Shriners Group to Co-Sponsor NCCU Football Games in 2014/15

Classic to Focus on Raising Awareness of Diabetes

DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina Central University and the Prince Hall Shriners Foundation announced today (Nov. 1) that they would jointly host and sponsor one NCCU home football game for each of the next two seasons.

The game days will be accompanied by events aimed at raising awareness of diabetes, and the games will be billed as the Prince Hall Shriners Diabetes Football Classic.

Ingrid Wicker-McCree, NCCU director of athletics, said the money raised would be directed toward health research conducted by the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI) and NCCU's departments of Nursing, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Public Health Education.

Lula L. Lang-Jeter, president of the Prince Hall Shriners Foundation, said, "The partnership with NCCU will help inform education, testing and research as it relates to diabetes. All of our members in courts and temples around the country provide health education opportunities in their local communities, and this effort helps to support this national priority of the Foundation."

The Shriners Foundation has engaged in similar sponsorships with two other historically black universities — Albany State University in Georgia in 2009-10 and Florida A&M University in 2011-12.

"We are honored to work with the Prince Hall Shriners in this two-year collaboration," Wicker-McCree said. "Their aim is to raise awareness of health disparities, especially diabetes, in our communities and to promote research on these disparities. This is a wonderful way to highlight what BBRI and our health sciences on campus are doing to address these problems."

Cora Cole-McFadden, mayor pro tempore of Durham, stated, "Our city is blessed that NCCU was chosen to host this classic, and Durham will do all it can to ensure that the event is a success. We are confident that the business community will embrace this great opportunity as well to support one of the best universities in the country."

Founded in 1910, North Carolina Central University was the first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans.  Today, this dynamic campus has a diverse student body of 8,300 enrolled in academic programs including law, biotechnology, library science, business, nursing, education and the arts. Visit us at www.nccu.edu.

by Rob Waters, NCCU Public Relations