Crisp was born on August 13, 1907, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He attended Ardmore Douglass High School, where the played as a halfback on the first football team ever fielded by the school, in 1923. He then played football, again as a halfback at Langston. After graduating from Langston in 1931, Crisp returned to Ardmore Douglas as an assistant football coach under E. W. Toliver before succeeding him as head football coach the next year. He also coached basketball at Ardmore Douglass.[1]
Crisp was hired as head football coach at Langston in 1958.[2] He retired as head football coach and athletic director at Langston in 1970.[3]