Plans progressing for Black College Football Hall of Fame at Canton

The Louisiana-based Shack Harris and Doug Williams Foundation started the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. 

CANTON, Ohio -- The Black College Football Hall of Fame exhibit is expected to open at the Pro Football Hall of Fame sometime in late 2019 or early 2020.

The exhibit is in the design phase, said Joe Horrigan, the Hall’s executive director. Other plans for the partnership — announced in mid-2016 — include moving the college hall’s induction ceremonies to Canton, hosting a football classic and creating a traveling exhibit.

The Black College Football Hall of Fame will occupy between 5,000 to 5,400 square feet in the museum to the right off the entrance, where the interactive area is now. The back wall is expected to be removed to make more space.

Here’s what has happened so far:

• Meetings in Washington: The executive director of the National Museum and of African American History and Culture — a Smithsonian institution — and the head of the White House’s initiative on historically black colleges and universities both have participated in discussions about the exhibit.

• Design: Horrigan jokes work has focused on all the “non-sexy” stuff, such as traffic flow in the museum, integrated technology with the rest of plans for Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village, and design elements that fit the content planned for the museum

Here’s what could happen:



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Morgan State Alumnus Ray Washington Jr., Makes Inspiring Impact on Hometown Community with Pint-Sized Marching Band

Start Video at 1:27

The school has the only elementary school marching band in the State of Maryland.  

CAMBRIDGE, Maryland -- Drum lines and marching bands are deeply ingrained in the culture of America's historically black colleges and universities.

In elementary schools? Not so much.

But on a recent Wednesday afternoon, around 45 fourth and fifth-graders at Maple Elementary School in Cambridge stood in formation, awaiting their cue to begin. "Band!" yelled drum major Hallmark Pinanzu, 10, with a baton in hand. "One, two, ATTENTION!""M-E-S!" the children called. Hallmark blew his whistle.

"Up, two, three, four!"

The band began to march and drum. Flags, glistening green, silver and black began to wave.



The Marching Lions have been making waves, here and across the country. They've appeared on local TV stations and on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Oct. 13. They performed at a high school pep rally earlier this month and in a parade at Morgan State University's homecoming. They performed last weekend during a football game at Cambridge-South Dorchester High School and in the Elks Lodge Parade in Cambridge.

The band has a profound impact on the pupils, say those involved with the school, where 87 percent of children qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

"It's given kids that wouldn't have a focus, a focus," said Principal Patricia Prosser. "I don't think it would have been possible without the success of the drumline."

It's all sprung from Ray Washington Jr., who founded the marching band. As a Morgan State student, he performed for four years in the drumline of the university's Magnificent Marching Machine. He moved back to his hometown in 2015 in search of temporary work but instead landed a full-time position that has changed pupils' outlooks on what they could achieve.

"Drumline was life," said Washington, 32. "I didn't know band could be like that."



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A Legacy of Opportunity: The History of Delaware State University

DOVER, Delaware -- “A Legacy of Opportunity” is a documentary film to commemorate Delaware State University and its 125 year legacy. It tells the institution’s story, 1891-2017 using contemporary footage, archival photos, and personal interviews with university alumni and executives. The film is commissioned by Delaware Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the federal agency which provides specialized funding for humanities programs nationwide.

North Carolina A&T Aggies Win In Vegas, Defeat Lamar Cardinals

COURTESY: Lamar University Athletics

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Lamar did everything it could to overcome a double-digit second-half deficit. The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team would have none of it.

The Aggies resisted every comeback attempt the Cardinals came up with Saturday afternoon to win 74-70 in their final game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic at Orleans Arena. The Aggies (7-7) went 1-3 in the classic but more importantly they picked up their seventh non-conference win, they defeated their fifth Division I program after defeating only one last season and they picked up a morale booster heading into conference play in two weeks.

“Lamar plays extremely hard and we knew that coming into the game,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. “I have to commend these young men (N.C. A&T) for bouncing back after 24 hours and giving maximum effort. I wrote on the board before the game “max effort.” I think we did that for about 35 minutes. The goal is to get to 40 minutes.”

The Aggies completed a road swing that required them to play four games in seven days including back-to-back days at Orleans Arena. Radford defeated the Aggies 66-60 on Friday. Despite the loss, a more energized, spirited and feisty team entered the arena against the Cardinals on Saturday. There were also a few lineup changes from the day before. Senior forward Davaris McGowens, the Aggies leading rebounder from a year ago, made his first start of the season. Also making his first start of the year was junior college transfer guard Milik Gantz who previously served as a spark off the bench in close games at Georgetown and against Radford.

Inserting both men had immediate benefits. McGowens played strong defensively and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Gantz was also strong defensively. His two blocks led to transition layups for the Aggies. He also had four assists on the afternoon.

Fifth-year forward Denzel Keyes also gave the Aggies a lift. He came off the bench to score eight points in the game with all eight points occurring during a 15-0 first-half run in which the Aggies overcame a 12-8 deficit to take a 23-12 lead with 5:39 remaining in the first 20 minutes. Keyes scored in a variety of ways – on the break, at the free throw line, on a tip-in and on a short jumper – to give the Aggies a lead they never relinquished. The Aggies went into the half ahead by 11, 32-21, on a 3-point basket from junior guard Aaren Edmead at the buzzer.

“It was a team win tonight. Everybody excepted their roles,” said Joyner. “We wanted to play a lot of guys to stay fresh. We decided to play zone the entire game because I thought yesterday guys weren’t as fresh and our zone started to break down.”

There was no relenting from the Aggies early in the second half. They raced out to a 43-25 lead over the first 2 ½ minutes and then witnessed the Cardinals (8-5) slowly take away that advantage. With 11:43 remaining in the game, Lamar had the Aggies lead down to five, 43-38. The Aggies gathered themselves by getting out on the fastbreak. Gantz scored on two transition buckets and graduate guard Devonte Boykins scored on another transition basket to balloon the Aggies lead to 10 at 50-40 with 8:28 to play.

Over the next two minutes Lamar had the lead down to four, 50-46, on a Nick Garth 3-pointer. The Aggies sprinted out again, however, as a bounce pass from Edmead to freshman guard Kameron Langley highlighted a 9-0 run that put the Aggies ahead by 13 with 3:50 to play.

That double-figure lead held until the final 40 seconds of the game. A 3-pointer from Lamar’s James Harrison cut A&T’s lead to 8, 69-61. Another 3-pointer from Harrison got Lamar to within five, 70-65, with 10 seconds remaining. An Aggies turnover on the in-bounds pass gave Lamar the ball back with 7.2 seconds remaining.

Harrison then hit a double-pump, fall-away 3-point shot with 2.7 seconds remaining to make it a 72-70 game. But Olujobi iced the game with two free throws with two seconds remaining to give the Aggies the victory. In fact, the Aggies were 23-for-27 from the line for the game and 10-for-13 over the final two minutes of the game.

Olujobi led the Aggies with 21 points and nine rebounds on 6-for-12 shooting. Edmead was 5-for-5 from the line and finished with 10 and five assists. Boykins also reached double figures with 10. Colton Weisbrod led the Cardinals with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

The Aggies will face Virginia Tech before starting conference play on Jan. 6 at home against Norfolk State at 4 p.m. The Hokies will host the Aggies noon Thursday, Dec. 28, at Cassell Coliseum.

“The way we fought tonight tells me we have a chance to be really good,” said Joyner. “We're not a finished product yet. We have to continue to keep working. I'm a firm believer in hard work pays off in the end. You must pay the price every single day and for the most part we do. But until we pay the price every single day, we're going to have moments where we lose big leads.

I’m proud of the fact they never surrendered the lead. They kept fighting, and I’m proud of them for that. We’re still trying to figure things out, but I like what I saw tonight.”

BOX SCORE

NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Texas Southern had a lot to deal with during Saturday's 73-52 loss to the BYU Cougars

PROVO, Utah — If Texas Southern appeared to run out of gas during a 73-52 loss to BYU on Saturday, it would be hard to blame.

Sure, there’s the factor of playing at just over 4,500 feet — something a lot of teams struggle with when visiting BYU, but considering the other extenuating circumstances, the altitude was just an afterthought.

Saturday’s game marked the 13th-straight game for the Tigers this season, compared with no games played at home. Since its season-opener, a 97-69 loss at Gonzaga on Nov. 10, Texas Southern has traveled across the country and back, making stops at such places as Syracuse, Kansas and Oregon.

But that’s just the travel.



Absent in Saturday’s game was leading scorer Demontrae Jefferson, who averages 23.4 points per game. The 5-foot-7 guard’s father passed away earlier this week, and therefore Jefferson was absent from the team, leaving a huge void in what the Tigers do offensively.

"He's seventh in the nation in scoring, and his points are true points because he's going against the No. 1 schedule in the country," said Texas Southern coach Mike Davis. "So it's not like he's padding his stats against some bad basketball teams. … I think he's one of the top 10 players in the country, offensively."

"I with them and their team the very best," added Dave Rose, speaking specifically about the loss of Jefferson and the difficult circumstances he's going through. "I think Mike's got a really talented squad and we didn't get to see the whole group tonight."

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Sounds of the Season From Our HBCUs

A 415-pound recruit, a father's (SCSU/NFL) legacy and the making of a star

NORMAN, OKlahoma -- Sweaty and fatigued after practice, Oklahoma's Orlando Brown, an All-American left tackle, giggles when he thinks about the day his father tried to use Adam Sandler to motivate him.

Disappointed by his son's lack of aggression in a youth football game, former NFL veteran Orlando "Zeus" Brown (S.C. State) rushed home and told his son to sit on the couch while he sifted through his DVD collection. Brown assumed that his father, who died in 2011 from a diabetes-related condition he never knew he had, would show him old clips from his lengthy pro career.

Instead, Zeus stood in his living room and preached about the strengths of Bobby Boucher, an angry, underdog linebacker played by Sandler in "The Waterboy."

As they watched the movie together, Brown -- an eighth-grader then -- wondered if his father had finally gone too far with his inspirational tactics.

"He's like, '[Orlando], you gotta be this guy,'" Brown said. "He said, 'You gotta go get him. I mean, I know it's a movie, but you get what the f--- I'm saying.' He showed me that clip, and he said, 'When you get out there, I expect you to put a m-----f----- on their back.'"

Today, the nimble, 6-foot-8, 339-pound offensive tackle chuckles when he tells stories about his late father.



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