Grambling's Resurgence Like Old Times for SWAC

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Jackson State again should be favored to win the East Division, but the talent in the league is well-dispersed among five other teams, any of which could find their way to Birmingham in December. Grambling will have to fight off Southern, which was up-and-down last year, in the West. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with Monte Coleman taking over as head coach, has the running game and the defense to contend.

Brandon Landers returns at quarterback for Grambling. Landers improved his passing completion rate from 51 percent in 2006 to 56 percent in 2007, throwing for 23 touchdowns. But his interceptions also jumped from 11 to 18. Landers' top four receivers from 2007 have used up their eligibility, leaving senior Nick Lewis as the most experienced threat...

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DSU's Thompson calls it a career in Arena Football

He hoped to play for one season, but hung around for 13. He had never touched the ball on offense in his life, but finished as one of the leading rushers in league history. And he made his mark off the field, too.

"Not bad for a guy from little old Delaware State," Leroy Thompson said. "I never expected things to work out the way they did, and I never expected to have the career that I had. And now I'm ready for new challenges."

Thompson, an All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player for the Hornets in the early 1990s, recently retired after 13 seasons in the Arena Football League. He spent the first nine seasons with the Albany (later Indiana) Firebirds, one season with the New Orleans VooDoo and the last three with the Columbus Destroyers.

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Q&A: Alabama State OC Noonan brings spread to Hornets

When Reggie Barlow hired Ben Noonan last January, most Alabama State fans had the same response: Who?

It was a reasonable reaction. After all, Noonan, 25, is a young guy who has coached only at West Texas A&M, a Division II school, and Baylor, where he was serving as grad assistant when Barlow came calling. He's called plays just once in his life and has absolutely no connections to ASU or any other historically black college football program.

He was as much of a mystery to fans as he could possibly be. And for the most part, he's remained one. The majority of ASU fans still have no idea who Noonan is, why he was hired and what his plans are.

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UMES Track Athlete Fothergill Heading To Beijing Olympics

KINGSTON, JAMAICA--Allodin Fothergill has had a stellar sophomore year for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). From the start of an early indoor season he has garnered All-MEAC honors, earning two gold medals in the conference championship (200, 400-meter dashes). He then placed 10th in the 400 meter-dash in the NCAA Division I 2008 Indoor Championships (47.24). His performances during the Outdoor season improved as he qualified for the NCAA East Regional track meet. On the big stage he ran 46.40 to advance to the Outdoor National Championship. For personal reasons he would not make the trip to Iowa. But his season wasn't over.

Taking this time off proved successful for the Jamaican native as he returned home to reunite with family and compete in Jamaica's Olympic Trials in Kingston. To say Fothergill represented UMES well would be an understatement. In the 400-meter semifinals he placed third in his heat to advance to the finals. In the final round Fothergill scorched the track to a 4th place finish and an amazing time of 45.97. With his performance Fothergill was named to the Jamaican Olympic team for this year's 2008 Beijing China Olympic Games.

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Summer tour has brought Broadway, Ellis to Grambling faithful

GRAMBLING — For Grambling legend Wilbert Ellis, the summer has been busy —and more than a little nostalgic. He's spent the bulk of the past few weeks on the road with second-year GSU football coach Rod Broadway, visiting alumni and boosters for the program and a proposed museum in honor of Ellis’ old friend, the late gridiron great Eddie Robinson.

Ellis, a former baseball skipper and athletic administrator at Grambling, used to make similar appearances across the Deep South with Robinson during their coaching tenures. “It’s kind of like the old SWAC tours,” Ellis said. “You go from place to place similar to that — and you tell the Grambling story.”

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Mauricia Grant Speaks On Why She Filed A Lawsuit Against NASCAR

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READ THE STORY, VIEW JUNE 17, 2008 BLOG ON THIS SITE.

Ex-TSU Coach Temple led first U.S. team to China in '75

Hall of Fame Coach Ed Temple (Edward S. Temple) is Tennessee's most honored and accomplished track and field coach. His famous Tigerbelles Women's Track Club of Tennessee State University (TSU) won twenty-three gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals, thirty-four national team titles, and thirty medals in the Pan American Games.

Historic track trip helped to open doors

Profoundly polite people, hotels without keys and a relay team with only anchor legs. That's what former Tennessee State track Coach Ed Temple remembers most about a historic 1975 trip to China with a U.S. track and field team. As coach of the first American team to compete in China during the communist era, Temple guided 38 female athletes on a goodwill tour of meets in Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai and Peking, now commonly known as Beijing.

"I was reluctant to go since it was China and no one had ever been to China at that time," Temple said recently. "But I was also curious. It turned out to be one of the most unique experiences I have ever had." With athletes preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Temple looked back on his trip to China, which was just beginning to open its doors to more of the world.

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The 81 year old Coach Temple served the United States and TSU 43 years, retiring in 1993. He is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the TSU Sports Hall of Fame, and has also received the Helms Award.

Mr. Temple attended and graduated from Tennessee State University, (B.S. and M.S. degrees in Health and Physical Education; minor in Sociology). He has also done work toward the doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University.

There is a wonderful story in the biography of Ed Temple on how he was persuaded by his neighbor to attend Tennessee State, that's very funny...

"It was fate and a bit of trickery that led Temple to Tennessee State University.

After his high school graduation in 1946, Tom Harris, Temple's neighbor and also a coach at Tennessee State, persuaded Temple to attend the university by telling him that Leroy Craig would be attending also. Craig was Temple's rival and after hearing this, he turned down Pennsylvania State University because he thought that Tennessee State University must have been a good school if Craig was enrolling, and so he too enrolled.

He later learned that Harris had misconceived Craig with the same story and both gullible athletes were coaxed to attend Tennessee State University. Declining Pennsylvania State University was not an easy task but nevertheless, Temple decided to stay at Tennessee State. A scholarship was not offered, so Temple was forced to compensate for his tuition with work-aid."

Independence Day Fireworks at Washington, D.C.

TSU coach sprints back to Olympics

Cheeseborough is U.S. assistant in women's track

Chandra Cheeseborough's life has been a collection of very fast, very significant footsteps. As a young girl she outran every boy in the neighborhood. As a teenager her feet carried her into the track and field spotlight, where she set American records, won Olympic gold medals and international acclaim.

She kept striding forward and became women's track and field coach at her alma mater, Tennessee State University, taking over the Tigerbelles program for the legendary Ed Temple. Now, as the United States prepares for next month's Olympics in Beijing, the 49-year-old Cheeseborough is taking another big step, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's team.

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As an athlete, Cheeseborough was named to three United States Olympic teams. She placed third as a 17-year old in the 100-meter dash in Montreal. She qualified for the ill-fated 1980 Olympic team that did not compete because of a boycott. In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, she made Olympic history by running a leg on two Gold Medal Relay Teams and was the silver medalist in the 400-meters.

Coach Cheeseborough has led the TSU track program to a pair of consecutive Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track Championships and is the reigning OVC Indoor champion as well. She is a four-time OVC Coach of the Year.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she is a graduate of both Ribault High School and Tennessee State University, earning a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education.

B-CU Coach Kia Davis chooses different path to Beijing Olympics

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"It really hasn't sunk in yet," the 32-year-old Kia Davis said by phone Thursday afternoon. "I want to treat it like just another meet, but I know it isn't just another meet. I'm sure I'll start getting those butterflies inside very soon."
The only thing that would make the experience better is the uniform she will be wearing in China.

Davis will compete for the Republic of Liberia, the homeland of her father and paternal grandparents, not for the United States. She will be competing in the 400-meter dash, and possibly the 200. "It wasn't an easy decision," Davis said. "I agonized over it. I sat down and had a long talk with my coach, Bethune-Cookman University's Garfield Ellenwood, who also is coach of the Liberian national team, my family and my fiancée (Michael Ford, an assistant coach at Baylor).

"I know some people won't like that," said Davis, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University. "They'll think I'm un-American or unpatriotic. I've already received some static over it. If someone can come to this country and take a spot away from an American athlete, why can't an American do the same thing elsewhere?

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FAMU volleyball coach eyes 100th straight league win

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Five players will return to go with three recruits and Barry State transfer Samara Ferraz. That will give him nine to get through the season in which he will be looking for his 100th consecutive MEAC victory. That’s right — 100 in a row.

With the exception of Ferraz, Trifonov recruited the three other players sight-unseen. Two are from Peru and one from Serbia. Each of the players was evaluated based on their performance as witnessed on video, said Trifonov, who is going into his 11th season. In all those years, he’s made only a handful of recruiting trips.

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For Howard's Oliver, Great Leaps Forward

David Oliver has posted three of the world's top five times in the 110-meter hurdles this season, including 12.95 seconds in May.

EUGENE, Ore. -- David Oliver couldn't believe the turn his life had taken. He had graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in marketing for this? He found himself bunking in an Orlando house with three other track athletes, one of whom was sleeping in the living room. They were so broke, they never turned on the air conditioning or used the dishwasher.

Oliver recalls buying five-pound bags of rice at Wal-Mart and pancake mix that required only water, and eating cereal all day long. He drove a rickety 1992 Chevy that sometimes got him to practice without stalling, but usually didn't. And then, once he arrived for his daily training under legendary, old-school coach Brooks Johnson, things got really tough. During Oliver's first practice under Johnson in 2004, the coach demanded nine 300-yard sprints, broken up into three sets.

After each set, Oliver stepped to the side of the track and vomited.



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ASU Hornets' Pierce upbeat about career, team

For the past five years, there has been one constant at Alabama State -- defensive coordinator Tony Pierce.Through the changing of head coaches, an embarrassing NCAA investigation, a SWAC championship and a never-ending carousel of assistant coaches coming and going, Pierce has endured.

Actually, he's done a bit more than endure. Over the past three years, he's put one of the top defensive units in the conference on the field. Although they slipped a bit last year, his Hornets have consistently been one of the stingiest defensive squads in the SWAC. And they've done it while propping up three terrible offensive units.

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SU's House looking to qualify in long jump

Southern University sophomore Jason House was a last-minute addition to the pool of high jumpers competing for three spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

House, the 2008 Southwestern Athletic Conference champion in the high jump both indoors and outdoors, gets his first chance to claim a spot tonight when qualifying for the men’s high jump at the Olympic trials begins at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The high jump is slated to get under way at 9:25 p.m. CDT.

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Ex-WSSU lineman Hayes finds time to give back

William Hayes is in the very early stages of what he hopes will be a successful NFL career but he is also finding time to focus on helping others.

Hayes, a former star at High Point Andrews and Winston-Salem State, was a fourth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in April's NFL Draft. He will speak in Jamestown next week, talking about his life on and off the football field in a speech titled "Making the Right Choices."

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Huntington's Jones headed to UAPB

Pitcher will also walk on to basketball team.

On the basketball court at Huntington High School, Kyle Jones was part of a family affair, playing for his father, Mack. When it came time to pick a college, the younger Jones decided to follow in his father's footsteps — at least geographically.

Kyle Jones signed a baseball scholarship with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff where Mack Jones was a standout basketball player as a collegian. Kyle Jones will have the same opportunity as he will walk on to the Golden Lions' basketball team. "It had a lot to do with it," Kyle Jones said of his family's ties to UAPB. "I always wanted to go there since I was little. I went back in my closet and saw some stuff and I thought, 'I should keep it in the family tradition.'"

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ASU Braves up ante on coaches' salaries

AD Hamilton ushers in change as athletic budget goes from $3.1M to $4.5M

Alcorn State announced the hiring of its third new head coach since December on Tuesday. And for the third time, the athletic department made a significant financial commitment.

Tonya Edwards will make her Division I head coaching debut for the Alcorn State women's basketball program this fall. Athletic director Darren Hamilton signed Edwards to a four-year, $95,000-a-year deal. Alcorn football coach Ernest Jones was hired at $140,000 per year, a $55,000 increase over his predecessor, Johnny Thomas. Larry Smith received a $125,000 base salary when he was hired to replace Sam West in May.

Both Hamilton and Edwards repeated the mantra started when Jones was hired - that it's a new day at Alcorn State and the bar has been raised.

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Two former Norfolk State sprinters qualify for Beijing Olympics

Former All-American Norfolk State sprinters Chris Brown and Chandra Sturrup qualified for the Beijing Olympics with victories in the 400 and 100 meters, respectively, over the weekend at the Bahamas' Olympic trials in Nassau.

Brown, 29, clocked a time of 45.43 seconds to edge 2008 NCAA outdoor 400-meter champion Andretti Bain of Oral Roberts (45.53). It was the second national 400-meter championship in Brown's career. Earlier this month, he set the national record of 44.40 at a meet in Oslo, Norway.

Sturrup, 36, will be competing in her fourth Olympics; she ran in Atlanta (1996), Sydney and Athens. She won the 100 meters in 11.14 seconds over the weekend. She will also compete in Beijing in the 400 relay.

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Former high school football star Lee McElroy finds opportunity in college athletic administration

Photo: Lee McElroy, former president of the National Association of Athletic Directors (2006-07), took a career-killer job at the University of Albany (SUNY) in 2000. While he recognized the problems at the University of Albany--administrative instability, no Division I conference affiliation, mediocre facilities, little private booster support--he also sensed opportunity. Today, under the athletic leadership of McElroy, UAlbany is the star of the East Coast Conference. (Courtesy DONNA ABBOTT VLAHOS THE BUSINESS REVIEW)

When others saw risk, Beaumont native Lee McElroy found opportunity. The oldest of 12 siblings, the former Hebert High School football star became the first to go as far from home has he did. Years later, an unexpected career shift took him from home again, this time on a journey that has allowed him to make as bigger a difference off the field than he ever did on it.

Through it all, McElroy points to a racially segregated upbringing that shaped his values today, as he is one of few African-Americans to run an athletic program at a non-traditionally-black school. "I've had a lot of success everywhere I've been, and that's because I learned to go in and look at an environment and then develop the pieces to make it fit," said McElroy, the director of athletics at New York's University of Albany since 2000.

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McElroy previously served as athletics director for four years at American University in Washington D.C., seven years at California State University-Sacramento and one year at the University of the District of Columbia.

Alcorn State names Tonya Edwards women's basketball coach

Photo: Coach Edwards comes to Alcorn State with superb credentials as a winner, including a high school championship, two national championships with the University of Tennessee Lady Vols in 1986 and 1987; was named MVP of the 1987 NCAA Tournament and named to the 1999 WNBA All-Star Team.

LORMAN, MS — After several weeks of searching, Alcorn State has found its new women’s basketball coach. ASU Athletic Director Darren Hamilton announced Monday that the school has hired Tonya Edwards as the new coach of the Lady Braves, pending approval of the board of trustees.

Edwards will be formally introduced to Alcorn fans at an 11 a.m. press conference today at the University Club in Jackson. Edwards comes to Alcorn State after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Detroit-Mercy. During her tenure she oversaw the budget, scheduled non-conference games and team travel, served as recruiting coordinator and coached the guards.

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