The Joyner coaching tree has deep roots in the CIAA and MEAC, and one family member, Ed Joyner Jr., will work in Winston-Salem as a head coach for the first time tonight when Hampton plays Winston-Salem State.
It's significant for Joyner, 37, that the game will be at the Gaines Center, the gym named for the late Clarence E. "Big House'' Gaines.
"I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Coach Gaines when he was alive," Joyner said. "And to our family, he's the one that we always looked up to. He was an influence on my dad and my uncle when they were growing up, and it extended to us."
The "us" Joyner refers to is him and his cousin, Steve Joyner Jr., an assistant for the women's team at Florida A&M. Also in the coaching family are their fathers, brothers Ed "Buck" Joyner and Steve Joyner Sr.
Buck Joyner is the men's coach at St. Paul's and also has been the coach at Livingstone. Steve Sr. is the men's coach and athletics director at Johnson C. Smith and, with 415 wins in 22 seasons, is considered the dean of CIAA coaches.
Gaines, the legendary WSSU coach who died in April 2005, had an influence on the players that he coached, and many followed him into the profession after graduation.
He also had an impact on the neighborhood that he lived in for 47 years. The street that he and his wife, Clara, lived on -- now called Big House Gaines Boulevard -- is the street that Steve and Buck Joyner grew up on.
Steve Joyner Sr. said that Gaines' influence on Winston-Salem goes beyond his family.
"Big House always had time for youngsters, but he had time for everybody, and I guess the biggest thing for us was we just didn't know what a great and legendary figure he was when we were growing up. He was just somebody who took an interest in us and wanted to know what and how we were doing," Steve Sr. said.
"And I think with Ed Jr., he wound up getting to know Big House a little bit, and he played against him and that helped him as well."
Steve Sr. said that when Ed Jr. played at Johnson C. Smith (1990-94), he kept a notebook of motivational phrases he had heard. It was then that he realized his nephew would one day be a coach.
"He wouldn't keep track of plays or those types of things, but he'd keep track of phrases and write them down because he wanted to use those later in life," Steve Sr. said.
After graduating, Ed Jr. worked in private business for two years but wound up back at Johnson C. Smith, starting as a graduate assistant and staying on his uncle's staff for 11 seasons.
"I guess coaching is in our blood," Ed Jr. said.
"I don't want to say that it comes natural, but it's what we Joyners do -- we coach. It kind of trickled down from my father and my uncle, and they had a big influence on all of us."
Ed Jr. says that even though he saw firsthand the trials and tribulations that successful coaches endure, he still wanted to be a part of the profession.
"I found out when I started with Steve after I was done playing for him, I got the same excitement from coaching as I did from playing," he said.
Because the Rams will be back in the CIAA next season, this will be Ed Jr.'s only appearance in the Gaines Center. The Rams won't play MEAC schools next season.
"I haven't thought about it, but this might be my only chance to coach in that building," he said. "I think it's kind of ironic that in my first year of being a head coach, I get to come to Winston."
Ed Jr., who was born in Winston-Salem, has a large ticket request for tonight's game and expects to have one great grandmother and one grandmother among the relatives and friends planning to attend.
"I spent my early childhood in Winston," he said. "So this is a big deal for me and I'm looking forward to it.… Just being in the same building that was named for Coach Gaines means a lot to me."
jdell@wsjournal.com
727-4081
Game night
• Teams: Hampton at WSSU.
• Time: 7:30 p.m.
• Radio: WPET 950.
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