Former FAMU basketball coach found dead

Photo: Dr. Willie W. Booker, a former head men’s basketball coach at FAMU and Roxbury Community College, began his new role July 2 as PBCC's new athletic director

From: The Capital Outlook and Palm Beach Post

The Capital Outlook has learned that former Florida A&M head basketball coach Willie Booker has died. Rumors of Booker's death were confirmed this afternoon when Dr. Dennis P. Gallon, president of Palm Beach Community College, where Booker had just started July 2 as athletic director, sent a campus-wide email announcing the death.

Booker coached the Rattlers from 1984-1993 compiling a 137-125 record while winning two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles. He also directed FAMU to its only 20 win seasons in 1988 and again in 1989.

No details on the cause of his death have been released, although family members say he was in the act of moving from Orlando to Palm Beach.

Unconfirmed reports say school officials became concerned when Booker failed to show for an important meeting with coaches on yesterday.

After he left Florida A&M, Booker began working on his doctorate at Temple.

But Booker wanted to get back into college athletics and ran into several colleagues at the recent National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors convention in Orlando who knew about the opening at Palm Beach Community College. Booker was eager to apply to PBCC.

Quincy Moore, PBCC vice president of student services, liked Booker's enthusiasm and looked at his recent business career as a positive, instead even though he wasn't working in collegiate athletics.

"He worked hard to get back into athletics, and by coming back he is so well-rounded," Moore said. "He can look at things from a variety of directions."