Among his numerous honors for his achievements, he is one of the few African Americans to be inducted as a coach into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Before graduating and becoming a coach, he had an outstanding collegiate career as a football player for Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

[1] In 1946, Wilson left for Shaw University, leaving Gaines as the head coach for football and basketball, athletic director, trainer, and ticket manager.

He led the Rams to 18 20-win seasons, eight CIAA titles, and in 1967 led WSSU to a Division II NCAA Championship, making the Rams the first basketball program from a historically black college or university to capture an NCAA national championship.

The end of the Jim Crow Era laws led to college basketball becoming fully integrated at all levels.

[4] Among Gaines notable student players were Earl Monroe; Cleo Hill, the first African American from an historically Black college or university to be drafted in the first round by the National Basketball Association (St. Louis Hawks, 1961); and Stephen A. Smith, who became a noted commentator and columnist.

[1][6] As of April 2010, Gaines stands ninth on the NCAA men's basketball coaches win list.

[3] After winning the national title in 1967, he was named the NCAA Division II College Coach of the Year.

[8] The C. E. Gaines Center (built 1976), an athletic complex on the WSSU campus and home of the basketball team, is named after him.

In 2010, the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) established the Clarence "Big House" Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year Awards for head coaches in NCAA Division I and Division I who might not otherwise receive recognition from "mainstream outlets."

[11] In 1950, Gaines married the former Clara Berry, a teacher of Latin in the local county public school system.