Hall of Fame
• Was director of athletics and head football coach during his 13 seasons at XULA (1947-60)
• Also spent time at XULA as head coach of men's track and field and men's basketball
• XULA football players he coached included Marino Casem, Doug Porter and
Otis Washington, all of whom earned hall-of-fame honors as football coaches
• Priestley's best XULA football teams:
— 1951: 8-1 record, including victories against Grambling (25-7 on Oct. 6)
and Southern (22-8 on Dec. 1)
— 1950: 7-1 record with five shutout victories
• Coached XULA men's track and field to seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
outdoor team championships: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956
• After XULA discontinued intercollegiate athletics in May 1960, Priestley
worked at the university as a faculty member and director of intramurals until his retirement in 1969
• After Priestley retired from XULA, the university created an athletic scholarship in his honor
• Elected in 1951 as a vice president of the Southern Coaches and Officials Association
• Coached Xavier Prep's football team to a high school state championship in 1937
• An All-America football center during the 1920s at his alma mater, Howard University . . . graduated from Howard
with a degree in civil engineering
• Inducted in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1981
• Born in 1900 and died in 1998 at age 98
