By Sylvester “Nunnie” Robinson and Coach Joe Redmond
Previous articles featuring iconic HBCU football coaches included Big John Merritt, Alonzo “Jake” Gaither, Eddie Robinson and Marino Casem. As Coach Redmond and I mused over our next selection, and after considering several worthy candidates, research led us to Vernon “Skip” McCain, a former assistant coach under at Tennessee State, who became the head coach at Maryland State ( later renamed Maryland Easter Shore) in Princess Anne, Maryland. Some colleagues advised Coach McCain against accepting the position, fearing that he couldn’t attract top athletes at such a small, relatively unknown institution with a student body population hovering around 1500. Boy, were they mistaken. Not only did he recruit them, he achieved great success, completing a relatively brief career from 1948 to 1963 with a 100-21-5 won/loss record- .816 – one of the winningest percentages in college football.
Coach Redmond recalls Coach McCain as first class in every aspect, a great teacher and outstanding coach who placed great emphasis on education and faith, not just football. He was the epitome of an educator, coach and role model, a mathematics professor who visited players in the dormitory to check on their academic and personal development as student /athletes. Coach McCain is noted for saying, “Not only must you be a winner on the field but in the classroom.” He also served as the head basketball coach and athletic director at Maryland State for several years. Meeting him was a privileged, an unforgettable experience, according to Coach Redmond, noting some of the great players Coach McCain had at Maryland State who became NFL stars: Johnny Sample and Emerson Boozer , both of whom played with Joe Namath on the New York Jets team that upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts coached by Don Shula, the Super Bowl where Joe Willie guaranteed a victory. Readers may also remember Art Shell, the magnificent offensive lineman who became the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, a groundbreaking precedent. You may also recall Sherman Plunkett and Roger Brown, two other greats from Maryland State.
A closer examination of Coach McCain’s record reveals immediate and sustained success.
From 1948 – 1953 he won 46 games with only 4 losses. And from 1954 to 1963 he won 54 games while losing 17. Though Coach McCain suffered two defeats against FAMU in 1954 and 1957 Orange Blossom Classics, please note that he defeated the great Eddie Robinson and his Grambling Tigers 4 times without a loss.
Coach McCain also won 3 CIAA championships in 1955, ‘57 and ‘60.
An innovator in race relations, he often scheduled games against all White teams and games in the south. Fans from all races attended the games though being based in Maryland had to be somewhat advantageous.
Coach McCain was born in Marietta, Oklahoma on June 4, 1908 and died April 5, 1993 at age 84 in Princess Anne, Maryland. A 1930 graduate of Langston in Oklahoma, Coach played quarterback on the football team and was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Of the coaches we’ve covered in this series on HBCU icons, each was chosen in Sports Illustrated’s top 150 college coaches regardless of race, including Coach Vernon “Skip” McCain, who came in at #113. There are several other well known coaches, not from the south, deserving of this nostalgic glance in the past.
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