon State won five Pacific Coast Conference titles, four Northern Division championships, and a pair of Final Four appearances (1949 and 1963). His teams won eight consecutive Far West Classic titles. Gill had 599 coaching victories with the Beavers.

Gill also coached the Beavers' baseball team from 1932-1937.

As past president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Slats coached in the 1964 NABC All-Star Game.

Legacy

When he retired from coaching in 1964, Gill became the Oregon State athletic director, a position he held until his death from a stroke in 1966.

He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Oregon State's basketball arena, Gill Coliseum, is named for him.

Personal life

Gill met his wife, Helen, on a blind date at OAC in the early 1920s. They were married in 1932. They raised two children, a son John, and a daughter Jane.

Head coaching record

CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=
postseason=
poll=no

CBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Oregon State University
startyear=1928
conference=Pacific Coast Conference
endyear=1959|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1928–1929
name = Oregon State
overall = 12-8
conference = 4-6
confstanding = 4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1929–1930
name = Oregon State
overall = 14-13
conference = 7-9
confstanding = 4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1930–1931
name = Oregon State
overall = 19-9
conference = 9-7
confstanding = 3rd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1931–1932
name = Oregon State
overall = 12-12
conference = 8-8
confstanding = 3rd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1932–1933
name = Oregon State
overall = 21-6
conference = 12-4
confstanding = 1st
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1933–1934
name = Oregon State
overall = 14-20
conference = 7-9
confstanding = 3rd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1934–1935
name = Oregon State
overall = 19-9
conference = 12-4
confstanding = 1st-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1935–1936
name = Oregon State
overall = 16-9
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 2nd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1936–1937
name = Oregon State
overall = 11-1
conference = 5-11
confstanding = 4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1937–1938
name = Oregon State
overall = 17-16
conference = 6-14
confstanding = 5th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1938–1939
name = Oregon State
overall = 13-11
conference = 6-10
confstanding = 4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1939–1940
name = Oregon State
overall = 27-11
conference = 12-4
confstanding = 1st-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1940–1941
name = Oregon State
overall = 19-9
conference = 9-7
confstanding = 2nd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1941–1942
name = Oregon State
overall = 22-7
conference = 15-3
confstanding = 1st-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1942–1943
name = Oregon State
overall = 22-9
conference = 12-6
confstanding = 2nd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1943–1944
name = Oregon State
overall = 8-16
conference = 5-11
confstanding = t-3rd
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1944–1945
name = Oregon State
overall = 20-8
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 3rd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1945–1946
name = Oregon State
overall = 13-11
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 2nd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1946–1947
name = Oregon State
overall = 28-5
conference = 13-3
confstanding = 1st
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1947–1948
name = Oregon State
overall = 21-13
conference = 10-6
confstanding = t-1st-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1948–1949
name = Oregon State
overall = 24-12
conference = 12-4
confstanding = 1st
postseason = Final FourCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1949–1950
name = Oregon State
overall = 13-14
conference = 8-8
confstanding = t-2nd-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1950–1951
name = Oregon State
overall = 14-18
conference = 6-10
confstanding = t-4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1951–1952
name = Oregon State
overall = 9-19
conference = 3-13
confstanding = 5th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1952–1953
name = Oregon State
overall = 11-18
conference = 6-10
confstanding = 4th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1953–1954
name = Oregon State
overall = 19-10
conference = 11-15
confstanding = 1st-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1954–1955
name = Oregon State
overall = 22-8
conference = 15-11
confstanding = 1st
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1955–1956
name = Oregon State
overall = 8-18
conference = 5-11
confstanding = t-6th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1956–1957
name = Oregon State
overall = 11-15
conference = 6-10
confstanding = t-6th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1957–1958
name = Oregon State
overall = 20-6
conference = 12-4
confstanding = t-1st
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1958–1959
name = Oregon State
overall = 13-13
conference = 17-9
confstanding = 6th-North
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Oregon State University
startyear=1959
conference=Independent
endyear=1964|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1959–1960
name = Oregon State
overall = 15-11
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1960–1961
name = Oregon State
overall = 14-12
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1961–1962
name = Oregon State
overall = 24-5
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1962–1963
name = Oregon State
overall = 22-9
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = Final FourCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1963–1964
name = Oregon State
overall = 25-4
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Oregon State
overall = 599-392
confrecord = CBB Yearly Record End
overall=599-392

References

External links

* [http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/bhof-amory-gill.html Basketball Hall of Fame profile]