DETROIT (9/5/2020) -- The Titan community was deeply saddened to learn that former head coach David "Smokey" Gaines entered eternal life on the morning of Sept. 5 after a battle with liver and brain cancer. He was 80 years old. 

Gaines - the first African American coach in Titan history and a native Detroiter - came to the University as a part-time assistant coach under Dick Vitale in 1973 after coaching stops at his high school and college alma mater. He was later promoted to a full-time assistant coach and was a vital part in helping build the great Titan teams of the 19970's. In his final season as an assistant coach, U-D went 25-4 with a win in the NCAA Tournament over Middle Tennessee State before falling to Michigan.

"Smokey was a motivator, he just had his way of doing it and he got the most out of you," said former player Earl Cureton. "We had one of our most successful seasons when he took over, but he just wasn't a great coach, he was a great individual. He came from some hard times and made his way out and reached his dream of playing with the Globetrotters and in the ABA."

After Vitale stepped down from the head coaching position, Gaines took over and guided the program to another 25-4 mark in 1978 with a trip to the NIT and a 22-6 record in 1979 with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. His first win was at Toledo, 76-64. He also led the team to a 94-72 victory against defending NIT champion St. Bonaventure and a Motor City title with wins over Harvard and Eastern Michigan. In the postseason, the Titans defeated VCU in the first round of the NIT. In his second season, the squad posted wins over Oregon, Georgetown, Marquette and Xavier on its way to the NCAA Tournament. 

"I'm going to build on the very sound foundation that Dick Vitale has established," Gaines stated when he accepted the job. "'The program at U-D speaks for myself. I hope that people don't judge me on being the first black coach at U-D, but will judge me on my results."

He then went to take over as head coach at San Diego State from 1979-87 and helped that team win a Western Athletic Conference title and a NCAA Tournament appearance in 1984-85 as well as a NIT appearance in 1981-82. 

"His sense of humor was off the charts," said Cureton. "I had a chance to talk to him a lot throughout the years and he always had pride in his ability to recruit. He almost got Moses Malone to come to U-D. He did a great job at San Diego too. He loved Detroit and I know it was a hard decision for him to leave the city."

A legend in the Motor City, he was an All-State selection in 1959 at Northeastern High School. He starred in college at LeMoyne-Owen College in Tennessee and would later go on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters for four years and in the American Basketball Association for the Kentucky Colonels.

"He was also a trendsetter when you think about it," said Cureton. "He was one of the early black coaches to get a major job. As players, we didn't really realize it back then when he took over, we were like it was just natural for him to take over for Dick (Vitale), but I was talking to some people about it now and he was one of the early coaches that paved the way like John Thompson."