Winter Haven Students Rally to Support Ken Riley

NFL greats Doug Williams (L) and Ken Riley(R). Riley's NFL career: Bengals cornerback, 1969-83; fourth on NFL all-time interception list with 65.

Students want him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.




WINTER HAVEN, FL - What started out as a class assignment has turned into a movement. Winter Haven High School classmates Nick Harper and Jordan Powell hope the movement turns into a tidal wave of support that sweeps Winter Haven High dean Ken Riley into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "We researched it and found out he was pretty good," Harper, an 18-year-old senior, said of Riley, who played for 15 years with the Cincinnati Bengals. "He's had the most interceptions without being in the hall. He went to a Super Bowl. Why isn't he in?"

So, the duo went to work. They have collected more than 1,000 signatures and have contacted some of the Hall of Fame voters, including local voter Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. They're trying to get everyone to remember the achievements of the Bartow native Riley, who last played in 1983. It may be working. Kaufman said last month that he has received some of the letters and talked with some committee members while at the owners' meeting in California in March.

"He's legitimate," Kaufman said of the Union Academy graduate Riley. "I brought up his name to some of the voters and got a very positive response. It's a wonder why someone with the numbers he has hasn't really seriously been considered."

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Former FAMU Rattlers, Ken Riley displays a game ball and three AFC Interception Leader awards he won during his 15 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. Riley, 61, a dean at Winter Haven High School, resides in Bartow.

LIFE OF RILEY

• High School: Union Academy, Bartow, FL; College: Star QB, Florida A&M University; 6th Round Draft Choice 1969, Cincinnati Bengals-- Played 15 seasons as cornerback.


• Riley also excelled academically and earned his team's scholastic award and a Rhodes Scholar Candidacy.


• NFL career: Bengals cornerback, 1969-83. Fourth on NFL all-time interception list with 65.


• Post NFL-career: 1984-85: Green Bay Packers assistant coach; 1986-93: Head coach, Florida A&M University, compiling a 48-39-2 record with two Mid-Eastern Athletic conference titles and 2 MEAC coach of the year awards; 1994-2003: Athletic director, Florida A&M.


• Personal: Age 61, hometown is Bartow, Fla. Married, three grown children, one grandchild. Resides in Bartow, Fla.


• Riley is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.


• In 2007 Riley was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team which selected the Top 33 players in the 100 year history of high school football in the state of Florida's history.
  
• Riley is in other halls of fame, including the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Polk County Sports Hall of Fame and the Florida A&M Hall of Fame.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Understated NFL Star Ken Riley Remains Underrated ...
Ken Riley Past Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards ...
Ken Riley Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com

FAMU softball MEAC champs

ORMOND BEACH — FAMU shortstop Melissa Oliphant was still approaching the ground ball hit by Celsey Tafoya when the three Rattlers outfielders began racing in. The second the throw to first base was caught for the final out, every FAMU player was on the mound celebrating with pitcher Amanda Reyes. Bethune-Cookman's players headed to their dugout with drooped shoulders after falling 9-1 in five innings Saturday afternoon in the MEAC championship game.

FAMU senior softball players from left are Rhianna Green, Alesha Wells and Nicole Terryn--2009 MEAC Champions

A lot of tears were shed — by the Rattlers and the Wildcats. FAMU's players wept for joy. For the first time since the 2006 season, the Rattlers captured a MEAC championship. "The young ladies have been poised and under control," said FAMU coach Veronica Wiggins, fighting back her emotions after the Rattlers secured her fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in 18 seasons. "They did a good job and worked hard. They were prepared."

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
FAMU sweeps B-CU
MOP award gives FAMU softball player Reyes justification
Three Rattlers Named to All -MEAC Softball Team
FAMU's Reyes selected the MEAC's pitcher of the year
FAMU Diamond Smiles on Orange & Green
Winter Haven Students Rally to Support Riley

Spencer to take his winning ways to Alabama State

When A.J. Spencer played high school basketball, he was a scoring machine, finishing with a Wicomico County (MD) record 1,775 points. The 6'-2" Spencer averaged 10 points and 5.6 assists this past season at Cecil College as the starting point guard and ends JUCO career with a 65-3 record.

SALISBURY, MD -- Wicomico High School graduate A.J. Spencer is the kind of basketball player who defies easy description. During his career, he's gone from an interior player with a guard's game to a converted point guard with the ability to be a scorer. But if forced to label him with a one-word description, his former coaches come up with "winner." He helped the Indians to the state semifinals twice and went 65-3 in two seasons with the Cecil College, winning Maryland JUCO and regional titles.

"He did a great job winning for coach Waller at Wi-Hi, and he did the same thing for us," Cecil coach Bill Lewit said. "He has great leadership skill, puts his teammates first, and has the talent and ability to be a playmaker." So not surprisingly, when the Cecil point guard announced that he had made a decision regarding his basketball future, it was Alabama State, a team that won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season and tournament title last season, that he chose.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Stung: Spencer to ink with ASU
ALABAMA STATE FOOTBALL: Hornet assistant uses coaching to cope with career-ending injury
COLLEGE GOLF: Alabama State freshman John Montgomery headed to NCAA regional
Tuskegee kicks off season Aug. 22

ESPNU to air SWAC football games

Coach Rod Broadway Grambling Tigers has two ESPNU or ESPN2 HD dates--Sept. 6 vs. SCSU and Nov. 12 vs. Texas Southern.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference will have four football games aired live on Thursday nights on ESPNU during the fall. Alcorn State will kick off the schedule with a road game at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Oct. 1. The game time has not been set.

Prairie View A&M at Southern will be featured Oct. 22 with kickoff yet to be determined.Texas Southern will travel to defending conference and black college national champion Grambling State on Nov. 12. Start time is lotted for 8 p.m.The 86th Turkey Day Classic between Alabama State and Tuskegee will shown Nov. 26 at 3 p.m.


READ RELATED ARTICLES:
GSU football gets Thursday night ESPNU date
Alcorn State's final baseball home games canceled in order to save ...
Fifth Annual MEAC/SWAC
Alcorn State football team will appear on ESPNU Thursday night package
Former ASU coach Marino Casem receives award

SC State will not host the Lowcountry Classic this year

The Bulldogs will play five games in Orangeburg for the first time since the 2005 campaign

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – South Carolina State will not host the Low Country Classic in Charleston, S.C. during the 2009 football season, the University announced today. SC State president, Dr. George E. Cooper, shared that as a result of the on-going decline in appropriated state resources, the University, this year, would focus on using available resources to support events on the campus and in Orangeburg. The decision means that The Bulldogs will play five games in Orangeburg for the first time since the 2005 campaign.

Dr. Cooper said that he hopes SC State alumni, stakeholders and fans will increase their support of the football team, no matter where The Bulldogs play. S. C. State, which will play an 11-game schedule in 2009, opens the season Sept. 6 against Grambling in the fifth MEAC/SWAC Challenge at Orlando, Fla. The Bulldogs will be making their second appearance in the game, created and sponsored by ESPN to match outstanding teams from the MEAC and SWAC. SC State played Alabama State in the inaugural MEAC/SWAC Challenge in 2005, coming away with a 27-14 win.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
T&D Sports: Quick Hits
The Lowcountry Classic - Home
SC State will not host 2009 Lowcountry Classic - WIS News 10 ...
S.C. State men fall to UGA in NCAA tourney

Howard's Cooper like every other player: just waiting

After what he calls an "interesting" football career at Howard University, Endor Cooper is like every other college player, anxiously waiting for the results of the 2009 NFL Draft this weekend. He's not sure when or if he'll be selected during the seven-round event, but today and Sunday will determine his future in football. "I'm like the rest of the players," Cooper said, " everybody's wait-ing to see what happens."

Even if he's not picked this weekend, Cooper could be a non-drafted free agent pick up for a team. He said his agent, Greg Hale, told him a week ago that as many as nine teams expressed interest in the 2004 Hylton grad.

Cooper, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound linebacker, could be a quality addition to an NFL club after putting together an impressive senior season with the Bison. He was the lone bright spot on the Howard (1-10) defense, recording more than twice as many solo tackles than any other player on the team with 71. His 98 total stops were nearly as many as any two Bison combined. He was named to the All-Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference first team defense.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Bozeman signs five-year deal with Morgan State

Todd Bozeman now has the MEAC's second-highest annual salary.

Todd Bozeman, who delivered Morgan State's first NCAA Division I basketball tournament berth this season, met a Thursday deadline by signing a five-year contract to remain as Bears coach. Attorneys for both sides negotiated most of the day into the early evening before Bozeman, 45, signed a deal that gives him the second-highest annual salary in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. His base salary is $182,000, ranking behind only Delaware State's Greg Jackson at $225,000 in the MEAC.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a college basketball coach," Bozeman said. "I welcome the opportunity to continue to coach my guys." Dr. Earl S. Richardson, Morgan's president, issued a statement to The Baltimore Sun, saying: "We're pleased. We think we have a contract that works for the university and for Coach Bozeman."

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.