Slats Gill
Slats Gill (1901-1966)
Teams coached: Oregon State Beavers
Oregon State record: 599-393 (.604)
Overall record: 599-393 (.604)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 6 (1947, 1949, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1964)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 3 (1955, 1962, 1963)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 2 (1949, 1963)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- PCC Regular Season Champion: 5 (1933, 1947, 1949, 1955, 1958)
Awards:
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1968)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1928-1964 | Oregon State |
| 1926-1928 | Oregon State (frosh) |
Slats Gill Facts
- Amory Tingle Gill
- Born May 1, 1901
- Died April 5, 1966
- Hometown: Salem, Oregon
- Alma Mater: Oregon Agricultural College (BA, 1924)
- Played baseball and basketball at Salem HS (OR) and went on to play at Oregon Agricultural (now Oregon State) from 1921-24
- Named All-PCC (Pac-12) First Team twice (1922, 1924), playing for head coaches R. B. Rutherford and Robert Hager
- Started his coaching career at the HS level in Oakland, CA in 1924 before returning to Corvallis to work at OAC in 1925
- Became freshmen head coach in 1926, doing so for two years before becoming the head coach of the varsity team in 1928
- Coached the Aggies/Beavers for 36 seasons, winning 599 games (60%) during that tenure
- Won the PCC regular season title five times and reached the NCAA Tournament six times, including trips to the Final Four in 1949 and 1962
- Also served as the school’s head baseball coach from 1932-37, compiling an overall record of 56-70 (.444)
- The Beavers’ home arena on campus is named Gill Coliseum (opened 1949) in his honor
- Retired from coaching in 1964 and became the athletic director at OSU
- Hired assistant coach Paul Valenti to take over for him and hired Dee Andros as the Beavers’ football coach (and later OSU AD himself)
- Had a minor stroke in March 1966 and while hospitalized in Corvallis, his health took a turn and he passed away at age 64
- Inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, in addition to the two major HOFs listed above
- Along with his wife, Helen, had one daughter and one son
Slats Gill Coaching Tree
- Jim Anderson (Oregon State)
- Jim Jarvis (Idaho)
- Jim Padgett (Nevada, California)
- Red Rocha (Hawaii, Detroit Pistons)
- Paul Valenti (Oregon State)