SAN DIEGO - David "Smokey" Gaines, who had an impact on nearly every level of basketball, including eight years as head coach of the San Diego State men's basketball program, passed away on September 5, 2020.
Mr. Gaines led the Aztecs men's basketball program from the 1979-80 season through the 1986-87 season. In eight years as the Aztecs' head coach, he compiled 112 victories, which are the fourth most in the 99-year history of San Diego State men's basketball.
"I knew Smokey from our Midwest days; when he was in Detroit," Aztec Hall of Fame Coach Steve Fisher said. "I watched from a distance as he developed some great teams at San Diego State led by the likes of Michael Cage and Tony Gwynn. He was a man who loved his profession and genuinely cared about people. He followed the Aztecs long after his coaching days ended and was proud of what San Diego State accomplished. He will be fondly remembered by all of us that were fortunate enough to know him."
After just six wins in his initial season at San Diego State, Mr. Gaines compiled double digit wins in six of his next seven years. His 20 victories in the 1981-82 season marked the first time the program had reached that plateau in its Division I Era, which began in 1970-71. SDSU finished 20-9 overall, 11-5 in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play, and competed in the first round of the NIT. In 1984-85, the Aztecs went 23-8, 11-5 in WAC action, won the conference tournament and played in the NCAA Tournament, and at the end of the season he was named the WAC Coach of the Year. In each of his final three seasons with San Diego State, including 1984-85, the team reached at least the quarterfinal of the WAC Tournament.
Mr. Gaines mentored some of the greatest players San Diego State has produced, including San Diego State Hall of Famers Michael Cage and Tony Gwynn. In addition, Cage, along with Anthony Watson, Eddie Morris and Leonard Allen each scored more than 1,000 points in their Aztec careers.
AWARD WINNERS
Under Mr. Gaines' tutelage, Cage earned All-American honors from the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) in 1983 and a year later was a consensus All-American selection, the first in program history.
His players also earned three Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and three National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) All-District honors. Cage was the WAC Player of the Year in 1983 and 1984 and an NABC honoree in 1982 and 1983. Watson earned both honors in 1986.
The WAC bestowed nine all-conference honors to Mr. Gaines' Aztecs, which included seven first-team designations and three MVP nods. In 1985, Allen and Watson earned WAC All-Tournament Team distinction and Watson repeated the honor in 1986.
BEFORE SAN DIEGO STATE
Mr. Gaines started his coaching career as a part-time assistant under head coach Dick Vitale at Detroit-Mercy for the 1973-74 season and was promoted to a full-time assistant the next year. Four years later, in 1976-77, the team went 25-4 and won its first-round game in that year's NCAA Tournament. Vitale stepped down following the season and Mr. Gaines was elevated to the top job. He guided the program to another 25-4 mark in his first season as head coach and followed that up with a 22-6 record in 1978-79. In each of those years, his team qualified for the postseason; the 1987 NIT and the1979 NCAA Tournament. Among the players he worked with at Detroit-Mercy are 1,000-point scorers and All-Americans John Long, Terry Duerod, and Terry Tyler. In his two seasons at Detroit-Mercy he compiled a 47-10 record.
Following a four-year playing stint (1963-67) with the Harlem Globetrotters, Mr. Gaines spent the 1967-68 season competing for the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association (ABA). In 2006, he was inducted into the Harlem Globetrotters' "Legends" Ring, which honors those who have made a major contribution to the success and development of the organization and who exemplify the Harlem Globetrotter' humanitarian contributions.
Mr. Gaines graduated from LeMoyne College, in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. A point guard, he completed his college eligibility as the program's all-time leading scorer and was the first player to have his jersey retired by the school. Mr. Gaines was the first member of his family to earn a college degree and in 1970 earned a master's degree from Eastern Michigan. LeMoyne College and Owen College combined into LaMoyne-Owen College after the 1968 school year. Mr. Gaines returned to LeMoyne-Owen in 2005 to serve as its head men's basketball coach and Athletics Director, a position he held until 2008.
A native of Detroit, he attended Northeastern High School where he was an all-state selection in 1959 and, in 2018, he was honored with induction into the Detroit Sports Zone High School Hall of Fame.