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The bad news for South Carolina State fans broke Wednesday evening when Bulldogs backup quarterback Derrick Wiley showed up at the player's only practice with a cast on his leg.
Turns out Wiley, the MVP of last season's season-opening win over Grambling, broke a bone in his foot earlier in the summer and just recently underwent surgery to correct the problem. The injury puts Wiley's early season availability in doubt, and for that matter, should his recovery take longer than expected there is a chance that Wiley could miss the entire season.
It's not that Wiley, a player that S.C. State head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough has compared to former Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards several times over, had big-time stats a season ago. In fact, after the Grambling game, Wiley didn't do much, finishing with 224 rushing yards and just 101 passing yards on 11 of 20 passing with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
FLINT, Michigan — Bethune-Cookman University's Willie Mack III put on a display of shot-making unlike any other in the 79-year history of the Flint City Amateur Golf Championship.
Mack ( a native of Flint, Mich.) won his third City Amateur crown Sunday at Swartz Creek, where he shot 5-under-par 67 for a an 11-shot victory over Andy Johnson and Derrick Riley. Mack's winning score of 18-under-par 198 shattered the tournament record of 11-under 205 set in 2005 by Grand Blanc's John Lindholm, who is also a three-time City Amateur champ.
Mack, who also won the City Am in 2006 and 2008, started the day with a nine-shot lead over playing partners Derrick Riley and Jordan Phillips, the defending champion. He showed early that he wasn't going back to the field, opening with three birdie before missing a four-foot putt for birdie on No. 4.
“My mindset was to extend it,” Mack said of the big lead. “Play aggressive and get to 20-under. I was on track for that and I made a double (-bogey) on 14, the par 3. I think I lost my focus because I had such a big lead. “My goal was 20-under.” Mack is 2-for-2 in Flint-area events this summer, having won the Genesee All-Star Golf Classic last month at Flushing Valley. READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.
ALBANY, GA — The Albany State University Rams football fans and supporters are invited to meet and greet the football coaches and hear exciting information about the upcoming season at a preseason reception. The 11th annual Preseason Football Reception will kick off on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Eula Lovett Hall at the Albany State University Coliseum at Albany State.
The reception is free of charge and open to members of the QuarterBack Club and Golden Rams football fans. The dinner, like every year, will mark the official start of the 2010 season, according to coach Mike White.
"The football reception is a great opportunity for us to thank our fans for supporting us throughout the past season and solicit support for the upcoming season," White said. "We are looking forward to a great 2010 season and providing lots of excitement for our fans as we compete for the SIAC and national championship titles."
White and the assistant coaches will give a preview of and answer questions about the Rams’ upcoming season. Guests will also get to meet and greet several Rams football players. ASU, which has won 13 SIAC Championships, will open the 2010 season on Aug. 28, in a conference matchup against the Kentucky State University Thorobreds. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Frankfort, Ky.
For more information about the dinner or tickets for games this season, call (229) 430-4673 or (229) 430-6470.
The Grambling family gathered Saturday at the Monroe Civic Center to induct the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame's second class, and to again celebrate the lives of the four biggest legends that made the school's proud athletics history possible — Eddie Robinson, Ralph W.E. Jones, Fred Hobdy and Collie J. Nicholson.
"It tells you what Grambling meant to so many of us," inductee Doug Williams said. "A lot of these guys — and even when I came out of high school — we couldn't go anywhere else. Grambling was the place that we had to go, and we made the best out of it.
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Dex Sullivan is the quintessential Southern country boy. His grandparents had a farm in Fayette County. He loves to hunt and fish. On Friday night at the ASHAA All-Star football game, he played what he called "my first game at my new home field." Sullivan is a big, affable 6-foot-4, 314-pound white offensive lineman from Fairview High in Cullman (Alabama). He has signed to play for Alabama A&M University, a predominantly black school.
So what?
Dex Sullivan with 2010 high school prom date says on his Facebook site that, "I am blessed and gain strength in achieving my goals with my faith in god and the support round me."
"It'll be a culture shock, but you see here (on the North All-Star team) it's a mix. It's what you see around the world," Sullivan said. "It's not white one way, black one way. It's people." And people with a sense of humor. After meeting Sullivan and another white All-Star headed to Alabama A&M, two black signees joked, "They're going to kick us out of the SWAC now."
Sullivan "can't be more excited" about coming to Alabama A&M. He has already grown fond of coach Anthony Jones. So has the Sullivan family. In April, when the devastating tornados swept through the state and came near their home, the first call they got the next morning was from Jones, asking if they came through the storms without damage.
Sullivan played tackle for Fairview and did so in the North's 14-7 win over the South at Louis Crews Stadium. Sullivan will play guard at A&M, which suits him fine. "I'll have to get out of my comfort zone and roll with it," he said.
Grambling State might never again author a master stroke as deft as replacing the towering Eddie Robinson with an outsized protégé like Doug Williams.
It wasn't easy. This is a school that had witnessed its last coaching transition in 1941, when gas was 19 cents a gallon. World War II was still an idea, not a headline. Robinson would go on to cast a shadow that not many could escape: His 1942 GSU squad, one of two to go undefeated, was unbeaten, untied -- even unscored upon. Robinson retired in 1997 after 57 years at Grambling State, but not before adding 81 victories to Paul "Bear" Bryant's once-unassailable 323 college football wins.
Yet Williams -- primarily through the force of his towering personality -- managed to carve out his own niche, leading Grambling to a trio of SWAC championships as coach in 2000-02 and establishing a .743 winning percentage over six years.
He had a name coming in, and not just based on those oft-repeated heroics in Super Bowl XXII. Williams built his legend first in Lincoln Parish, taking took over in the fifth game of his freshman season in 1974, and never sitting back down. Seventeen of Grambling State's league-best 22 SWAC championships came on Robinson's watch. Two of those titles (in 1974 and '77) featured eventual Heisman Trophy finalist Williams, who posted an impressive 36-7 record as a starter.
Doug Williams was a first-team All-American and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1978 at Grambling State. During his college career, he passed for 8,411 yards and 93 touchdowns. In 1988, Williams had the greatest day of his NFL career when he led the Washington Redskins to victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII.
He now joins 14 other inductees on Saturday in the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame, with 2010 ceremonies set for 6 p.m. Saturday, July 17, at the Monroe Civic Center.
Tables and individual tickets are still available for the Legends event. Price is $500 for tables of eight; contact Al Dennis at 318-261-0898. Individual tickets are $60, and can be purchased through Dennis or the Monroe Civic Center box office at 318-329-2837. Tickets will also be available at the door.
"It says a lot," Williams enthused about this Legends designation. "Grambling will always be home."
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Williams in the first-round of the NFL Draft in 1978. Over a five-year tenure there, he would lead the Buccaneers to their first three playoff appearances in team history, an appearance in the 1979 NFC championship game and Tampa's first-ever NFC Central title. But Williams had a nasty contract dispute with late owner Hugh Culverhouse and left for the since-disbanded United States Football League.
History awaited. Williams returned to the NFL in 1986 with the Washington Redskins and head coach Gibbs, who had been the Bucs' offensive coordinator when Williams was drafted out of Grambling. At the end of their second season back together, Williams became the first African-American quarterback to start, and win, the Super Bowl -- and the first to claim the game's most-valuable player award.
It happened in what seemed like a split second: Williams, once down by 10 to Denver, ran just 18 second-quarter plays -- but scored 35 unanswered points in Super Bowl XXII. Game over. The Redskins went on to win 42-10.
"It makes you feel really fine that they can go out and do those kind of things," Robinson once said. "It just makes you know what our school can do -- and what our students can do."
Gone forever were the misconceptions about an African-American's ability to master the complex strategies of an NFL offense. In a locked-up environment where most blacks had been automatically converted to receiver or cornerback, Williams knocked the door off its hinges that day in 1988 -- setting a new mark for passing yards in an NFL title match.
"The thing about a Super Bowl is," Williams said, "they may call you a black quarterback, but the truth is that they can't color that experience." Williams' sense of the importance of his Super Bowl triumph, even now, continues to grow.
He says strangers still stop to talk about what it meant to African Americans. Seeing it through his children's eyes also gives Williams a clearer perspective than even the passage of time did.
"I can enjoy the fact that my kids can watch what happened and say: 'My daddy accomplished this and that,' " Williams says. "I wasn't to the point that I could realize years ago what a great, great feat it was."
Turns out, the revolution in football was, in fact, televised. And on Super Bowl Sunday, no less.
Robinson rushed down on the field to embrace his former player.
"I talked to him a long time after the game," Robinson said. "I told him how proud the people were -- in our community and our churches."
Ten seasons later, Williams took on another daunting rebuilding project when he returned to Grambling as head coach.
He went 5-6 in 1998 and then 7-4 in 1999 -- but that seven-win mark was one more than GSU had in two combined seasons before he arrived. His teams then reeled off that trio of conference-championship seasons, and were a win away from a fourth-straight berth in 2003.
Named Street and Smith's Black College Coach of the Year in 2000, Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001. While Williams assembled his own addendum to a memorable playing tenure, he never forgot who originally opened the door.
"My time at Grambling will be secure," Williams said during this final season of coaching at Grambling. "But I also think that Eddie Robinson's time at Grambling is the reason why I am here. You can't lose sight of that."
Williams then embarked on new career in pro football front offices back back at Tampa Bay, where he worked from 2004 until earlier this year, and now in the fledgling UFL as general manager.
"I used to always tell Coach Rob that we players were 'coach-makers.' Without us, they're nothing," Williams said. "He always used to make a statement -- and it took me being a coach to understand it: He said he was the luckiest man in the world. I can see how that's true now. But at the same time, we were lucky too that we had Coach Robinson. Luckier than we knew."
For more on Williams' fellow 2010 Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame inductees, multimedia content, event details, and information on contributing to the Legends' charitable activities on behalf of GSU athletics, go to GramblingLegends.net.
Today, Doug Williams continues to be a trailblazer as the first General Manager of the United Football League's (UFL) Norfolk, Virginia franchise. The Norfolk franchise will officially launch during the 2011 UFL season and plans to hold trouts, training camp and various other events at several venues within the state of Virginia according to apress release.
Southern University tailback Byron Williams will miss the 2010 football season because he is academically ineligible, first-year coach Stump Mitchell said Thursday. “Byron didn’t take care of what he needed to in the spring semester, and that got him where he is right now,” Mitchell said. “But he’s in summer school, so he has a chance to get back where he needs to be, and we’ll bring him back in 2011 if we can.”
Williams, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound Clinton High School graduate, played in seven games last season as a redshirt freshman, but he suffered a broken ankle in a 16-14 loss to Prairie View on Oct. 22. SU used Williams on kickoff returns and as the third option at tailback, where he rushed 25 times for 110 yards and a touchdown. He also averaged 24.2 yards on kickoffs, including a 91-yard touchdown against Alcorn State on Sept. 26. It was the team’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Oct. 9, 2004, when Kevin Moffett opened a game at Alabama A&M with a 77-yard score.
Norfolk State University athletic director Marty Miller is quoted in today's Virginia Pilot newspaper, stating, " the proposed bowl wouldn't disqualify all MEAC teams from the playoffs, but because the regular-season champions would be committed to the bowl game, only at-large teams would be able to go."
Norfolk State has never made the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Soon, it might surrender its best chance to make the field. Spartans athletic director Marty Miller confirmed Thursday that the MEAC is discussing a season-ending bowl game that would cost the conference its automatic playoff bid.
The Legacy Bowl would match the regular-season champions from the FCS's two historically black college conferences: the MEAC and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. "I think it'd be a good thing," said Ali Scott, an incoming freshman player from Churchland. "To me, winning a bowl game, that's a game that you never forget."
A news release from South Carolina State's athletic department indicated the game would be held starting in 2011 if the proposal is accepted. That decision, Miller said, will be made by the conference, school presidents and chancellors. Calls to Kim Luckes, the acting president at Norfolk State, and MEAC commissioner Dennis Thomas were not returned Thursday. Norfolk State coach Pete Adrian deferred comment to his athletic director and president.
Former Johnson C. Smith University All-America De’Audra Dix (#35 in photo) is in his second season with the Canadian Football Leauge’s Montreal Alouettes.
De’Audra Dix is making the transition to playing cornerback in the Canadian Football League. Learning a new language, however, is more challenging.
Dix, a former Johnson C. Smith All-America, is in his second season with the Montreal Alouettes. After sitting the bench during the Alouettes’ 2009 Grey Cup championship run, he’s earned a spot in the starting lineup. Getting past the language hurdles in predominantly French-speaking Montreal is a different matter.
“I’ve learned a little French, but I kind of talk fast and my teammates don’t understand me anyway,” the Merritt Island, Florida, native said. “There are guys on the team who speak French and when you hear it enough you kind of understand what they’re saying, but I’m not fluent in it at all.” Dix, 26, is becoming more fluent as a cornerback in the pass-oriented CFL. Because the Canadian game is played on a field that is longer and wider than the American standard, defenders have to be quicker to compete. In his first start, a 54-51 loss to Saskatchewan in the season opener, he was credited with a pair of tackles and forced a fumble.
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MEAC/SWAC/CIAA/SIAC Players in the CFL.
# Name Pos I/N HT WT Birthdate College
B.C. Lions
1 Printers, Casey QB Import 6.02 225 1981-05-16 Florida A&M University
63 Olafioye, Jovan OL Import 6.06 325 1987-12-16 N.C. Central
84 Arceneaux, Emmanuel WR Import 6.02 211 1987-09-17 Alcorn State
Edmonton Eskimos 99 Pettway, Kenneth DE Import 6'3 248 1982-11-13 Grambling State
37 Williams, Roderick DB Import 5'11 180 1987-05-27 Alcorn State (Practice Squad) Calgary Stampeders 94 Landry, Mike DL Import 6.03 266 1978-12-12 Southern University
Saskatchewan Roughriders
14 Patrick, James S Import 5.11 175 1982-06-07 Stillman College
26 Jones, Kitwana DE Import 6.00 227 1981-07-07 Hampton University
19 Byrd, Willie DB Import 6.03 198 1983-07-19 Miles College
(Practice Squad)
Winnipeg Blue Bombers None
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 6 McDaniel, Marquay WR Import 5.10 205 1984-04-20 Hampton University
Toronto Argonauts
7 Carpenter, Dwaine DB Import 6.02 207 1976-11-04 North Carolina A&T
84 Lucas, Chad WR Import 6.01 201 1981-11-07 Alabama State
5 Heard, Denatay DB Import 5.09 169 1984-03-13 Stillman College (Injured)
Montreal Alouettes 35 Dix, De'Audra CB Import 5.10 160 1984-03-03 Johnson C. Smith 34 Marc, Emmanuel RB Import 5.11 200 1982-11-17 Delaware State (Practice Squad)
NORFOLK, VA — Professional football moved one step closer to Hampton Roads with the head of a recently-formed league in town to give his blessing officially and the team owner saying that he is likely to select a stadium in a month.
Michael Huyghue, commissioner of the fledgling United Football League, removed the "conditional" tag from the start-up franchise awarded to the area last month after fully vetting team owner Jim Speros and receiving assurances that a suitable playing facility could be secured.
"I wanted to bring the league in and get comfortable," Speros said Monday during a presser at downtown Norfolk's World Trade Center, "so people don't think we're trying to play this (area) against Richmond or Raleigh. That's over with. We put the stake down today. We're coming here, we're going to play football here in 2011, and the venue will be announced soon."
Speros, who spent weeks crisscrossing Hampton Roads, said that he will choose from Old Dominion's Foreman Field, Norfolk State's Dick Price Stadium, Harbor Park and the Virginia Beach Sportsplex for a game venue, though he intends to hold scrimmages and practices all over the area.
"The good news is right now that the league is comfortable with us," he said. "We have a home. All the mayors want us, the community wants us, the business leaders want us. There's nobody (who has) told us that they won't embrace it and help us be successful."
Dignitaries from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Garland and Richardson officially kicked-off planning for the conference's 2011 basketball tournament Tuesday at the Garland Special Events Center. The conference, which includes 10 historically black colleges including Grambling State University, Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University, will hold the tournament at the center for three years.
SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said he didn't know how much money the tournaments would bring to the area, but said Birmingham, Ala., which has previously hosted the event, realized about $10 million a year. Attendance at last year's tournament in Shreveport, La. was about 15,000 but he expected that to be higher in Garland. Sharp said the Dallas-area was a good fit for the tournament because it has the second-largest alumni base for the 10 universities.
The conference wants to expand and improve the three-day event which includes men's and women's tournaments. It has hired Urban Sports, a marketing firm, to plan and publicize the event. Garland school board member Linda Griffin said she is pleased to see the tournament because of the educational opportunities that are being planned for the event.
PINE BLUFF, AK — A year ago, UA-Pine Bluff was anxiously awaiting the opening of the football season hoping some late success from the previous fall would carry over into a big 2009. Just the opposite is true this year. UAPB is looking forward to the season, but hoping it starts much better than how 2009 ended.
In Coach Monte Coleman’s second year as head coach, after previously serving as Mo Forte’s defensive coordinator, his Golden Lions stubbed their toes late in the season after a 4-2 start that included a monumental 20-13 overtime win at Jackson State.
Starting with a home loss against Southern, UAPB dropped three of its last four games. Even Texas Southern got the better of the Golden Lions in Dallas’ Cotton Bowl Stadium at season’s end, 14-10. A 49-42 win over Grambling State in Little Rock in that four-game stretch could not mask the overall disappointment within the program in the last month.
Warren Moon, Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia dominated the CFL for years before becoming stars in the NFL. Joe Theisman, Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and Mike Sellers used the CFL to mature before having very successful NFL careers. Marv Levy cut his teeth as the head coach in Montreal before taking the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls.
Cardinals’ linebacker Stevie Baggs hopes to be the next CFL success story as he’ll look to make an impact for Arizona’s pass rush in 2010.
After three straight All-American seasons at Bethune-Cookman, Baggs, nicknamed “Shakespeare” in college, spent time on the practice squad for Detroit and Jacksonville.
Baggs then moved north and was a run-of-the-mill player for four seasons in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Saskatchewan until last season. The Ft. Lauderdale native broke out in 2009, tallying 55 tackles, 11 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. Those efforts earned Baggs Defensive Player of the Week honors on three different occasions.
Catching up with South Carolina State kicker Blake Erickson is not hard.
Just try Oliver C. Dawson Stadium on Sunday afternoons, around 1 p.m., and Erickson will likely be there aiming at the uprights. "I'm there anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half," Erickson said. "Just trying to get better."
An improving Erickson isn't good news for the MEAC because last season, he was as good as they come in the conference. Erickson, a junior this season, led the MEAC in scoring (87 points), field goals (12 of 14), field-goal percentage (82.4) and point after attempt percentage (97.8). He also led the conference in points scored per game (7.2).
"I thought I did pretty well," Erickson said Monday. "But, I want to keep getting better. Every year I want to keep getting better. I try to set my goal every year to ... I don't want to miss at all. I don't want to miss any field goals or extra points, and punting wise, I want to help the team and keep getting better at that." They key to getting better, according to Erickson, is those Sunday after noon sessions as well as the work with new S.C. State strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton.
Lincoln University approved for full NCAA Division II membership
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. — Lincoln University of Pennsylvania has been approved for active National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II membership effective September 1, 2010.
As a Division II member, Lincoln will be able to subscribe to the National Letter of Intent, apply for enhancement funds, and earn the right to compete for national championships. Additionally, the University becomes a voting member at the 2011 NCAA Convention.
Lincoln’s administration was notified of the move Friday, July 9, 2010 with a formal announcement expected from the NCAA on Tuesday once the NCAA liaisons return to the National Office.
“Developing our athletic program has been an extensive yet rewarding journey, and is an important component in achieving our institutional objectives for the academic and social development of our students,” said University President Ivory V. Nelson.
“With the University receiving full active membership as Division II coupled with our plans to upgrade our athletic facilities, our students can take advantage of a top tier athletic program. The requirements of the Division II Life in the Balance focus, where student athletes must excel in the classroom, on the field and in the community, exemplifies the primary reason for Lincoln University seeking Division II status. The Membership Committee’s approval has allowed us to achieve another momentous milestone in our history.”
The acceptance culminates Lincoln’s three-year transition from Division III to Division II. As active members, the Lions are able to petition the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (which Lincoln helped found in 1912) for membership. The CIAA is the nation's oldest Black athletic conference. The CIAA is entering its 99th year of existence.
“The conference is excited to welcome home one of our founding institutions,” said CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry. “Lincoln (PA) has a rich history, dedicated fan base and a prominent athletic program that will undoubtedly add to the continued success of the CIAA.”
The CIAA, which Lincoln has competed in heavily since the 2007-08 year, has 12 member schools as far north as Bowie State in Bowie, Md., and as far south as Fayetteville State in Fayetteville, N.C. With the
additions of Lincoln University and Winston-Salem State for the 2010-11 year, the conference split into northern and southern divisions in each of its sports except for baseball.
Lincoln Director of Athletics Dianthia Ford-Kee welcomes a full return to the conference she was familiar with for so long. She played basketball and softball at Fayetteville State and spent 18 years as a coach and administrator at Shaw University, located in Raleigh, N.C. She arrived at Lincoln prior to the 2008-09 season and is eager to begin her third year at the helm of the department.
“This is a great moment in Lincoln University’s rich athletic history,” said Ford-Kee. “I am proud to have played a part in this transition. My staff and I are excited about the opportunities that our student-athletes will embark upon as an active NCAA Division II member and as well as the official return to the CIAA. Many thanks to the NCAA DII Membership Committee and its representatives for the guidance and support provided throughout the transition.”
The conference affiliation is the Lions’ first since 1992-93 when they were a part of the Eastern States Athletic Conference in Division III, which included institutions such as Salisbury (Md.), Allentown (now DeSales), Frostburg State (Md.) and Shenandoah (Va.).
Men and women’s soccer will compete in Division II as an independent, as the CIAA does not sponsor those sports.
Office of Sports Information Lincoln University ∙ 15710 Baltimore Pike ∙ Lincoln University, PA 19352
Sep. 5 Cheyney University of Pa. Philadelphia, Pa. 3 p.m. Sep. 11 University of New Haven New Haven, Conn. 1 p.m. Sep. 18 Virginia Union University Richmond, Va. 1 p.m. Sep. 25 Saint Augustine’s College West Grove, Pa. 1 p.m. Oct. 2 Howard University (Division I-AA) Washington, D.C. 1 p.m. Oct. 9 Chowan University Murfreesboro, N.C. 6 p.m. Oct. 16 Bowie State University Bowie, Md. 1 p.m. Oct. 23 Virginia State University Petersburg, Va. 1:30 p.m. Oct. 30 Saint Paul’s College West Grove, Pa. 1 p.m. Nov. 6 Elizabeth City State West Grove, Pa. 1 p.m.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Bethune-Cookman University's Wildcats have never scheduled one of college football's top-tier teams, and now that they're starting, they're not exactly dipping their toes in the water.
Athletics Director Lynn Thompson confirmed Monday the Wildcats will play the University of Miami -- one of the nation's most storied football programs -- in 2011 and 2012 and renew an old rivalry against another Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team, the University of Central Florida, in 2013.
"If you're going to swim with fish in the open ocean, you might as well swim with whales," Thompson said. "When we started looking at guarantee games, our intent was to get the best opponent we could play." They'll also haul in a whale of a payout.
Thompson said the three games will generate "well over a million dollars" for the university. Thompson confirmed the 'Cats received the going rate from the Hurricanes. Florida Championship Subdivision schools like B-CU have been receiving about $400,000 to $500,000 from Bowl Championship Series schools in recent years. Delaware State, another MEAC school, collected $550,000 to play at Michigan last season.
Tuskegee University's William Clarence Matthews, whose photo is adapted from a June 1905 image in McClure’s Magazine (courtesy of Karl Lindholm), began playing for Burlington in the Northern League later that summer. (Photo Illustration by Mark Bushnell).
The rumor arose in July 1905: William Clarence Matthews was about to become the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. The news reached Vermont just days after Matthews did.
Matthews, who had just graduated from Harvard (University), had signed to play shortstop for the Burlington team in the Northern League. The rumor, which first appeared in the pages of the Boston Traveler newspaper, was that Fred Tenney, manager of Boston's National League club, was considering adding Matthews to his roster.
If a club was looking for a player to test the unwritten rule that kept blacks out of the major leagues, Matthews was an excellent candidate. Well-educated, well-spoken and well-liked, Matthews seems to have had the temperament and intellect to bear the pressure that would come with being the player to break the "color line." And, as he had proved while leading Harvard, one of the country's best amateur teams, he could hold his own with the best white players.
Today, we know that the rumor never came to fruition. The world would have to wait 42 more years for Jackie Robinson to break the color line. But thank goodness the Traveler printed the rumor, whether or not it had any basis in fact. Otherwise, Matthews might have been lost to the ages.
The notice in the Traveler sparked debate in newspapers around the country. That debate was mentioned briefly in a couple of books about blacks in baseball. When Vermont scholar Karl Lindholm saw those few lines, he suspected there was more to the story. He has been working since to resurrect Matthews from obscurity.
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Karl Lindholm is a Dean of Cook Commons and Assistant Professor of American Studies at Middlebury College. He specializes in the study of baseball, the Negro leagues in particular, and has published widely on baseball topics. He has written about William Clarence Matthews for academic journals and other magazines and is nearing completion of a full-length biography. Most of the details in this column come from Lindholm's research. Lindholm earned his B.A.( English ) from Middlebury (1967) and holds a Ph.D in American Studies (American Literature) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lorman, MS - On the college circuit, the feeling at Alcorn State is completely different than it was this time last year. While last year, the Braves were coming off a messy coaching change and 2-10 season, this year there is hope as coach Earnest Collins led his team to a surprising second place finish in the SWAC East division and a 14-7 victory over archrival Jackson State in the Capital City Classic.
Alcorn has some good things going for it this season, most notably a more favorable schedule. Instead of opening their season on the road against Bowl Subdivision teams Southern Miss and Central Michigan, the Braves open their 2010 season at home against NAIA school Langston. They then take a week off before beginning SWAC play against Mississippi Valley State at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The Braves do have to replace all-everything quarterback Tim Buckley, but do return their top receivers Edward Johnson and Terrance Lewis and their entire stable of running backs, as well as several key defensive starters.
Fred Lane Jr. beat the odds by rising from tiny Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee to become the NFL Carolina Panthers' career rushing leader(1997 to 2000) before being traded to the Indianapolis Colts in the Spring 2000.
The former Carolina Panther had just returned home from visiting relatives in Tennessee in July 2000, after training with his new team, when he was shot to death in the door of his Charlotte home, ambushed by his wife, Deidre Lane.
Fred Lane's killing 10 years ago created another shock to Charlotte pro sports.
Ten years ago today, Fred Lane died just inside his home in south Charlotte, shot twice by his own wife. Police found his body just inside the front door. His keys still hung in the door lock, a detail that haunts me a decade later. It was a horrifying moment in Charlotte's sports history. If you lived here then, you probably remember where you were when you heard of the shooting of Lane, a former Carolina Panthers starting running back. I certainly do - it was one of the oddest, saddest days of my journalism career.
Lane, 24, was killed by his estranged wife Deidra Lane at their South Charlotte home. She shot her husband twice at close range with a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun. The first blast struck his chest. The second hit the back of his head. Deidra Lane ultimately pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2003 in connection with her husband's death. She was released from prison in 2009. Deidra and Fred Lane had a newborn daughter who was seven days old at the time of the shooting. That child had her 10th birthday last week.
Deidra Lane, the widow of slain former Carolina Panthers running back Fred Lane.
Coach Jeffries reflects on his journey through college football history before Hall of Fame induction.
Willie Jeffries, his wife, Mary, and two of his children have a road trip on tap this week to South Bend, Indiana. It’s not a pilgrimage to Notre Dame. No, Jeffries is going to take his appointed place in the College Football Hall of Fame. The 2010 Enshrinement Festival runs Saturday and Sunday.
“It is quite an honor for me,” said Jeffries, whose 29-year college coaching career netted a 179-132-6 record, including a 128-77-4 mark in 19 seasons during twostints at South Carolina State, his alma mater.
“Being inducted into the college football hall of fame is the apex of my profession. In all my years of coaching, I never thought about any halls of fame, especially this one. There is no greater honor for a coach.”
Jeffries is a beloved South Carolinian — a man whose influence reaches beyond the field. In addition to being a member of several athletic halls of fame (South Carolina State, South Carolina, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Wichita, Kansas, to name a few), he is the recipient of two of the highest civilian honors in the state — the Order of the Silver Crescent for outstanding community service, and the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian award.
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2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME ENSHRINEE BIO
WILLIE JEFFRIES - Howard University, Wichita State University, South Carolina State University Head Coach Emeritus - 179-132-6.
The first African-American to be hired as a head coach at a Division-I school (Wichita State), Willie Jeffries finished his career as the winningest coach in South Carolina State and MEAC history.
A three-time Black National Championship winner, Jeffries is credited with inventing the "Freeze Option" offense and is the only person in history to coach against College Football Hall of Famers Paul "Bear" Bryant and Eddie Robinson. Jeffries won the MEAC conference title seven times, six with SCSU and one with Howard. He has also coached College Football Hall of Famers Harry Carson and Donnie Shell.
Named coach of the year on eight different occasions, he was given the lifetime achievement award by the Black Coaches Association in 2002. An inductee of both the MEAC Hall of Fame and SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame, Jeffries was awarded the Order of the Silver Crescent in 2001, South Carolina's highest honor for Outstanding Community Service.
Jeffries was recently named head coach emeritus at South Carolina State and will serve as a liaison between the university, its alumni and other constituents. He currently resides in Elloree, S.C.
Home football games moved to Greenville High; financial woes keep Delta Devils living on edge.
As bad days go for football coaches, Karl Morgan's story ranks up there. It was last winter - Morgan doesn't remember the date, and it's hard to blame him - when he was summoned to a campus-wide meeting to discuss Gov. Haley Barbour's proposal to merge his new employer, Mississippi Valley State, with the state's other two historically black public universities. Morgan, on the job just a few days, also found out that Rice-Totten Stadium was declared unsafe to use this season. Oh, and he wouldn't be able to hire all of his staff until a few months later.
"It was tough," he said with a laugh on a recent morning in his office.
Much of the scares from those days have blown over. The Legislature has since squashed the idea of consolidation, though the state's bleak fiscal picture at least suggests that further talks aren't out of the question. By the time August practice starts in advance of Valley's Sept. 4 opening game at Alabama State, Morgan expects to have his staff hired.
The bad news for South Carolina State fans broke Wednesday evening when Bulldogs backup quarterback Derrick Wiley showed up at the player's only practice with a cast on his leg.
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