Savannah State says T.A. Wright Stadium will be ready Oct. 1

Savannah, GA - Savannah State University's football team has not played a game on its campus since Nov. 14, 2009. Last season, because of construction to T.A. Wright Stadium, nine of the Tigers' 11 games were on the road. The final two games were played at Memorial Stadium.

That will change Oct. 1, when SSU returns to T.A. Wright Stadium to play its first home game as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Tigers will face Howard University at 7 p.m.

"It's going to be done," SSU Vice President for Student Affairs Irvin Clark said of the stadium's completion. "Folks are going to have a lot to be proud of. I must be honest with you, it's a project that's long overdue."

The game is being billed as the "Coming Home/Hall of Fame Game" by SSU's athletics department. It won't be SSU's "Homecoming Game" - that will be Oct. 29 against Hampton - but it undoubtedly will have a homecoming-like atmosphere.

Savannah State has spent $10.2 million to upgrade its athletics facilities, including $6 million on T.A. Wright Stadium, which opened in 1967. SSU students voted in 2009 to pay an extra $150 per student each semester to fund a $21.95-million construction project that includes:

READ MORE

Former Saint Augustine's Bershawn 'Batman' Jackson makes 400M hurdles IAAF World Championships

EUGENE, Ore. – Jeshua Anderson hardly could have cut it closer Sunday afternoon. Still wearing his Washington State uniform after concluding his collegiate career two weeks ago, Anderson took the first big step in the transition to his professional career by winning the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. track championships – in the narrowest fashion.

Leading off Sunday’s national telecast on NBC, Anderson held off four-time national champion Bershawn Jackson (Saint Augustine's College, 2006/Miami Central H.S., Miami, Fla. 2002) and two-time Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor in the final 25 meters to win his first USA title.

“This is something I’ve been working toward for a long time,” Anderson said. “I’ve been preparing to run my best race at the USAs. I gave it my all. I’m so thankful to have won.” The 22-year-old from Woodland Hills, Calif., was timed in a WSU-record 47.93 seconds – the same as Jackson – with the electronic timer showing Anderson just .009 ahead. Taylor was third in 47.94. Johnny Dutch, the hurdler who kept Anderson from sweeping four NCAA titles as a Cougar by beating him in 2010, was fifth.



READ MORE

Hayes finally running the show at Alabama A&M

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Just before preseason basketball practice started in 2004, then-Alabama A&M men's basketball coach Vann Pettaway called his staff together - Willie Hayes and Sammy Jackson - and told them they were going to have to run the show.

Pettaway had been disagnosed with cancer and was about to undergo the biggest fight of his life. Hayes, the associate head coach at the time, and Jackson, who recently was named the head coach at Fort Valley State, was asked to keep the program headed in the right direction.

"Coach Pettaway let us know what he was going through and he was going to put the program in our hands and he needed us to run things until he could get back into the swing of things," Hayes said.

Not only did Hayes and Jackson runs things, they ran them so well that A&M went on to win not only the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season championship, but the tournament title as well. As a result, the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time as a Division I program where they lost to Oakland (Mich.).

Now, six years later...

READ MORE



Alabama A&M ticket prices on the rise

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Alabama A&M football fans will have to pay a few more dollars to watch the Bulldogs play this season. Athletics officials, charged with raising $700,000, increased prices to rent the 22 skyboxes inside Louis Crews Stadium and ticket prices also went up, according to sales manager Tourischeva Stubbs.

Skyboxes range from $10,250 to $12,700, while season tickets have increased $25 and single-game tickets have increased anywhere from $5 to $7. "The skyboxes sold quickly," athletics director Betty Austin said. "There is a great demand for skyboxes. We hope season tickets will sell just as fast or faster." Selling season/reserved tickets was difficult last season, Stubbs said. Only 361 reserved seats were sold in 2010. There are more than 2,000 available.

"We have to change the culture of our fans," Stubbs said. "We need to get people to really see the value of our product and we need to value our product and one way to do that is with the price. Eventually, with time, our fans will see the value and they'll pay for it."

READ MORE

VISIT: ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY

VISIT: AAMUSPORTS

Canadian Football League: Hampton's McDaniel shines in win over Alouettes

Pre-Season Recap: Montreal 20, Hamilton 57


HBCU Players on defending Grey Cup Champion Montreal Alouettes Roster:
34 Marc, Emmanuel RB Import 5.11 200 17-11-1982 Delaware State
29 Jones, Kitwana DE Import 6.00 240 07-07-1981 Hampton

HBCU Players on Hamilton Tiger-Cats Roster:
37 Young, Marcell DB Import 6.02 200 1987-09-02 Jackson State
97 Powell, Darius DE Import 6.03 225 1988-09-17 Fayetteville State (Practice Roster)
6 McDaniel, Marquay WR Import 5.10 205 1984-04-20 Hampton (Injured List)
55 Baggs, Stevie DE Import 6.02 240 1981-12-30 Bethune-Cookman

Columbus may host another championship game

Columbus, GA - It is still too soon to tell if Columbus will become the home to another championship sporting event. The Columbus Sports Council met with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference earlier this week about the SIAC bringing its championship game to Columbus beginning in November. If the game comes here, it would be played at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium.

The game is tentatively scheduled to be played Nov. 12, which coincides with the final day of the Georgia High School Association cheerleading championships, which are held next door at the Columbus Civic Center. The sports council asked the SIAC to consider playing the game on Nov. 13, a Sunday.

Two SIAC games are played here annually. The Tuskegee-Morehouse game is scheduled to be at Memorial on Oct. 8, while the Albany State-Fort Valley State game will be on Nov. 5.



The Pioneer Bowl is set to return this year on Dec. 3. It is one of three NCAA Division II bowl games. It pits a team from the SIAC against a team from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Pioneer Bowl was played for the first time in Columbus last December. Saint Augustine's beat Fort Valley 20-14.

READ MORE

Howard University's David Oliver win 110M hurdles national title

EUGENE, Ore. — Four years ago, David Oliver injured a hamstring before he even stepped on the track for the 110-meter hurdles at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, his first appearance at the event. The injury was not serious, but his disappointment was.

“You just never know when you’ll ever get the opportunity again to represent the U.S.A.,” Oliver said Saturday. “Especially in the hurdles.”

Two years later, a strained calf muscle kept him from competing at the world championships in Berlin. That, he said, marked “a down point of my career.”


Former Howard University Bison football player David Oliver is set for the World Championship in Daegu  with this victory. Former Oklahoma (Bethune-Cookman transfer) Ronnie Ash finished 6th.

Oliver did not care to extend his streak of frustration Saturday at the U.S. track and field championships with another world berth on the line. With a carefully executed, workmanlike performance in the 110 final, Oliver bulled his way to a victory in 13.04 seconds, securing a chance to pursue the world medal that has eluded him at the August championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“It feels good to be done, to be on that team,” Oliver said after beating Aries Merritt, who finished second in 13.12, and Jason Richardson, who was third in 13.15. “I just stayed relaxed, focused on not false-starting and doing anything stupid.”

READ MORE

Former WSSU coach lands job at Tennessee State

TSU Assistant Coach Rick Duckett
(Courtesy Tennessee State University Athletics)

Rick Duckett had a record of 73-19 during his three seasons as coach at Winston-Salem State.

Nashville, TN - Rick Duckett, a Winston-Salem native and a former head coach at Winston-Salem State, has been named an assistant basketball coach at Tennessee State. Duckett, who was fired after one season at Grambling State in 2009, spent the past two seasons working for UNC Greensboro as the color analyst for men's basketball games on radio station WZTK-FM (101.1).

He went 6-23 in his one season at Grambling. One of his players died after a conditioning drill in August 2009, and Duckett was fired with three years left on his contract. Henry White, a 21-year-old junior-college transfer, became ill during a preseason workout at which Duckett was not present, and White died 12 days later.

After two seasons out of coaching, Duckett said he's thrilled to be back. Duckett said by telephone Saturday that he hopes his batteries are recharged after being out of coaching for awhile. "If they aren't recharged now, then they never will be," Duckett said. "I'm looking forward to getting back into it, so I'm very appreciative of this opportunity."

READ MORE

TSU Men's Basketball adds Rick Duckett to staff

Tennessee State University men's basketball head coach John Cooper has announced the hiring of Rick Duckett as an assistant coach. Duckett joins the staff with more than 30 years of coaching experience and after spending the last two seasons as a basketball color analyst for UNC Greensboro on 101.1 WZTK-FM. He has nine years of coaching experience as a head coach with three different programs gathering a career record of 156-98.

"We are extremely excited to have him (Duckett) join our staff with his vast array of experience and success during his coaching career," said Cooper. "He was shaped and molded in one of the great basketball families (North Carolina). We can't wait to benefit from his experience on the bench. He is a first-class person and fierce competitor with an incredible ability to identify with student-athletes."

Cooper and Duckett reunite after working together under two programs. During Cooper's collegiate career as a player at Wichita State, Duckett was an assistant (1987-92) help leading the Shockers to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1988 and 1997 and a N.I.T berth in 1989.

"I'm energized about the opportunity. It gives me clarity and purpose to have a chance to work with young people," Duckett explained. "During my two years away from coaching, I missed the day-to-day interaction with coaches and players. What is also important is the relationship I have with Cooper and I believe in his vision and admire his coaching philosophy."

From 1993-98, Duckett was head coach at Fayetteville State (CIAA) with Cooper serving as an assistant from 1993-95. In his first stint as a head coach, he led the Broncos to a 76-57 record while serving FSU as an assistant athletic director and instructor.

In 1998, Duckett took over the helm at Winston-Salem State (CIAA) until 2001. He posted a remarkable record in his three seasons leading the squad to a combined 73-19 mark while capturing the CIAA championship in 1999 and 2000. Both seasons, he earned the CIAA Tournament Coaches Award and was the 1999 NCAA Division II South Atlantic Coach of the Year.

After WSSU, he served his second term with South Carolina (SEC) Basketball from 2001-08 under head coach Dave Odom. He rejoined the staff after serving in the same capacity for head coach Bill Foster (Rutgers, Utah, Duke, South Carolina, Northwestern) for the 1985-86 season.

From 2008-09, Duckett grabbed the head coaching reins once again when he spent one season at the helm at Grambling State (SWAC) posting a 6-23 record.

In addition, Duckett has spent years as an assistant, coaching for one season at Central Florida (1983-84) and Jacksonville (1983-84). A year prior to the appointments, he spent the first of two stints at R.J. Reynolds High School (Winston Salem, N.C.) returning as a teacher and coach from 1992-93.

Duckett began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, North Carolina (Chapel Hill), from 1979-1980. He received his full-time start as the head coach of the freshman squad at Harvard University from 1980-1982.

Courtesy: Tennessee State Sports Information