Pine Bluff’s Torii Hunter at home in L.A., continues to be a force on, off the field

Photo: Los Angeles Angels superstar Torii Hunter has provided UAPB with $500,000 in seed money to build an on campus baseball only stadium. The facility will be named in honor of Hunter, who never attended college.

Torii Hunter has won seven Gold Glove awards. He’s been named an American League All-Star twice. And the new contract he recently signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim makes him one of the wealthiest professional athletes in the world today.

The day the Pine Bluff native was taken 20th overall in the 1993 amateur baseball draft by the Minnesota Twins, he could’ve left his hometown and never looked back, like many athletes tend to do. But that’s not Hunter.

“I just like to help people,” Hunter said modestly. “And I’m in the position to do it.”

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Prairie View A&M selects interim AD

PRAIRIE VIEW — Prairie View A&M named Fred Washington as its interim athletic director Wednesday, effective May 1.

Washington has served as the school's vice president of administration and auxiliary services and will oversee the Panthers' athletic program in the wake of Charles McClelland's departure to Texas Southern last week.

"Mr. Washington is the right person for the job; as a part of the university's Athletic Council, he is knowledgeable about the current projects and all the program's activities," said Prairie View president George C. Wright.

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UAPB's Ivory Signs Five in First Recruiting Class

Photo: UAPB Golden Lion head basketball coach George Ivory.

PINE BLUFF - George Ivory, recently hired as University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men's basketball coach, announced a signing class of five athletes following the start of the spring national signing period on April 16. The Golden Lions signed three high school and two junior college transfers to NCAA national letters of intent.

"We're very excited about these players," Ivory, a former UAPB assistant coach who spent the past season on the staff at Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Mississippi Valley State. "I believe we've addressed some much-needed areas in our program with these five signees."

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Hampton's Marcus Dixon prepares for 2008 NFL Draft, Looks to Escape Past

Photo: Marcus Dixon, #94 (left) intercepts pass from defensive end position against Morgan State.

Marcus Dixon, a defensive end from Hampton University, is hoping to get selected in the 2008 NFL Draft on Saturday despite his troubled past. While in high school, Dixon, then a student at Pepperell H.S. in Lindale, Georgia, had a controversial record of incidents.

Two alleged incidents got him suspended from school for a total of 10 days. In March of his sophomore year, Dixon exposed himself in a classroom, and a year later he allegedly touched a 14-year-old girl inappropriately after track practice. Neither situation was reported to the Floyd County police despite his suspension.

According to an ESPN report, the first incident was a "stupid prank", while the second incident was of Dixon and the girl "making out".

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Morgan State's Coly decides to go pro

Photo: NBA draft prospect Boubacar Coly.

Boubacar Coly, Morgan State's 6-foot-9 defensive enforcer, will forgo his last year of NCAA eligibility to pursue a pro basketball career, Bears coach Todd Bozeman said this week. Coly, who played this season as a 24-year-old graduate student, leaves as reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He led the MEAC in rebounds (10.9 per game) and blocked shots (84).

A native of Senegal, Coly transferred from Xavier University, where he played in only a handful of games while undergoing two knee surgeries. He earned a degree in mass communication there, and that enabled him to play his first season at Morgan in 2006-07.

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Howard U., Georgetown Agree to Four-Game Series in Football

The Georgetown and Howard football teams have agreed to a four-game series that will begin on Sept. 6 at Howard. The division I-AA schools have not met in football previously. "I have seen both schools play over the years and as a Washingtonian, I always wondered why we were not playing each other," Howard Athletic Director Dwight Datcher said.

The schools will take turns hosting the game through 2011. Georgetown, a member of the Patriot League, went 1-10 last season. Howard, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, went 4-7.

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Morgan State Announces 2008 Football Schedule

MSU Sports Information

BALTIMORE, Md. - The 2008 Morgan State Bears prepare for another challenging schedule under 7th year head coach Donald Hill-Eley. The Bears’ season will include 7 road games and 5 games at Hughes Stadium. (Some game times have yet to be announced.)

Morgan State will open the 2008 season on the road and finish the year off with two games at home. The Bears will start the season by playing against two of their three non-conference foes of 2008. "We are excited about the challenge of 12 consecutive games in a row, said Hill, " and the opportunity to play a BCS Bowl Championship team (Rutgers)."

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Date Opponent Location Time/Result
9/6/2008 Towson Towson, Md. TBA
9/13/2008 North Carolina Central (Prince Hall Day) Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
9/20/2008 * Winston-Salem State Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA
9/27/2008 Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ TBA
10/4/2008 * Bethune-Cookman (Varsity "M" Letterman's Day/Fullwood Youth Day) Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
10/11/2008 * North Carolina A&T Greensboro, N.C. TBA
10/18/2008 * Howard Washington, D.C. TBA
10/25/2008 * Delaware State (Homecoming) Hughes Stadium 1:00 p.m.
11/1/2008 * Florida A&M Tallahassee, Fla. TBA
11/8/2008 * Norfolk State Norfolk, Va. 1:00 p.m.
11/15/2008 * South Carolina State Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
11/22/2008 * Hampton Hughes Stadium 1:00 p.m.

Morgan State University Marching Band 2007 "Torture"

Jackson State women win SWAC Track and Field Title

NEW ORLEANS — When Pauline Banks got hired away from her alma mater, Mississippi Valley State, to take over the Jackson State’s women program, she promised progress in five years. True to her word, Jackson State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference women’s track and field outdoors championship by holding off Grambling, 182.5 points to 180, Monday at Tad Gormley Stadium, and Banks will make five years in September.

Leadrianna White, the outstanding field performer, contributed 20 points by winning the hammer throw and the shot put. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Banks said. “We just kept putting numbers where we needed to be.”

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Southern University women's basketball signs 3 prospects

The Southern women’s basketball team has landed a big one in 6-foot-4 center Sabrina Scott. The heir apparent to 6-4 Fredrieka Lewis was a recruiting must and one of a trio of players signing Tuesday and Wednesday.

Duncanville (Texas) High guard Carneta Henderson and forward Chardennae McGowan of Houston also have signed with SU. That brings the current signing class to four. We’re just ecstatic. … I think we sold her the first time she tasted the crawfish,” Pugh said of Scott, from Mount Tahoma in Tacoma, Washington. “There’s nothing like a little Louisiana food to entice the average person.”

A week earlier, Southern signed 6-0 forward Kim Griffin of Southwest Mississippi Community College.

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New Jacksonville State basketball coach aims to build program with good citizens

JACKSONVILLE, AL - New Jacksonville State University men's basketball coach James Green promised to develop good players and good citizens as he was introduced to supporters and media on Wednesday. Green's contract at JSU will be for five years and is expected to pay approximately the same as the $106,000 paid LaPlante.

Video: http://www.annistonstar.com/PDF/video/042408jsu.htm

Green, who also coached eight years at Southern Mississippi, becomes the first black head coach in a major sport at JSU and just the second in any sport there. He will also be the second black men's head coach in the Ohio Valley Conference, joining Cy Alexander of historically black Tennessee State University.

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ASU basketball player dies in pickup game

Grief counselors were at Alabama State University's Joe L. Reed Acadome hours after 19-year-old Deshean Porchea died Wednesday during a pickup basketball game on campus. They will have their work cut out for them.

This is just a heartbreaking loss for us," said ASU head basketball coach Lewis Jackson about the death of Porchea, a player on the team that won the regular season SWAC championship just a month ago. "I don't think we've comprehended it all just yet." Wednesday there were many mourners, but few answers.

Porchea, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound sophomore from Rochester, N.Y., was playing basketball with a large group of students in ASU's Lockhart Gymnasium when he collapsed. He never regained consciousness.

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MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street creates Division II site

Today, we launched a mirror site of MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street to cover Division II HBCU sports for both the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Division II HBCU Independent programs.

Our objectives are to maximize exposure for these 23 member institutions and to develop a repository of current HBCU sports information on Division II athletic programs.

You may visit the new site, "CIAA/SIAC Sports Main Street" at: http://ciaasiacsports.blogspot.com/

For the 38,658 regular visitors to "MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street," we hope you equally enjoy the CIAA/SIAC site and continue to share the information with others around the world. The MEAC/SWAC site has regular visitors from 104 countries and territories--which indicates that HBCU sports are important and have a global marketplace.

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FAMU athletics certified by NCAA

Florida A&M's athletic program, which has struggled with academic problems in recent years, received good news from the NCAA on Wednesday. The Rattlers' program received a designation of certified from the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification.

FAMU, which underwent an athletic peer review session in October, was one of 35 institutions designated as certified. Two other schools were certified with conditions. All 326 active Division I members participate in the certification process.

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The following 35 institutions were certified, including MEAC members FAMU, Morgan State and Hampton University (with conditions):

• University of Arizona
• Austin Peay State University
• University of California, Irvine
• Chicago State University
• The Citadel
• University of Connecticut
• Duquesne University
• Florida A&M University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Georgia State University
• University of Houston
• McNeese State University
• Morgan State University
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
• Nicholls State University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Pepperdine University
• Purdue University
• Robert Morris University
• Sacred Heart University
• St. Peter’s College
• University of South Florida
• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Texas at Arlington
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)
• University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
• University of Toledo
• Utah State University
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
• Western Michigan University
• University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
• Wofford College
• Xavier University

In addition, two Division I institutions have been certified with conditions:
• Hampton University
• New Mexico State University

This classification means that the institution is considered to be operating its athletics program in substantial conformity with operating principles adopted by the NCAA’s Division I membership. However, problems identified during the course of the institution’s self-study and the peer-review team’s evaluation were considered serious enough by the Committee on Athletics Certification to cause it to withhold full certification until those problems have been corrected. The NCAA does not divulge specific information related to an institution’s self-study or peer-review visit or specific information concerning the conditions set forth for certification.

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Green introduced as new Gamecock hoops coach

Photo: Former Mississippi Valley State University head basketball coach James Green was introduced as the new head coach at Jacksonville State University.

Jacksonville State University formally introduced James Green as the Gamecocks' new men's basketball head coach at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Green becomes the 10th head coach of the JSU men's basketball team, taking over for eight-year coach Mike LaPlante, whose contract was not renewed at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Building teams around defense and rebounding, Green served the last three seasons as head coach at Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena, Miss., where he guided the Delta Devils to the SWAC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to top-seeded UCLA in the first round.

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FAMU's Roosevelt Kiser, Hampton's Princeton Shepherd sign with CFL Roughriders

Photo: FAMU's former WR/KR, Roosevelt Kiser runs for 72 yard TD against Virginia Union in 2004. The Fort Lauderdale, FL native was cut by the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars.

Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed import receivers Roosevelt Kiser, Princeton Shepherd and DaVon Fowlkes to one-year plus an option contracts. Financial details of the signings were not released.

“These three young men will be competing as wide receivers in training camp,” stated Roughriders’ general manager Eric Tillman. “Princeton is a former quarterback, but his height, athletic skill set and understanding of defenses will certainly help him in the attempted transition. DaVon and Roosevelt are both smaller receivers with excellence quickness, and they will also be given strong consideration for our special teams opening. Each can make things happen in the open field, and establishing a quality return game will be one of our highest priorities in training camp.”

Photo: Columbia, S.C. native Princeton Shepard is attempting to make the Roughriders roster as a WR. The former quarterback played at Hampton University during the 2004-2006 seasons with career totals of 43 games, 48 touchdowns and over 5, 494 in total offense.

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This will not be a cakewalk for the former MEAC players making the final roster with the 2007 Grey Cup Champions Roughriders. As import players, they will have to beat out other import players for a roster spot.

Here is how the CFL Import Player rule works...

The roster size for a CFL team is 40 players. 3 of the 40 are Quarterbacks and can be either imports or non-imports no restrictions. Of the remaining 37 players, no more than 18 may be imports. Therefore the maximum amount of imports allowed per team is 21.

View Roster: http://www.saskriders.com/

Jacksonville State-Alabama State football 'Spygate' escalates; sanctions possible

JACKSONVILLE, AL — The Spygate controversy that added spice to the weeks leading to last season's Jacksonville State-Alabama State football opener has turned into possible NCAA sanctions for the Gamecocks.

JSU president Bill Meehan is scheduled to meet with NCAA officials at an undisclosed location next week to discuss the case, which began as a self-reported secondary violation and has escalated, according to a university source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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Bethune Cookman Wildcats release 2008 football schedule

BCU will play 11 football games next season, including nine Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference games. Eight of the conference games will count in the standings, while Winston-Salem State plays its final MEAC provisional season.

The Wildcats will host Norfolk State, Delaware State, North Carolina A&T and Howard. They'll meet Florida A&M in the annual Florida Classic in Orlando on Nov. 22 and play South Carolina State, Morgan State, Winston-Salem and Hampton on the road.

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BCU 2008 Football Schedule

Sept. 6 Alabama State, 4 p.m. (home)
Sept. 13 at S.C. State, TBA
Sept. 20 Savannah State, 4 p.m. (home)
Sept. 27 Norfolk State, 4 p.m. (home)
Oct. 4 at Morgan State, 4 p.m.
Oct. 11 Delaware State, 4 p.m. (home)
Oct. 25 at Winston-Salem St., 2 p.m.
Nov. 1 North Carolina A&T, 4 p.m. (home)
Nov. 8 at Hampton, 2 p.m.
Nov. 15 Howard, 4 p.m. (home)
*-Nov. 22 vs. Florida A&M, 3:15 p.m.

*-at Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Bethune Cookman University Marching Wildcats Band

DSU finalizes 2008 football schedule

Delaware State University's 2008 football schedule will feature non-conference games against Kent State and Central Connecticut State, the school announced today.

The Hornets, who went 10-2 and earned their first Division I-AA playoff berth last season by winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, open the 2008 season Sept. 6 at home against MEAC rival Florida A&M.

“This schedule is going to be challenging,” head coach Al Lavan said in a press release. “Opening with Florida A&M and then testing ourselves against an upper level program at Kent State. It will most certainly give us the opportunity to continue to grow our football program.”

Photo: The DSU Hornets opens the 2008 season with the FAMU Rattlers in a home contest at Alumni Stadium, Dover, Delaware.

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DSU 2008 football schedule
Sept. 6, vs. Florida A&M*
Sept. 13 at Kent State
Sept. 27 vs. Central Connecticut State
Oct. 4 vs. Hampton*
Oct. 11 at Bethune-Cookman*
Oct. 18 vs. North Carolina A&T* (homecoming)
Oct. 25 at Morgan State*
Nov. 1 vs. South Carolina State*
Nov. 8 vs. Winston-Salem State
Nov. 15 at Norfolk State*
Nov. 22 at Howard*

* MEAC game
Game times to be determined

Jones, Schalch push FAMU by Alabama St.

Photo: FAMU Outfielder Jared Grace, 6-5/210 junior, Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola Junior College.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Tim Jones homered in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie and Tim Schalch added a couple insurance runs in the ninth to lead Florida A&M (14-18) past Alabama State 6-3 in a nonconference baseball game Tuesday.

Schalch also picked up the win after pitching a complete game on the mound. He held the Hornets (13-16) scoreless and with only three hits until the seventh when ASU scored three runs to tie the game. After Jones' homer in the eighth put the Rattlers up 4-3, Schalch doubled home Jared Grace and Jared Jeffries for the final tally.

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FAMU launches coalition for National Minority Cancer Awareness Week

April 20-26 is National Minority Cancer Awareness Week and Florida A&M President James Ammons launched the week off by announcing the start of a Coalition on African American Men's Health.

Administrators say the mission of the coalition is to develop, promote and sustain independent men's health research and training at FAMU. But the reasons behind forming the new group is to correct statistics which show that black men are disproportionately affected by cancer.

The coalition has been initiated to increase awareness on the disproportionate burden of cancer among the minorities and inform the public on the universities' initiatives.

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TIMEOUT

If you are a regular reader of MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street, you may have noticed that no posts were made during the period of April 16 - April 22. The reason for the brief exodus was due to the death of my oldest brother, who died from CANCER on the evening of April 15, 2008. This is the first article that I read on my return from my trip to Montgomery, Alabama for his funeral.

Unfortunately, cancer was discovered in his body in late December 2007, and his life ended less than four (4) months later. Black men, like you and I have to understand that regular check ups with our doctors on any ailment and annual physicals are part of the screening process for early detection of cancer. It can strike at any time and at any age group; so you are never exempt from the disease, especially if you are a black male.

With more than 37,605 visitors coming from 107 countries and territories around the world to this Blog site, it is very important that our readers hear this message: Cancer is real and can strike at anytime, within any part of your body from the tip of your head to the bottom of your feet.

Florida A&M University and the Coalition on African American Men's Health are to be commended for starting such an important project.

Two of the keys to defeating cancer are to get educated and get your annual physical examinations for early detection. There is nothing we can do for my brother at this point, but his story may inspire you to start getting an annual check up for early screening and possible detection. After many tests, his cancer was finally exposed through an MRI examination, and by then, it had spread throughout his body touching every organ within, with the exception of his eyeballs.

As a committed organ donor, his finally wishes were unable to be fulfilled to improve the quality of life for others in the transplant of his organs in others, due to the contamination by cancer cells in his body. Even in death, cancer denied his final, planned request to help others live.

Cancer is real, and so is death.

Continue to enjoy MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street and our HBCUs sports programs, but please do your part to stay healthy and live a long life - get your annual check up strong, black men.

-beepbeep

Alabama State Hornets set great store by preparations over summer

Spring practice the last few weeks was important for the Alabama State football team. Fall camp, which will begin around the first of August, will be equally meaningful.

The significance of both, however, might pale in comparison to the three and a half months in between. "This is the most crucial time for us -- the summer before fall camp starts," ASU head coach Reggie Barlow said. "We'll learn during this time what we're going to be. We'll find out a lot about our team."

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Lee Looks To Soar With The NCCU Eagles

Photo: North Carolina Central University incoming 5-10 recruit Whitney Lee, led the Class 4A Blue Streaks to a 19-8 regular season record, a district runner-up finish and a win in the state quarterfinals.

SEBRING, FL — When Whitney Lee was little, she often wore a shirt that said, "Forget the doll, give me the ball."

Years later, that mantra has paid off in the form of a Division-I college basketball scholarship, as the Sebring girls hoops standout and All-Heartland girls basketball player of the year inked a letter of intent on Tuesday to play basketball for North Carolina-Central University in Durham, N.C.

The hard-nosed, high-scoring guard and daughter of SHS head coach Mike Lee, was, perhaps not surprisingly, drawn to the school by the work ethic she saw displayed by her future teammates during a visit.

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MEAC/SWAC Challenge rotates away from Legion Field

The fourth annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge is set for Aug. 31 and, for the first time, the football game won't be held at Legion Field.

The game is moving to Orlando but the move was not unexpected because, from the birth of the event that is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, the plan was to hold the game on a rotating basis in the footprint of each of the two historically black college conferences.

Along with leaving SWAC country, the game also picked up Walt Disney Resort as presenting sponsor for the three-year deal.

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Howard Football to Host Spring Game on Saturday

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Howard University football team will close out its 2008 spring schedule with the spring game at Greene Stadium on Saturday, April 19. Kick-off is slated for 1 p.m.

Head Coach Carey Bailey and his staff will split the squad into two teams and run an offense/defense format. "We've had a very good spring and are looking forward to finishing on a strong note on Saturday," Bailey said.

Bailey, who is completing his first season with Howard, and the Bison will open the 2008 season on September 6 at home versus cross town rival Georgetown University.

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Morgan State to Hold Spring Game Friday at Hughes Stadium

Photo: Morgan State's head football coach Donald Hill-Eley

BALTIMORE, Md. - Morgan State University head football coach Donald Hill-Eley is leading his team through the last few days of Spring practice in preparation for Friday's annual Blue & Orange scrimmage. The game will be played at Hughes Stadium.

“The purpose of the scrimmage is to help our young men gain an understanding of our schemes,” said Hill. “It will also enable the coaching staff to evaluate the depth of our team.”

The scrimmage will pit the offense versus the defense with a scoring system in place to determine the outcome.

The annual Blue & Orange scrimmage will kick-off Friday, April 18th at 6 p.m. at Hughes Stadium. Admission is free.

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