JIMMY GALES, 79, who led North Texas basketball to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1987-88 while he was the head coach of the basketball team, died June 3. During his tenure as head coach from 1986 to 1993, he led the team to two Southland Conference regular-season championships. He began working at North Texas in 1975 as an assistant coach under former head coach Bill Blakeley, and he worked at North Texas for a total of 15 years. He had previously coached at Dallas’ South Oak Cliff High School. He earned a master’s degree in public school administration and worked as an assistant principal at James Madison High School in Dallas for 11 years after his years of coaching. He was a North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame 2009 inductee.
JIMMY GALES, 79, who led North Texas basketball to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1987-88 while he was the head coach of the basketball team, died June 3. During his tenure as head coach from 1986 to 1993, he led the team to two Southland Conference regular-season championships. He began working at North Texas in 1975 as an assistant coach under former head coach Bill Blakeley, and he worked at North Texas for a total of 15 years. He had previously coached at Dallas’ South Oak Cliff High School. He earned a master’s degree in public school administration and worked as an assistant principal at James Madison High School in Dallas for 11 years after his years of coaching. He was a North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame 2009 inductee.
