tennis, and volleyball for women. The school is well known for its basketball prominence in the late 1970s being the college for NBA great Robert Parish, and golf ability—in the early 1980s PGA Tour golfer Hal Sutton played there. U.S. Olympics Women's Gymnastics Coach (Tokyo, 1964) Vannie Edwards coached the Centenary women's gymnastics team from 1964 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1985. Coach Edwards was also the team manager for the U.S. Olympics Women's Gymnastics teams in 1968 (Mexico City) and 1972 (Munich). He was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1986. Centenary previously fielded a college football team. From 1927 thru 1936, the team compiled a record of 73–22–11, including two undefeated seasons (1927 & 1932). The 1927 team featured wins over four powers in the Southwest Conference: Southern Methodist, Baylor, Rice, and Texas Christian. The 1932 team featured wins over Louisiana State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Mississippi. Head Coach Homer Norton left Centenary after the 1933 season, and success and fan interest dwindled. After an 0–8–2 season in 1941, the team was discontinued for the duration of World War II due to budget deficits. Football resumed in 1947, but after winning only one game during the season, the football program was halted for good in December 1947. In 2022 Centenary announced that football was to return, with play commencing in the fall off 2024. The school sport's nickname is the Gents; the women's sports' nickname is the Ladies. Prior to adopting the Gents nickname, Centenary's football team was known as the Old Ironsides and had a reputation as a fearsome and powerful team with a penchant for playing rough. To clean up their image, they selected the Gents nickname. In 2013, the Centenary Gents baseball team won the SCAC regular season. It was the school's first regular season championship in any sport since 1991. The Gents baseball team also won the SCAC regular season in 2015. Also, former Centenary Pitcher, Seth Lugo made his MLB debut for the New York Mets on July 1, 2016. Former Centenary Gents pitcher James Hoyt (baseball) was called up by the Houston Astros on August 2, 2016. This marked the first time that two Centenary alumni had played in Major League Baseball at the same time. Hoyt and Lugo were teammates on the 2009 and 2010 Centenary Gents teams. Notable people Alumni Nathan Allen (Class of 1967)