Football | 11/16/2016 4:13:00 PM

Casem Reflects Back on Career as Final 2016 Home Game Nears

LORMAN, Miss. – It brings tears to his eyes every time he sees the name of Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium, which will wrap up its 24th season as the home of the Alcorn State University football program Saturday at 2 p.m. against Jackson State.
 
"It means everything in the world to me and I'm very proud. It makes me very emotional, but it's also very comforting." Casem said. "It elevates my spirit to know that the name will always live on. It's emotional to know that my whole life's worth of work has been recognized."
 
Casem was the head football coach at Alcorn for 22 seasons and served as director of athletics for 20 years. During his coaching tenure, Alcorn won seven SWAC football championships and Casem was named SWAC Coach of the Year seven times. The Braves also won four Black National Titles in 1967, 1968, 1973 and 1984.
 
Casem has a room in his home where his trophies and accomplishments are on display.
 
"I'll pass by that room sometimes and I'll see him in there, just sitting and looking around," said his wife Betty Jean Casem. "There's stuff on the walls and all around, and he likes to sit there quietly. He is very proud."
 
Marino is known as The Godfather of the SWAC, a nickname that was given to him by a fellow SWAC Hall of Famer.
 
"During my time at Alcorn I was on a lot of committees with the NCAA, and at the time there was a lot of talk about reclassifying the schools and the conferences in terms of Division I-A, Division I-AA, Division II and Division III. I was both head coach and athletic director at Alcorn and was getting calls all over the place on what my stances were on the matter," Marino said. "Well one day, Roscoe Nance was waiting to interview me and he saw an old black guy get out of a chauffeur car and he started referring to me as The Godfather of the SWAC. The name stuck."
 
Nance was the beat writer for The Clarion-Ledger newspaper which covers Alcorn, JSU and Mississippi Valley State. He was the first black sports writer for a Mississippi daily newspaper. Nance, who later went on to write for USA Today, was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2014 as the first non-player, coach or administrator.
 
The Godfather was one of just two Catholics at Alcorn when he arrived and worked as assistant coach with the football program from 1959-63. He arrived with Betty after they both graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1956.
 
Though at first, Marino did not want to coach because he did not want to teach. At the time, coaches also had to spend half their time as a teacher due to staff size restrictions. So immediately following graduation, Marino got a summer job at Tuskegee as a correctional therapist while Betty, who was his fiancé at the time, got a job as Secretary to the President at Utica College.
 
While Betty was at Utica, the head football coach quit and the school was searching for a new coach. She asked the president if he would interview her fiance. Marino was brought down for an interview and he attained a job as assistant coach in the fall of 1956.
 
"My wife has gotten me every job I've had in my life," Marino said. "She scored straight-A's in college for four years."
 
Meanwhile at Alcorn, there was a revolt among the student body due to poor living and educational conditions. The president was let go, and the president from Utica came and took over. He asked Betty to come to Alcorn with him which she did, while Marino stayed at Utica for a second year.
 
After his second year at Utica, Marino was drafted in the military in late 1957 and began serving in the U.S. Army. He spent time in Germany between the Korean War and Vietnam.
 
Marino was discharged from the military in 1959 and was in need of a job. He and Betty were looking around the country for job opportunities where they could be together. The president at Alcorn then hired Marino as assistant coach in order to keep Betty as his secretary.
 
Marino worked under head coach E.E. Simmons.
 
"Simmons was everything at Alcorn. He was head football coach, basketball coach and athletic director. He meant everything to this place," Marino said.
 
In 1963, Simmons was interviewing for the athletic director job at Alabama State. He stated from the beginning that he would only go if he could bring Marino with him as head football coach. Simmons ended up getting the job, and Marino was brought along as head coach and assistant professor of health and physical education at Alabama State for the 1963 season.
 
"After Simmons accepted the job at Alabama State, he actually changed his mind and decided he wanted to stay at Alcorn. Well, I had already agreed to be at Alabama State and it was my first head coaching job. So I stayed there for one year and got them a record of 2-8," Marino said laughingly.
 
In 1964, Alcorn head football coach Franklin Purnell was relieved of his duties and Simmons brought Marino back to head the program. It was the start of a 22-year head coaching career for Marino with the Braves.
 
"It was a good time for Alcorn during all those years," Marino said. "The game that really put us on the map was the Orange Blossom Classic in 1968. That year was also the first time we beat Grambling. It was a special time as we had progressed each year from 1964-68 up to that game. We started really recruiting hard and had great success with kids from Alabama."
 
The Braves defeated Florida A&M 36-9 in the Orange Blossom Classic. It capped off the winningest season in school history at the time with a 9-1 overall, 6-1 SWAC record. The Orange Blossom Classic stands as one of just two bowl appearances in school history along with the 2015 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl.
 
"Oscar Martin was the star of the team. He was the greatest player I ever coached. He was a wide receiver who got killed in a car accident after the 1969 season on Highway 61 outside of Fayette. There's no doubt he would have played in the NFL. He was a horse. Oscar was about 6'1, 200 pounds, had great hands and boy he could fly."
 
Martin was inducted into the Alcorn Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. His No. 18 jersey is one of three in Alcorn history that is retired.
 
Another memorable moment for Marino came in 1984 when Alcorn became the first school in SWAC history to finish number one in the NCAA I-AA poll. Marino coached the team to a 9-1, 7-0 SWAC record and was National Black Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his career. After winning the SWAC, the Braves advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for the first time in school history.
 
"We had the greatest defense in the country that year. Beating Grambling for the championship was a very proud moment," Marino said.
 
While working as athletic director at Alcorn, Marino led the effort in building the Davey L. Whitney Complex and was instrumental in the design and planning of the new football stadium.
 
Upon retirement, Marino was named to the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1992, Alcorn Hall of Fame in 1993, College Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Marino posted a career head coaching record of 159-93-8 which also included three years at Southern from 1987-88, 92.
 
"It's quite an honor to be recognized by my peers in all of these hall of fames. A lot of people who get honored don't live long enough to see them," Marino said.
 
"I was very fortunate to be successful as a head coach at a historically black college during a time that was hard for negroes in the country. A lot of successful negroes in Mississippi left to go to other places like Chicago, Washington D.C. or New York. Well I stayed down here with the clan during a time where there weren't many opportunities. I wanted to stay and make Alcorn one of the best places to train athletes and elevate them in their lives. All of the black coaches in the SWAC had the chance to change lives and make a difference, and even though we didn't get the notoriety, we had the self-satisfaction. We made a big difference in a lot of people's lives."
 
Marino splits the name of the stadium with Jack Spinks (1930-94). The two were very close friends as they came to Alcorn as assistant coaches at the same time in 1959. Spinks was the first Brave to play in the NFL and spent five seasons in the league after he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1952.
 
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