WSSU Peay following in footsteps of his parents

Maybe William Peay should be a history major.

Peay, a freshman basketball player at Winston-Salem State, probably knows more about the history of WSSU than anybody on campus. Peay, a former star at Reagan, has been deeply schooled in WSSU's storied history. His parents, William and Brenda, are 1974 graduates of WSSU and have been active boosters for many years.

"It's amazing," Peay said. "I didn't know I'd wind up here but I always wanted to come; and so when I got the chance, I was ecstatic with the opportunity."

There aren't a lot of young players who dream of one day putting on the WSSU uniform. But Peay is different. If his mother and father weren't regaling him with tales of their time in school — when Big House Gaines ruled the CIAA in basketball and Bill Hayes ruled the CIAA in football — his godfather, Devaldean Penn, was telling him one of his countless stories.

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Videographer: UrbanSportsITG

WSSU Coach Maynor Receives New 5-Year Contract and 43.75% Pay Raise

WSSU Chancellor Dr. Donald Reaves

GREENSBORO, N.C. - He's fourth on N.C. A&T's career passing list, but former All-MEAC quarterback Connell Maynor won't be the Aggies' next football coach.

Maynor, the head coach at Winston-Salem State, said during the weekend he turned down A&T's offer to take over for interim coach and longtime assistant George Ragsdale.

After Maynor turned down the Aggies, Winston-Salem States's Board of Trustees Executive Committee on Monday unanimously approved a new five-year contract that raised his salary from $90,000 to $160,000 a year, Chancellor Donald Reaves told the Journal. Former A&T coach Alonzo Lee's contract was worth $145,000 annually.

"It just wasn't worth the gamble," Maynor told the Journal...

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WSSU's big priority: Retention of athletes

Out with the cockroaches. In with state-of-the-art study space. Winston-Salem State’s work to strengthen its athletics program through the addition of an academic center is complete. The center is in the bowels of the Gaines Center, with part of it using a room known as “The Dungeon.”

Athletics Director Bill Hayes had a vision to build a place where athletes could go to study or for tutoring. “Who would have thought that ‘The Dungeon’ that was infested with cockroaches could be turned into an academic center?” Hayes said.

Chancellor Donald Reaves has talked at length about retention of all students at WSSU, including student-athletes. The new center features a computer lab with 10 computers and enough space for as many as 45 athletes to study at one time.


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WSSU trying to tweak its Stadium lease

AD Hayes, trying to trim costs, talks of purchasing Bowman Gray

There was much to celebrate in 2006 when the city-owned Bowman Gray Stadium began to build a state-of-the art field house that included two football practice fields.

Winston-Salem State University, the main tenants of the nearly 21,000 square foot complex, signed a 30-year lease then to begin paying off $3.3 million to the city. Most of the athletics department offices are in the field house, along with a weight room and a training room for the football team. However, the lease amount doesn't include the weekly rent that WSSU pays to play its home football games.

Bill Hayes, the athletics director since January, is talking with city officials to try to reduce the expenses for using the stadium on game days.

According to Bucky Dame, the director of Joel Coliseum and Bowman Gray Stadium, the rent for each game will be $3,785, plus operating expenses.

In 2006 the rent for each game was about $400 less, but Dame said that the gradual increase is because expenses are higher.

WSSU, which will play four home games at Bowman Gray Stadium this season, also pays operating expenses for each game. Dame said that those operating expenses vary depending on the size of the expected crowd and other factors.

When WSSU decided to leave the CIAA four years ago to begin transition to NCAA Division I, it decided to start charging for parking and tailgating at Bowman Gray Stadium. Dame said that the agreement, which is still in place, is that the city and WSSU split the revenue for parking.

The city receives all the revenue from concessions, according to Dame.



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Winston-Salem State Rams to bring back baseball‎

Winston-Salem State University is bringing back baseball, a sport it last offered in the early 1970s. The team will start play in the spring of 2011, a condition of the school's readmission to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

Leon Kerry, the CIAA commissioner, said: "We have a rule that was voted in by the CIAA Board of Directors that any school that comes into the conference had to have a baseball program. This was part of the deal with Winston coming back." Chancellor Donald Reaves of WSSU confirmed yesterday that plans to add baseball are in the works but said all details have yet to be worked out. Kerry said that WSSU is on the CIAA schedule for next season.

"I'm really excited about baseball coming to Winston-Salem State," Reaves said. "I think this will help raise the profile of athletics, and it's also great for the profile of the university.

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