by Donal Ware
As 2019 dissipates and 2020 is right upon us, BOXTOROW lists its big stories of the decade in HBCU sports. These aren’t in any particular order. Give us your thoughts and some stories that were big to you from 2010-2019. Twitter: @boxtorow Facebook: box2row
WSSU plays in national championship game: Connell Maynor came in as Winston-Salem State’s head coach to start the decade and had immediate success. The Rams were one loss away from playing in the CIAA championship game in 2010. The Rams bounced back in 2011 and made it to the semifinals of the national playoffs, something no HBCU had done since Florida A&M made it to the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs in 1999. Then in 2012, the Rams bested their 2011 season, going undefeated and made it to the national championship game, falling to Valdosta State 35-7. In 2011 and 2012, the Rams were named BOXTOROW HBCU national champions.
Number of players at high level in pro sports: While the decade saw only 22 HBCU football players drafted into the National Football League and one NBA player drafted, more former HBCU players are arguably playing at a high level then in the previous decade. Former Howard star Antoine Bethea,who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft, just completed his 14th season in the league and started his 16th game for the Giants against the Eagles for the ninth time in his career. While with the San Francisco 49ers, he was named to his third Pro Bowl in 2014. In this decade, Bethea has played in 220 games, started 211 and has only missed 15 games in his career. Bethea’s former teammate and former Alabama A&M star Robert Mathis retired in 2016, but had a strong decade, being named to three Pro Bowls, named AFC Defensive Player of the Year and first team All-Pro and led the National Football League in sacks (19.5). In the decade, he registered 60 sacks. Towards the latter part of the decade, players like Darius Leonard (South Carolina State), Tarik Cohen (North Carolina A&T), Terron Armstead (UAPB), and Javon Hargrave (South Carolina State) have been elite players and have shown that you can go to an HBCU and shine on the next level. Leonard was named NFL Rookie of the Year and first team All-Pro in 2018 and followed up his league leading 163 tackles in 2018 with 121 in two less games in 2019. The two-time BOXTOROW Willie Davis Defensive Player of the Year was selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Cohen was selected by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft and immediately took the league by storm. In 2018 he was named first team All-Pro as a punt returner and named to the Pro Bowl. Armstead was drafted in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. He got his first start at left tackle towards the end of his rookie seasoned has been the starter since, protecting Drew Brees’ blind side. He is one of the best offensive linemen in the National Football League, has been voted to the last two Pro Bowls and was second team All-Pro in 2018. Hargrave has been ultra consistent since being drafted in the third round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016. He has essentially been the starter for the Steelers at nose tackle since Day 1. In 2019 Tytus Howard was a first round draft choice and helped to improve the Texans much maligned offensive line. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was in the conversation for NFL MVP and despite playing in only eight games, he was named to the All-Rookie team. Cleveland Browns rookie punter Jamie Gilliam also had a strong rookie campaign, making the team as an undrafted free agent. He was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September and averaged 46.2 yards per punt on the season. In Major League Baseball, quite a few players were drafted this decade and a few had some success in the decade, most notably former Southern stars Rickie Weeks (2011 All-Star) and Fred Lewis, and former Bethune-Cookman stars Peter O’brien (2nd round draft choice by Yankess in 2012), and Hiram Burgos.
Norfolk State defeats Missouri in first round: Seems like this happens every decade. In 1993, Southern knocked off Georgia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 1997, No. 15 Coppin State knocked off No. 2 South Carolina and was a potential turnover away from upsetting Texas in the second round. In 2001, No. 15 Hampton knocked off No. 2 Iowa State. In 2012, the Kyle O’Quinn led Spartans knocked off No. 2 Missouri in the Round of 64. O’Quinn, the BOXTOROW National Player of the Year, went on to be drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic and is currently with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Rod Broadway/A&T football: The Aggies end the decade as HBCU national champions for three straight seasons, the last two coached by Sam Washington, but the Aggies began the decade as one of the worst programs in HBCU football. The decade began with a 1-10 record. The Aggies hired Rod Broadway as head coach and despite having a total equivalency of just 30 scholarships, the Aggies
finished 5-6 that season, losing the last four games of the season, all on the road by a touchdown or less. In 2013, the Aggie pulled off a big upset defeating Appalachian State who was making the move to FBS. The Aggies shared the MEAC championship in 2014 and 2015 and won it outright in 2017. The Aggies also won the inaugural Celebration Bowl in 2015 and won it again in 2017 as well as making an at-large FCS playoff appearance in 2016. Broadway became the only coach to lead three different programs to HBCU national championships and was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. The College Football Hall of Fame awaits him.
UMES Bowling: The Lady Hawks did something that not many HBCUs can make claim to at the NCAA (Division I) level which is winning a national championship. The Lady Hawks won their second national championship in 2011 (following up the 2008 national
championship). Former head coach Sharon Brummell, up until that time, was the only woman to lead a bowling program to a national title. Student-athltes from that team included Paula Vilas, Anggie Ramirez, Martha Perez, Megan Buja, T’nia Falbo, Kristina Frahm, and Maria Rodriguez.
Tarik Cohen: Former North Carolina A&T running back Tarik Cohen is arguably the player of the decade in HBCU sports. Cohen started the decade as an undersized sophomore running back on the Bunn (N.C.) High School football team. By his senior year in
college, he had become the MEAC’s all-time leading rusher amassing 5,619 yards. He is the only four-time BOXTOROW All-American (won Rookie of the Year in 2013 and named to the team in 2014-16). He was all over ESPN for his prowess of bing able to catch footballs off the JUGS machine while doing a flip. He became nationally known with his 297-yard, three-touchdown performance against Alcorn State in the inaugural Celebration Bowl in 2015.
Hampton Lady Pirates: Three decades ago the Hampton Lady Pirates Basketball Team won the Division II national championship. And while in this decade at the Division I level that didn’t happen, the Lady Pirates won numerous conference championships and
made some other teams from bigger schools uncomfortable including a should have been win against Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2011. The Lady Pirates won six MEAC Tournament championships, including five in a row (2010-14) and made six trips to the NCAA Tournament. David Six has built a strong team and had one of the best athletes of the decade as a player in Malia Tate-Defreitas who was a two-time MEAC Player of the Year, MEAC Rookie of the Year, and scored 2,214 points in her Lady Pirates career.
Hampton to Big South: It may be too early to tell if this move will pay dividends for the Pirate program, but so far, at least from a football perspective, it has been rocky. The Pirates decided to announce the move to leave the MEAC toward the end of the 2017 football season, not giving proper notice to the MEAC by the deadline and causing an uproar in the HBCU world. After settling financially with the MEAC in 2018, the Pirates officially left for the Big South. To this point no MEAC teams have played the Pirates in football (Howard the exception this year, but the game was played via third party at Chicago Football Classic). Of the Pirates 22 games the last two seasons, eight have been against non-Division I opponents. In other sports, the men’s and women’s indoor track and field team won the Big South titles in 2019 and the men’s and women’s basketball teams continue to have some success. In 2016, HU became the first HBCU to field a Division I men’s lacrosse team and its first game was covered by ESPN.
Celebration Bowl: With the last Heritage Bowl taking place in 1999, talk of a new national championship type of game for HBCUs began to take place at the beginning of the decade. Initially titled Legacy Bowl, most in the MEAC was not in favor of this game, mostly because programs like Bethune-Cookman and South Carolina felt as though they could have success in the national playoffs. Three or four years later, success in the national playoffs seemed far off and ESPN came to the table offering $1 million to the winner of the proposed Celebration Bowl between the champions of the SWAC and MEAC. (We can debate about how much ultimately ESPN gives the schools/conference at another time.) Unlike the Heritage Bowl, it was mandated that the MEAC champion must play in the game and not opt for the FCS playoffs, as would the SWAC champion. The game has brought much more exposure to HBCU football, is nationally televised on ABC, and up until this year was the opening game to kickoff the college bowl season.
TV and HBCU sports: Speaking of national exposure, games being televised has really stepped up towards the latter part of the decade. Most HBCU schools televise their football and basketball games. The SWAC Digital Network was launched in 2013 and the
CIAA Digital Network in 2018. The MEAC announced a partnership with ESPN in 2018 to stream football games and in 2019, all MEAC football games were streamed on ESPN3 or ESPN+. ESPN continued to televise the MEAC/SWAC Challenge on ESPN2 (a time or two on ESPN), MEAC and SWAC Thursday night football games (ESPNU) and Monday night basketball games as well as softball, baseball, and volleyball games. The NFL Network showed it first HBCU football game in 2019, televising the Pro Football hall of fame game between Morehouse and Alabama A&M.
Grambling boycott: The boycott by the Grambling football team in 2013 was an eyeopener. The boycott brought about the awareness of some of the conditions that student-athletes faced, not only at Grambling, but other schools. You could in some ways look at it as a precursor to where we are today with the welfare of student-athletes and whether or not they should be paid. As for the background of the boycott, former head coach Doug Williams was fired three games into the 2013 season. Student-athletes were frustrated with that, long bus rides to games, lack of facilities, and unhealthy conditions. The story was covered from outlets all over the world.
Cancellation of CIAA championship game: Also in 2013, the CIAA football championship game was canceled because of a fight that took place between Virginia state and Winston-Salem state at a press luncheon the day before the championship game.
Reports vary as to what exactly happened and what led to the fight, but this was the first time in recent memory that a championship game was canceled. WSSU went on to represent the conference in the Division II playoffs and the next year, Virginia State defeated WSSU in the championship game.
Top 3 rappers arguably in the game all played ball at HBCUs: You could argue that 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, and Wale were the best or at least hottest rappers at the beginning of the decade and all three have been extremely relevant throughout the decade. All three would be on lists for best rappers of the decade. Did you know that all three attended and played sports at HBCUs? 2 Chainz played basketball at Alabama State from 1995-97. He transferred briefly to Virginia State, but earned his degree from ASU. Ross attended Albany State College (now University) on a football scholarship. Mike White, who was defensive coordinator at the time and most recently was head coach at Benedict, said Ross “was a good offensive lineman that had a lot of potential.” Wale started out on a football scholarship at Robert Morris, before transferring to Virginia State. He ultimately went back to his native Washington to attend Bowie Sate.
Shaw women win national championship: It had been since 1988 when a Division I or II basketball team had won a national championship. The Shaw Lady Bears under the direction of Jacques Curtis had knocked on the door in the previous decade, winning
four-straight CIAA Tournament championships, five total, and two Elite 8 appearances (’05, ’06). The Lady Bears won four-straight CIAA tournament championships to begin this decade, made five straight NCAA Regional appearances, a Final Four appearance in 2011 and then ultimately won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2012, defeating Ashland 88-82 in overtime. (Ashland went on to win the national championship the following season.)
Miles dominant in SIAC football championship era: Albany State, one of the dominate teams along with Tuskegee in the two previous decades, began the decade winning the SIAC championship. Enter the championship game format and head coach Reginald Ruffin in 2011 and the Miles Golden Bears won the inaugural game, won in 2015 and has won the last two to end the decade. Ruffin did it with four different starting quarterbacks. Miles made another appearance in 2013, falling to Albany State. The Golden Bears also made two appearances in the Division II playoffs (2015, 2019).
Donal Ware is the host of FROM THE PRESS BOX TO PRESS ROW, which since August 2005, has been heard on radio stations across the country as well as on Satellite Radio on SiriusXM.