Union, Lane to meet in basketball

JACKSON, Tennessee -- Lane College and Union University have diverse student bodies, but athletics is bringing the two educational institutions together Tuesday night as the Bulldogs will host the Dragons for basketball games.

The women will tip off at 6 p.m. The men are scheduled to tip two hours later.

The presidents of the nearby universities — Union’s Dub Oliver and Lane’s Logan Hampton — have appeared together on a number of occasions discussing racial reconciliation and the role each of their universities can and do play in the culture of Jackson and West Tennessee.

That partnership will continue when the teams meet for a rare scheduled game between the programs. The men’s teams met last year during a Gulf South Conference-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showcase.

“We haven’t played much if at all in recent years,” said Union athletic director Tommy Sadler. “We’d play a home-and-home series every year in the 1970s, and Dr. Hampton opened the conversation between he and (Oliver) about the possibility of it happening again soon after they both came to Jackson.”

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