BATON ROUGE - Roman Bates, a longtime football coach and player who spent decades working with kids at Capitol High, passed away Friday. He was 86.

Bates coached football at Capitol High 34 years. He ended his coaching career with a single season at Christian Life Academy and an overall record of 225-158-6, according to The Advocate.

Bates—who's from Memphis, Tennessee—came to Louisiana to participate in track and football at Southern University in 1954. He played defensive end/tight end for the Jaguars and was inducted into the Southern University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

He was inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame as a coach in 2017.

Visitation is scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m. April 9 at Wilson Wooddale Funeral Home, and a private service is scheduled for the next day.