High-flying Hawks: Maryland Eastern Shore hoops broke HBCU barriers

PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland -- There isn’t much that’s special about Princess Anne, Maryland. It’s a tiny town of about 4,000 people in the state’s poorest county nestled on the Delmarva Peninsula.
But for one remarkable season — in 1974 — it was near the top of the college basketball universe.

That’s the year that the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks and their high-powered offense went 27-2 and broke a racial barrier by becoming the first men’s basketball team from a historically black college to receive an invitation to one of college basketball’s two premier tournaments, the NCAA and the NIT.

John Bates, head coach of the Hawks, told Sports Illustrated he wanted an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. At the time, the tournament was much smaller, fielding just 25 teams. The Hawks couldn’t crack the NCAAs, but the NIT came calling and the Hawks happily accepted a trip to Madison Square Garden.

An HBCU didn’t make the NCAA tournament until Alcorn State cracked the field in 1980.

But playing in the NIT and breaking down a wall for HBCUs came at a cost for the Hawks. Maryland Eastern Shore was a member of the NAIA, another collegiate athletic association, and it wanted the Hawks to play in its tournament. But Eastern Shore wanted the bigger stage. Bates took his team to the NIT, and the NAIA imposed financial and probationary penalties.

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