Legendary ACU basketball coach Willard Tate died Friday after a long battle with an illness, he was 74.

Tate served as head basketball coach at ACU for seven years from 1973-1980, leading the Wildcats to a team-best 27-5 record during the 1979-80 season. In his time at ACU, the Wildcats compiled a 119-79 record.

Tate graduated from Alabama Christian College in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree  before receiving his master’s in education from Troy University in 1965.

In 2008, the men’s basketball locker room was renamed “Willard Tate Wildcat Den” in honor of Tate’s service to the university as a coach and an associate professor in the department of communication.

He was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Funeral service times have yet to be announced.