A longtime HBCU football coach, Doug Porter, recently died at 94.
According to The Associated Press, Porter, the oldest living member of the College Football Hall of Fame, died on June 5. Porter was a head coach at various HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), including Mississippi Valley State University, Howard University, and Fort Valley State University, before ending his coaching career in 1996.
“Doug Porter was a remarkable person, crafting an impressive career in coaching and athletics administration among the HBCU ranks,” National Football Foundation chairman Archie Manning said. “A great football mind, he was a top-flight recruiter who cared deeply about his players and put them in a position to succeed.”
Porter, who hailed from Mississippi, started his collegiate career playing the
quarterback position at Xavier of Louisiana before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He began his college coaching career when he took over the head coaching position at Mississippi Valley State from 1961-65. The next year, he joined the staff of legendary coach Eddie G. Robinson as an assistant at Grambling State University, where he stayed until 1973. He became a head coach again when he joined Howard University from 1974-78. Porter coached at Fort Valley State University from 1979 to 1985 and then again from 1987 to 1996.While coaching at Fort Valley, Porter won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year seven times while operating as the athletic director for 16 years. He was chairman of the Division II Football Committee and president of the National Athletic Steering Committee. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and the FVSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
Porter’s funeral service is scheduled for June 15 at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Grambling.
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