JACKSON, Miss. -- W.C. Gorden, a Hall of Fame coach who led Jackson State's football team to a 28-game Southwestern Athletic Conference winning streak while building a league power in the late 1980s, has died. He was 90.
The school announced on its athletics website that Gorden died Friday night.
Considered JSU's winningest coach, Gorden went 119-47-5 from 1976 to 1991 after serving as the team's defensive coordinator. He was also the school's baseball coach from 1971 to 1972. The Tigers won eight SWAC titles and reached the NCAA playoffs nine times under Gorden, who worked two years as athletic director at the historically Black college after retiring as coach.
Gorden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. The Mississippi legislature in 1997 honored the Nashville, Tennessee, native with a proclamation as JSU's winningest coach and credited his academic oversight for JSU athletics having the highest graduation rate in the SWAC and a higher rate than the student body.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.