Leonidas Epps

Leonidas Sondric Epps Jr. (October 5, 1918 – January 5, 1997) was an American football and basketball coach, college athletics administrator, and educator. He served as the head football coach at Clark College—now known as Clark Atlanta University—from 1951 to 1969, compiling a record of 71–72–9. Epps was also the head basketball coach at Clark from 1949 to 1978, tallying a mark of 431–291.

Epps was born on October 5, 1918, in Hope, Arkansas. He grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois, where he attended East St. Louis Lincoln High School. He then went to Xavier University of Louisiana, lettering in football and basketball before graduating in 1943. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Epps began his coaching career in 1945 as an assistant coach at Gilbert Academy in New Orleans under Jesse "Silver Fox" Blakeley. He succeeded Blakeley as head coach in 1948. Epps left Gilbert Academy a year later to become an assistant coach at Clark under Marion M. Curry. He succeeded Curry as head football coach at Clark in 1951. At the time, Epps was pursuing graduate studies at Wayne University—now known as Wayne State University—in Detroit. He died of pneumonia, on January 5, 1997, at Southwest Atlanta Hospital in Atlanta.

Head coaching record College football