Member Biography

Earl Banks was head coach at Morgan State 1960-73 and never had a losing season. His 1965-68 teams won 31 straight, the seventh longest winning streak in college football history. Morgan State won the Orange Blossom Classic in 1965 and the Tangerine Bowl in 1966. His record, 95-30-2, translates to a .756 percentage. Before Morgan State, Banks was assistant coach for nine years at Maryland State-Eastern Shore. Forty-one of his players went to the pros; among them were stars like Willie Lanier, Leroy Kelly, John Fuqua, Raymond Chester, Roger Brown and Sherman Plunkett. He was Morgan State athletic director through 1987. Banks was chairman of a fund drive that raised $1 million for Lafayette Square Community Center. He was a board member for HUB (Help Unite Baltimore), League for Crippled Children, Heart Association, Diabetes Association, Prisoner's Aid, Boy Scouts and Salvation Army. As the coach at Morgan State, he said, "The players are going to be scholars first. They come for an education, and 90 percent get degrees - not just physical education but in pre-medicine, pre-law and business. Two days a week I talk life, not football. College football is great for today's life. The world is looking for leadership and discipline. Football offers that experience." Banks played football for Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago, and was all-state in 1943. He was a stocky, 5-8, 210 pound all-star guard for Iowa 1946-49, and played one year professionally with the New York Yankees of the NFL in 1950. He died October 27, 1993, at age 69.