He was called rude, crude and likely to offend nine out of 10 people meeting him for the first time.

His demeanor was dour. His temperament, fiery. 

Twice he was brought up on charges of unsportsmanlike conduct, and once he showed such flagrant disregard for rules and regulations that the entire Virginia Union University athletic program was suspended by the Colored (now Central) Intercollegiate Athletic Association for six months.

But during Henry Hucles' 50-year involvement with VUU, the Panther athletic program won more games and captured more championships in more different sports than ever before.

And to his athletes he was, to a man, perhaps the most loved Virginia Union coach to ever wear a whistle.

“He was a genuine schizo,” wrote the legendary sportswriter, Sam Lacy, when Hucles was retired by the University in 1969.

“He was a tough old nut,” said Marv Willingham, who played for football for Virginia Union from 1961-64, and was taught by Hucles while attending VUU.

“He had a personality that would make you eat dirt and like it,” wrote his assistant coach Samuel Barksdale.

“He was a great coach,” said Wesley Carter who, at 103, is VUU's oldest living alumni and played for Hucles from 1926-1929.

“He spoke his mind,” said Douglas Blair, son of VUU standout Garnett Blair, who played basketball for Hucles and would later gain fame in the Negro Leagues as a pitcher. “He wasn't a 'Bobby Knight' type, but this is a small Baptist school, and he used some words that he wasn't supposed to be using.”

Athletics and Academics

He was born Henry Boyd Hucles, Jr., on November 11, 1897, in Petersburg, Va., the son of Henry Boyd Hucles, Sr., and Ruth (Brown) Hucles. The senior Hucles was one of the founders of the Richmond Planet newspaper.

 
Hucles entered VUU's Wayland Academy in 1917, and excelled in two things: athletics and academics.

In 1919 he was named to the school's Honor Roll in Physics and, in the same year, earned All-American honors as a quarterback for the VUU football team.

By the time he was a senior, Hucles had become player-coach of the Panthers, the first student-athlete to also become coach.

Even though World War I had decimated the school's athletic program, Hucles was able to shine.

“During these years, Hucles developed the famous passing combination of 'Hucles to Taylor,'” the Virginia Union Bulletin noted. “Hucles played quarterback and Taylor, right end, while 'Pope' Gregory was fullback.”

Between 1917 and 1919, VUU won or tied eight out of the nine football games played. The Panthers were undefeated in 1917 and 1918. In 1917, VUU outscored their opponents 91-0.

After the football season ended, Hucles turned to baseball. In 1917 and 1920, VUU captured the mythical “black college baseball national championship” by winning the CIAA Championship.

On the gridiron, Hucles' teams won the same championship by capturing CIAA titles in 1917 and 1918.

Off the field, Hucles kept busy. He was a founder of VUU's Zeta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi in 1919.

Hucles' exploits earned him a scholarship to New York University, where he played football under Frank Gargan. While at NYU, Hucles led the conference in punting and was a star halfback.

As a football coach, Hucles would end up winning more than 90 games at VUU.

“His methods may seem crude to nine out of 10 freshmen, but they soon learn that 'Huc' is a straight-forward, ethical coach,” Lewis White, who played for Hucles, recalled. “The players like him because he does what he promises.”

Fiery Demeanor

His demeanor was win-at-all-costs, however, and McDaniel witnessed the fire that burned within Hucles once.

“Once, our punter was injured, so Coach Hucles put in our backup kicker,” McDaniel called. “Hucles told him to kick the ball out of bounds. So when the ball was snapped, our punter turned to his right and kicked it straight out of bounds. I thought Coach was going to spit on him, he was so mad.”

In 1939, however, Hucles would gain new fame.

The Dream Team

That season the Panthers fielded a basketball team which would change the nature of the game. 

Led by Wiley “Soup” Campbell, Mel Glover and Gil “Pickles” Fraser, VUU racked up a 20-2 record and a CIAA Championship.

But there would be no invitation to any post-season tournaments for the Panthers. Black college teams were excluded from all post-season basketball play, and it would remain that way until the NAIB allowed black players to participate in 1948, and the NCAA and NIT would not allow black players on their courts until 1950.

Hucles, however, worked out a deal in which Long Island University, the 1939 National Invitational Tournament Champions, would play VUU after the NIT.

The Blackbirds finished the 1938-39 season with a perfect 25-0 record and were coached by basketball Hall of Famer Clair Bee.

And the game would be played in New York, at Harlem's Golden Gate Arena at 143^rd Street and Lennox Avenue.

From the opening tip to the final buzzer, the game was never close. Long Island could only muster eight first-half points. When the dust had settled, VUU had downed the “National Champions” 36-28.

The game made headlines from coast-to-coast. Suddenly Virginia Union was the most famous black college in the nation, and “Huc” was it's leader.

The team gained a new name: The Dream Team.

But as quickly as the dream rose, it also started to unravel.

During the 1939-40 season, Hucles' VUU team was playing arch-rival Virginia State College at The Mosque (now the Landmark Theater) in Richmond, Va.

Lacy was refereeing the game, and he had decided to move the game clock back three seconds after a timeout from a Virginia State player.

“Hucles went into a rage,” Lacy recalled in 1969. “He protested the fairness of Virginia State, coached by Big Jeff Jefferson, in calling a timeout at that point and questioned my ability to assess the remaining time as three second, four seconds or one second.”

Lacy said during the argument, a wealthy VUU booster approached the stage.

“Hucles shouted 'Get off this stage, I'll handle this! Don't you ever, as long as you live, encroach on a field where I have a team competing.'”

McDaniel also recalled Hucles' stubbornness.

“We were supposed to be coming home from a game with Hampton, and Coach was driving the car,” McDaniel said. “I told Coach he was going the wrong way, and he said 'Who's driving this car?'” A few miles later we saw a sign that said 'Baltimore,' and Coach told me to drive the car home.

“It's a good thing you're here,” McDaniel said Hucles told him. “While you guys were drinking orange juice during the game, I was drinking beer.”

I don't know if this story is true or not,” Blair remembered. “But 'Soup' Campbell supposedly had an identical twin cousin, and you couldn't tell them apart if you didn't know them. And the cousin was playing professional ball for the New York Rens.”

“So VUU was playing Tennessee State, but Soup came down with the mumps. So Coach took Soup's cousin down to Tennessee instead of Soup, and nobody was the wiser.”

But then, in 1941, the dream became a nightmare.

The Dream Ends

In February, 1941, Hucles, now serving as athletic director as well as basketball and football coach, scheduled a game with the Harlem Globetrotters, to be played on March 7, 1941.

The game was meant to serve as a fund-raiser to raise the necessary money needed to transport the Belgian Friendship Pavilion from New York, N.Y., to Richmond, Va.

One hour before the game was to begin, however, the CIAA forbid VUU to play the Globetrotters.

Hucles, with a sell-out crowd in the Blues Armory in Richmond, and the Globetrotters warming up on the court, made the decision to play the game.

Although the Globetrotters downed VUU 40-38, the real loss was to come a week later by the hands of the CIAA.

In a special meeting of the CIAA held on March 15, 1941, on the campus of Virginia State College, the CIAA formally charged VUU with seven rules infractions.

The CIAA charged Union with using an ineligible player twice during the season. Hucles had used “Soup” Campbell against Brooklyn College and Clark Atlanta during the season, even though he knew Campbell was playing in his fifth year of college ball.

“This violation is all the more a patent or open disregard of the Constitution in the light of the fact, remembered by those here present, that this particular violation was discussed at the last annual meeting (December 13-14, 1940,),” the CIAA wrote in it's decision.

The committee also charged Hucles and VUU with unsportsmanlike conduct when the Panthers played Morgan State University on January 7, 1941.

The third charge was the most damaging. The CIAA charged VUU with playing a professional team (the Harlem Globetrotters) without permission of the CIAA or the NCAA.

“The evidence is so overwhelmingly clear that there can be no reasonable doubt that a violation of amateur status occurred,” The CIAA said.

Hucles had no defense. The game was played, and it was reported in newspapers across the country.

The CIAA handed down a six-month “Death Penalty” on VUU athletics. The CIAA banned Virginia Union from all athletic activity until January 1, 1942.

By that time, not only had the sanctions damaged VUU, but World War II had broken out, draining the male student population who went off to fight.

The repercussions on VUU were severe. After having won three straight CIAA titles in 1939, 1940 and 1941, VUU wouldn't win another basketball title until 1951.

VUU's baseball team, which Hucles had coached since 1924, was dropped altogether by the university in 1942.

The football team, which was discontinued for 1943 and 1944, wouldn't produce another CIAA championship until 1973.

Unexpected Retirement

By 1950, Hucles himself had had enough. The coach decided to retire as athletic director and basketball coach and become a full-time teacher and head of the physical education department at VUU, a position he would hold for another 19 years.

In his time as head basketball coach, he recorded more than 400 wins, a record not surpassed until Dave Robbins won 713 games in 30 years of coaching.

On May 31, 1969, Virginia Union University planned a dinner honoring Hucles for his 50 years of service.

But the university had another surprise for the old coach. They were not renewing his contract.

“He did not know he was being 'retired' by the University!,” Blair said. “When the President of the University (Thomas Henderson) announced he was retiring, Hucles' jaw dropped wide open.”

“My brother blames himself for our grandfather's 'retirement'” Hucles' grandson, Michael Hucles, said.

“Some of that had to do with me, 'cause I attended Virginia Union at the time,” Hucles' grandson, Henry Hucles IV, was quoted in the February, 2007, issue of Virginia Living magazine. “I was boisterous and so forth. You have to keep the context of the times. I was a student radical, okay? I did not like a lot of things, so I got thrown out of the university.”

The next year, VUU said good-bye to Hucles.

In the days that followed Hucles “retirement,” former players came forward to shower their old coach with praise and show their appreciation.

“I enjoyed playing under Hucles,” Fred “Cannonball” Cooper said. “He was a straight-forward guy. He stimulated a person's imagination. He taught me everything I know about coaching.”

“Hucles did a great job under the circumstances, because Union wasn't a rich school,” said Maxie Brown, then the dean of Virginia's high school coaches. “He developed talent out of what he had. I attribute my coaching success to him.”

“Henry Hucles was a fierce battler, unwavering and unrelenting in competition, but the epitome of class once the game was over,” wrote Sam Lacy.

After Union
 

After leaving Virginia Union, Hucles went on to become athletic director at Prairie View A & M University.

On September 10, 1979, Hucles died at age 81. He is interred at Riverview Cemetery in Richmond, Va.

Hucles left behind a rich legacy which continues to this day. 

He was enshrined in the Prairie View A & M Hall of Fame in 1987, the VUU Hall of Fame in 1988, and in the CIAA Hall of Fame 2001.

His son, Henry Boyd Hucles III, became an Episcopalian priest.  Right Reverend Henry Boyd Hucles III administered to the Long Island and Brooklyn communities of New York from 1949 until his passing in 1988. Bishop Hucles served as Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church on Marcy Avenue from 1949 to 1981 and as Archdeacon of Brooklyn from 1979 to 1981. In 1981 he was named Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Long Island, where he served until 1988. He was only the second black Bishop to be ordained for this Episcopal Diocese.

Hucles' grandson, Michael Hucles, is an associate professor of African-American history at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

His great-granddaughter, Angela Hucles, was a starter on the United States Women's National Soccer Team, where she won two Olympic gold medals and two World Cup titles before retiring in October, 2009.

But perhaps no greater compliment about Hucles was written by an unknown player on a souvenir program from Hucles' retirement dinner.

“To my coach…if it had not been for sports at VUU, perhaps I would have been Mr. Nobody.”