For HBCU Coaches & Athletes, It's on Your Marks, Get Set...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- The black HBCU coaches attending the 2016 Summer Olympics had 99 problems to worry about in preparing for Brazil.

But the Zika virus isn’t one.

There are at least three coaches representing historically black colleges and universities in Rio de Janeiro this week, anticipating the start of track and field competition Friday.

Those coaches are George Williams, head track coach and athletics director at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s (CIAA) St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina; Maurice Pierce, head track coach at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s (MEAC) Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia; and Lenox Graham, head track coach of the CIAA’s Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Those many worries leading up to the games have included travel, crowds, accommodations, the seemingly endless preparations, the time change and the huge anticipation for their athletes to achieve successes that they worked their entire lives to achieve.

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