Costa "Pop" and Emma Kittles
Costa Kittles was affectionately known as “Pop,” was a football and baseball star at FAMU during the late 1940s and 1950s. He garnered All‐America honors in football as an end in 1950 under the legendary A.S. “Jake” Gaither and was an all‐star catcher for the baseball team under the late Dr. Oscar A. “Chief” Moore.
Impact
Nineteen of Coach Kittles’ players were signed or drafted to the professional leagues, including Hal McRae, Andre Dawson, and Vince Coleman, as well as the late William “Bill” Lucus, the first African‐American executive in major league baseball history when he worked for the Atlanta Braves. Costa Kittles retired from coaching in 1982 and retired from the University as an assistant professor in Health, Physical Education and Recreation in 1995. He was inducted into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1999, the Florida A&M baseball field was renamed, Moore‐Kittles Field in honor of Kittles and his college coach, Dr. Oscar Moore.