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With Prairie View quarterback K.J. Black and Grambling defensive end Christian Anthony, 2009 SWAC offensive and defensive players of the year returning, it's no surprise the preseason 2010 All-SWAC preseason team looked similar — especially since PV and Alabama A&M were selected to repeat as respective division champions.
Anthony was a dominant defensive force who finished 10th in the league with 76 tackles and third overall in both sacks (8.0) and tackles-for-loss (15.0) in 2009. From the defensive lineman position he recorded five interceptions and returned two of them for touchdowns. He led the league in fumbles forced with five, and he recovered three loose balls.
Black was last years' premier offensive threat in the SWAC, leading the Panthers to their first conference title in nearly half a century. Black threw for 225.9 yards per game and led the league in pass efficiency by nearly 30 points at 172.8. He tossed 22 TDs with just four interceptions.
The Lions, having transitioned to NCAA Division II, will begin their football season Sept. 5.
Lincoln University is projected to become the new cellar dweller of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In their first season back as full CIAA members, the Lions were picked to finish seventh in the seven-team Northern Division in the conference coaches' preseason poll. They also were picked to finish last overall in the 13-team league.
Fayetteville State was picked to win the conference championship and Southern Division title during Thursday's CIAA Media Day at Virginia State. Bowie State was selected to win the Northern title. In addition to being picked last, Lincoln didn't have a player named to the all-CIAA preseason team that was selected by the conference's coaches and sports information directors.
But . . . "We should definitely be able to compete with the majority of the teams in the conference," said Lincoln coach O.J. Abanishe, whose squad returns 19 starters - 10 defensive and nine offensive - from last season's 3-7 squad. This season has special meaning for the Lions.
Clark, a Sophomore Business Administration Major was named to the Peach Belt Conference All-Academic team.
Levan Clark had all of the accolades that come with being a five-star tennis player when he was recruited by Florida A&M two years ago. He was ranked No. 10 among all Florida players and No. 65 in the nation among high school recruits. Qualifying to enroll at FAMU was another issue, and as a result Clark spent three semesters at Lander University, a Division II school in Greenwood, S.C.
But a day after signing to transfer to FAMU, Clark said Tuesday it all turned out for the better. "I'm more experienced now," said Clark, a left-hander out of Orlando Olympia High School. "I feel I can contribute a lot to make the team better. "I feel like the more experience we have the better off we're going to be. I feel with my experience in a tight situation I will stay calm and come through to win the match."
He did a lot of that for Lander this past season. In singles matches he went 14-5 and had an identical record in doubles. He was 6-3 in Peach Belt Conference matches.
ETTRICK, VA - The CIAA said hello to a new college football season by saying goodbye -- well, in a manner of speaking -- to iconic coach Willard Bailey.
Saint Paul's College, Bailey's employer since 2005, yesterday introduced Kevin Grisby as its interim head coach. Rumors that Bailey and Saint Paul's have parted company have been percolating for three weeks. They were confirmed at the CIAA's preseason kickoff luncheon at Virginia State when Grisby, Bailey's defensive coordinator, was introduced as the Tigers' boss for 2010. Saint Paul's does not have a sports information director, and its athletic department website still lists Bailey, 71, as the Tigers' coach.
Bailey, 228-142-7 in 36 seasons at four schools, is the winningest football coach in CIAA history.
"The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for all of us -- players, coaches, all of us," Grisby said. "All I know is, I'm excited to have the chance to lead the Tigers into 2010. I think the players are feeling the same kind of enthusiasm. I can tell you this: We'll be ready [when Saint Paul's opens against West Virginia Wesleyan] on Aug. 28."
READ MORE, CLICK TITLE. SAINT PAUL'S COLLEGE 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Location Time August 28, 2010 West Virginia Wesleyan College Buckhannon, WVA 1:00 pm September 4, 2010 Bye September 11, 2010UNC Pembroke Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 pm September 18, 2010 Saint Augustine's College Raleigh, NC 1:00 pm September 25, 2010Livingstone College Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 pm October 2, 2010 Elizabeth City State University Elizabeth City, NC 1:00 pm October 9, 2010 Bowie State University Roanoke, VA 1:00 pm October 16, 2010 Chowan University HOMECOMING Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 pm October 23, 2010 Virginia Union University Richmond, VA 1:00 pm October 30, 2010 Lincoln University Lincoln University, PA 1:00 pm November 6, 2010 Virginia State University Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 pm
Games in Bold are Home Games - Times And Locations Subject To Change
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As Southern University’s first-year football coach, Stump Mitchell gets plenty of questions. Usually, they’re of the let’s-get-to-know-this-guy variety. What will his program be like? How does he plan to attack a defense? And, naturally, can his team beat Grambling in four months? But as training camp draws near — the Jaguars are 13 days away from their first practice, but who’s counting? — Mitchell often is hit with one of the old preseason favorites.
Who will be the starting quarterback? Speaking at the Southwestern Athletic Conference media day Tuesday, Mitchell said he thinks he has the answer. But he’s not about to call the race when the gates haven’t opened yet. “I think it will be (Jeremiah) McGinty, but I don’t know,” Mitchell said. “Whoever plays quarterback, we’re going to win. That’s the bottom line.” The Jaguars head to training camp without a proven quarterback for the first time since 2007, when then-sophomore Bryant Lee edged Warren Matthews for the starting job.
HARTFORD, CT — Vin Baker has earned millions and lost millions. An NBA lottery pick and four-time all-star, he’s been at the pinnacle of his sport; an admitted alcoholic who squandered away potential, he’s also been at the bottom. With such a wealth of experience, both good and bad, to convey to younger players, it was somewhat of a natural progression for Baker to make his first foray into coaching this past winter.
The former University of Hartford star was a student assistant for the Texas Southern University men’s basketball team, which plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Working alongside fellow former NBA all-star Nick Van Exel, Baker thoroughly enjoyed moving over to the coaching side of things. “I loved it,” he said Wednesday night, prior to playing for the Simoniz All-Stars in a Greater Hartford Pro-Am league game.
“It’s a transition, but I loved it, just working with the kids (on) understanding the game. I was there with Van Exel. To be on the floor with him, (teach) things that I know about the game, trying to get their IQ up on the game is fun. And, obviously, being around the kids is great, too.”
With help from Baker, Texas Southern – an historically African-American school located in Houston – had a successful season. The Tigers went 17-15 overall and 11-7 in the SWAC, falling to Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the conference championship game and just missing out on an automatic NCAA tournament bid.
As Fayetteville State coach Kenny Phillips heads to today's CIAA football media day in Petersburg, Va., he has no idea where his Broncos will be picked to finish. But as the defending conference champions, Phillips isn't shy about announcing his preference. "I hope we're picked to win it again," he said. "You always want to be picked to win it. You want everybody shooting for you."
Despite losing a horde of key playmakers who made last season's conference title run possible, thus making a bid to repeat a major challenge, Phillips insists his philosophy is pretty simple. "I'm the kind of guy where I want to be the one on top that everyone is trying to come get," he said. "I don't want to be the guy on the bottom struggling to get to the top. I've been there and done that. Trust me, it's not as much fun." A year ago at media day, Phillips had a brash message for his fellow CIAA coaches.
ORLANDO, FL -- The organization that runs the Citrus Bowl and its bowl games has ensured that the field conditions that marred last year's games will not happen again.
Florida Citrus Sports says installation of an artificial turf surface is underway, and the new field will be ready for the MEAC/SWAC Challenge between Southern and Delaware State on Sept. 5.
“We have been staging major events in the stadium for over 60 years where the athlete experience is of premium importance,” said Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan in a news release. “Hosting a large number of events in short time windows have challenged the ability to provide optimum field conditions and paint schemes needed for national television. With this improvement, we are very excited about our ability to provide one of the safest, most technologically-advanced playing surfaces in the industry to our customer.”
Heavy rain and cold temperatures following last December's eight high school football championships at the stadium did not allow a new grass field to set properly before the Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl, making for a messy and dangerous situation. Miami Hurricanes running back Graig Cooper suffered a knee injury that he and his coaching staff blamed on the poor field conditions. Cooper's status for the 2010 season is still up in the air as he rehabs the injury.
In what is almost certain to be the least surprising announcement of the Southwestern Athletic Conference's 2010 football season, Grambling's Christian Anthony was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday.
In addition to Anthony's honor, a poll of conference coaches, media, and selected sports information directors predicted Grambling to finish the 2010 season in the same spot as the Tigers finished in 2009 — second in the Western Division and left out of the SWAC Championship. Prairie View A&M, the defending SWAC Champion, was picked to finish ahead of Grambling in the West. "Prairie View is No. 1, and right now Prairie View is the team to beat," Anthony said.
"They came out last year and defeated us, and right now we're chasing glory, and that's a situation you love to be in."
Earnest Collins' Alcorn State Braves won only three games in 2009, his first as head coach, but two of the three were especially huge.
Alcorn defeated both in-state SWAC rivals Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State en route to a 3-6 finish that was the Braves' best since 2006. It's almost as if the Braves are starting 2010 at 1-0, because Collins openly called last year's Capital City Classic, the season-ender against Jackson State, "our first game of the 2010 season."
Alcorn beat the JSU Tigers 14-7, a victory that made winter workouts and spring training much more fun and productive, Braves players say. "We got a taste in our mouth that we enjoyed," Isaac Williams of Clinton, a three-year starter at center, said. "It made everything go better in the off-season. It was big for us, especially beating Jackson State. Everybody knows how big that is."
Big? Yes. The supreme goal? "No," answered Collins. "I want to win them all. You play the game to win championships. I expect us to be much, much better this year."
Jonathan Pillow, RS 6'-0"/200 lbs., freshman transfer from University of Maryland; signed as defensive back by Terps from Jacksonville, FL Mandarin High School. Pillow completed 130 of 236 passes in 2008/09 for 1538 yards, 12 touchdowns and 10 interception as the starter for the 7-3 Mustangs.
They both have the same goal as the preseason approaches for the Florida A&M football team — Austin Trainor and Jonathan Pillow want to win the backup role at quarterback. Their attitude is a little different, though. Trainer, who is in his second season with the program, is a little more assertive and full of confidence. Pillow, who was on the University of Maryland's football team last season but didn't play a down, is taking a wait-and-see approach. That was enough for coach Joe Taylor to offer this assessment:
"It's going to be interesting now when camp starts as to who gets the backup. It's all about getting reps." With Martin Ukpai having locked down the starting quarterback spot, both of the freshmen are poised to go after the second spot that is still up for grabs. Senior Eddie Battle came out of spring camp as the favorite backup, but has missed most of the offseason 7-on-7 drills.
Trainor would definitely have the edge because of his experience in FAMU's offense. But he realizes Pillow and potentially one or more of the incoming freshmen could make the competition tough. "Nobody is going to give me (anything) unless I take it for myself," said Trainor, who spent the past few months putting on muscle and working on his speed. "I feel a little more confident these months we have had off."
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — How often does history repeat itself? It depends on the piece of history in question. In the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s preseason poll, released Tuesday at the league’s annual media day, voters predicted that Prairie View and Alabama A&M — last year’s division champions — will meet again at Legion Field in the championship game.
As for Southern ... well, voters apparently aren’t sold on a quick turnaround from first-year coach Stump Mitchell. The Jaguars will finish fourth, according to the poll. “That’s fine,” Mitchell said. “We know that others’ expectations for us aren’t the same as our expectations for us. We’re just going to focus on playing each game and trying to win them all.” Of course, SWAC preseason polls are not often clairvoyant.
In 2006, voters selected Alabama A&M and Southern as favorites to win their respective divisions. They were half-correct: Alabama A&M won the Eastern Division and reached the championship game, but Arkansas-Pine Bluff won the West. The following summer, Alabama A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff were preseason favorites. Voters went 0-for-2, as Jackson State and Grambling reached the SWAC title game.
Karl Morgan won't say it, but I will. Morgan, the first-year head football coach at Mississippi Valley State, has the most difficult job in football. Believe this: If anybody has a tougher job, you don't want anywhere near it. Neither does Knute Rockne or Bear Bryant. Why is Morgan's job so hard? Let us count the ways:
•He replaces the legendary Willie Totten, whose name is on the Valley stadium, but who won only 31 games in eight seasons at the Valley.
•Oh, that stadium? Morgan's first team can't play in it. It's condemned and will have to be repaired. Valley will play its "home" games 45 miles away at Greenville High School.
•Totten's last team finished 3-8 overall and won just one SWAC game. Obviously, better talent is needed, but Morgan got the job two weeks before signing day. In other words, pickings were slim.
•Division I-AA teams are allowed 63 football scholarships, and most of Valley's opponents award that many. Valley is limited to just above 50.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Sam Washington would prefer not to relive the moment anymore - the one where he collapsed last August on the Jackson State practice field, experiencing what he calls the "worst pain ever." "I just dropped," he said. "I didn't flip over or do any of that Cartoon Network stuff. I just fell." He lay on the field, writhing in pain as teammates and trainers swarmed over him. In his mind he was thinking one thing: Oh no, not again.
For the second time in four years - this time less than a month before the 2009 season opener - Washington's spinal vertebra jabbed into a nerve, sending pain and numbness through the left side of his body. For the defensive end from Holmes County, it meant another back surgery and another football season missed - and perhaps the end of his career. That was nearly one year ago.
DeMatha Catholic High School (Hyattsville, Maryland) will have two of its top runners complete in the MEAC this winter.
William Kellogg, ranked number 3 in the United States at 500 meters during the 2010 high school indoor season will carry his talents to Hampton University.
Robert Corbitt III, a New Balance National 4x4 Outdoor All-American will be running for North Carolina Central University. Corbitt shown below in the video running the third exchange for DeMatha -- will follow in his father’s footsteps -- Robert Corbitt, Jr., a 1985 graduate of NCCU.
Corbitt III also will be feeling the heat from older sister Jamilah Corbitt, Assistant Sports Information Director/Media Relations at Alabama A&M University. Jamilah was an outstanding scholar and played scholarship basketball at Vermont, and Central Connecticut State University and knows a few things about collegiate track and field. She covers both the men's and women's track and field programs for the Bulldogs, among other responsibilities.
The Corbitts' are native Washingtonians and strong supporters of NCCU Eagles.
DeMatha participated in the New Balance Nationals 2010 at North Carolina A&T State University (June 17-19, 2010) in Greensboro, N.C., and was in a 18th-way tie for 38th place in the Boy's competition, out of more than a 150+ competing teams.
The Stags are coached by Norfolk State University Spartans 1982 graduate, Anthony Bryant. Coach Bryant will be entering his 18th season as DeMatha's Head Track & Field coach. DeMatha will be loaded again next season with the return of Christopher Walker (48.17/ 400m), Thomas Gaither (1:53.54/800m) and Michael Williams (38.55/300m hurdles).
Former FAMU quarterback Casey Printers is showing inconsistency as Lions starter.
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The one great quality of being a genius coach is having a great quarterback. And three games into the 2010 CFL season, B.C. Lions quarterback Casey Printers is not making his boss look very smart. In coach Wally Buono's view, his field general is exhibiting the same erraticism that is bedeviling the rest of the team.
"You'd like for him to be more consistent," Buono said Saturday, after reviewing tapes of the Lions' 16-12 defeat to the Montreal Alouettes Friday night at Empire Field. "Half the time, there is a very good quarterback." That statement was borne out by the statistics, which saw Printers complete 20 of 40 passes for 253 yards against the Alouettes. And he did throw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Robertson for the game's only major.
However, he was intercepted twice, the first time when he tried to throw a home-run ball into the end zone with Paris Jackson double-covered and the entire Montreal defence aware that Printers was going to go deep. It was not a smart call, Buono admitted, because the Lions were in Montreal territory and needed to come away with points in what was a low-scoring defensive struggle.
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.
With Prairie View quarterback K.J. Black and Grambling defensive end Christian Anthony, 2009 SWAC offensive and defensive players of the year returning, it's no surprise the preseason 2010 All-SWAC preseason team looked similar — especially since PV and Alabama A&M were selected to repeat as respective division champions.
