Former FAMU Marching 100 G.Star Swain Makes National TV Singing Debut

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- This year's Fourth of July celebration could go down as one of the most reflective in history as our country searches for the security that once defined America.

Just four months away from what is expected to be one of the most contentious and divisive elections ever for the president of the United States and only a few weeks from being stunned by the worst mass shooting in history — near Disney World, no less — we, the people, remain on edge.

Perhaps that is why a powerful, soulful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, performed impromptu by Tallahassee’s Star Swain at the Lincoln Memorial, has been viewed more than 33 million times online and placed her in demand for appearances in national news and entertainment outlets.

Think about it: A simple, yet stirring, gospel-tinged performance of this country’s most revered patriotic verse is being shared by millions through a social media network usually reserved for promoting the latest single by Beyonce, Beiber and Swift.

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Grambling State's Nigel Ribeiro Out to Prove His Coach is No Fool

GRAMBLING, Louisiana -- If the night is darkest just before the dawn, then Grambling State would've seen a dramatic turnaround following its 0-28 season four years ago. But college basketball doesn't work like that, and the Tigers' program was in as rough shape as ever when Shawn Walker took over two years later.

"I don't know what the outcome is going to be next year," Walker told the Monroe, La.-based News Star last summer following an inaugural 2-27 season in 2014-15. "You'll have a story that says Shawn Walker is foolish or what this man was really selling is starting to come to fruition. One of them two things is going to happen."

So, is Walker foolish or not? The Tigers won just four games against Division I teams last year, and slogged through an 11-game SWAC losing streak. But don't rush to put the dunce cap on him. There were positives for the wayward program. Grambling State snapped a 36-game losing streak against D-I opponents, and won its most SWAC games in five years. Most importantly, Walker might have found a young player to headline his immense rebuilding effort.

Nigel Ribeiro had big plans when he signed with Walker and the Tigers. Before the season, he told the News Star that he and fellow commits Mike Bethea and Javier Roper would be the ones to lead the program to unseen places.

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Minority Collegiate Golf Championship Is Growing the Game

MIAMI,  Florida -- The PGA Tour remains exceedingly white, and I'm not talking about the ice-cream-man pants favored by many of the lodge brothers these days. The players and their caddies, the broadcasters and their bosses, officials and reporters and fans—it's a sea of white. The Tour—and you could say the same of the USGA and the PGA of America—looks nothing like the broad rush of humanity scurrying through the Orlando airport during spring break. It looks like 1958.

And then I paid a short visit to the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship in early May, a 30-year-old event that has been run by the PGA of America since 2006. What a joy, to walk the flat fairways of the PGA Golf Club, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and see scores of young black, white, Asian and Latino golfers carrying their own bags and grinding out pars. Maybe it's because I spend too much time at Tour events and private clubs, but it just felt good to ask an African American woman—a coach in a cart, visor on, ready for action—directions to the 10th tee. It felt like progress.

The championship gives young minority golfers, most of them good but not great, a national competition in which to play. If that makes it an affirmative-action tournament, so be it.

For the purposes of the competition, the PGA of America identifies five minority groups: African American, Hispanic American, Native or Alaskan American, Asian or Pacific Island American and Middle Eastern/North African. Of the 145 players, men and women, in the field this year, roughly 60 percent of them fell into one of those five groups. Most of the rest were white kids playing for golf teams at historically black colleges and universities. There are also two individual competitions for minority male and female golfers from non-HBCU teams.

It's not an easy event to get your arms around. The minority classifications are really part of an accounting exercise that justifies the use of the word "minority" in the championship name. This year, Bethune-Cookman, an historically black university in Daytona Beach, won both the men's Division I team title and the women's team title. Of the 10 Bethune-Cookman players, only three were members of PGA-sanctioned minority groups. But three others were self-described mixed-race Britons for whom there was no box to check, except other.

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FMU Hires Florentino Burgos as New Baseball Coach

MIAMI, Florida -- Florida Memorial University Director of Athletics Robert Smith has completed the search for a new Men's Baseball coach at FMU with the hiring of Florentino Burgos to lead the Lions into the 2017 season and beyond.

Burgos most recently served as the head coach at Hialeah Gardens Senior High School for the past eight years. He was responsible for evaluating players, practice planning and managing the team. In addition, Burgos owns and operates Tropics Baseball, which organizes fall baseball leagues.

"We are excited to bring Coach Burgos on board to lead our Lions baseball program. Burgos is widely known and respected in the baseball community. His energy and enthusiasm mixed with his focus on player development will help elevate our program to the next level," Smith said.

Burgos is a native of Miami Dade County and played collegiately at Florida International University. Following his collegiate career, he was signed by the Kalamazoo Kings. He later returned to South Florida, where he was the head coach at North Miami Beach Senior High and RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities).

As a collegiate baseball player, Burgos was an All-Regional Team selection and NCAA D1 Regional Champion. Burgos inherits a program that returns the majority of its players. He and the Lions will open play in February of 2017.

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NCAA helps WSSU athletes get their degrees

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- Danisha Wiggins, a former track and cross country athlete at Winston-Salem State, said that without a financial grant from the NCAA to help her finish her degree requirements it’s doubtful she would still be in school.

But for Wiggins and Michael Douglas, a former football player for the Rams, the NCAA is helping both pay for their final few classes, allowing them to get their college degrees. It might not be a lot of money considering the billion-dollar business that is the NCAA, but to Wiggins, it means a lot.

“My mom doesn’t have a high-paying job so when I graduated Parkland it was all on me,” said Wiggins, 23, who hopes to be a kindergarten teacher. “So this is just a blessing because without the NCAA’s help I would have had to take out a bunch of loans. It would have been a lot tougher.”

Wiggins, who works a 40-hour job at A Child’s World Learning Center in downtown Winston-Salem, has a 3.8 GPA and is two classes and a teaching internship away from graduation. Her eligibility ended this spring after four outstanding seasons on the track team where she helped the Rams to two CIAA indoor championships.

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Florida Memorial University Athletics Department 2015-2016 Recap

• Maximiliano Schendfeld Named NAIA All-American Honorable Mention
• Matias Ledesma, Hernan Luis Liporace, Martin Magni, Marco Perreta, Julio Vera, Jose Vidal Bazterric and Lucas Vigliaccio Named Daktronics-NAIA Men's Soccer Scholar-Athletes 
• Fourteen Men's Soccer Named to Academic All-Conference Team
• Seven Lions Highlight Men's Soccer All-Conference Team
• Arns Carrenard Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team
• Men's Soccer Upset Third Top 25 Team
• Men's Soccer Receives First Top 25 Ranking in Program History
• Four Teams Named NAIA Scholar-Teams (Men's Soccer 3.71,Women's Soccer 3.49,Women's Cross Country 3.26,Women's Outdoor Track & Field 3.16)
• Four Women's Soccer Named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes (Hohebeth Vega,Leilani Bellieni, Camila Scobina and Cindy Rosero)
• Six Women's Soccer Named to Academic All-Conference Team
• Natasha James Named 2015 Daktronics-NAIA Volleyball Scholar-Athlete
• Natasha James Named to Academic All-Sun Conference Team
• Arasay Guerra Named Honorable Mention All-Sun Conference
• Samuel Dorismond Named to Second All-Conference Team
• Corion Knight Captures All-American Honors at NAIA Indoor Track Championships
• Men's Basketball Upsets Lynn 76 to 67
• Ashley Henry Named to Sun Conference All-Defensive Team
• Ashley Henry Named Sun Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week
• Cesar Temes Named 2016 Daktronics-NAIA Baseball Scholar-Athlete
• Coach Louis Zarzabal Nominated for NAIA Coach of Character Award
• Corion Knight Locks Down National Champion Title as FMU Men's T&F Finish 20th Overall
• Corion Knight National Long Jump Champion
• Corion Knight Wins a National Title in Men's Long Jump and All-American Honors in Men's High Jump
• Corion Knight, Eunique Byrd and Brittany Starling Named Men's & Women's Field Athlete of the Week
• Five Lions Named to Academic All-Conference Track & Field Team
• Corion Knight Broke The Sun Conference Meet Record with a Mark of 7'2 1/4 ( 2.19 meters) in the High Jump
• Corion Knight 7th at FSU Seminole Invitational in the Long Jump and 2nd in the Men's High Jump
• Corion Knight Won the High Jump at USF Invitational
• Corion Knight Won the High Jump at Miami Hurricane Invitational with a Leap of 6.10.75 and Won the Men's Long Jump in 23.11m
• Corion Knight was Named Sun Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Week Five Times this Season
• Corion Knight's Winning Jump at the NAIA Championship was 25' 1 3/4" (7.66 meters)
• Corion Knight Four Time All American

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Claflin's Brown Signs Professional Women’s Basketball Contract with Club Badel 1862

Orangeburg, South Carolina  --  Former Claflin University women's basketball player Shaniece Brown signs a professional contract to play with Club Badel 1862 located in Macedonia. Club Badel is one of 11 teams that play in the MŽRKL international women's basketball league.

The contract is for the 2016-17 season.

Brown, a 5-4, guard from Rochester, N.Y., led Claflin in scoring the past two seasons and was named to the SIAC Second team all-conference in 2016.

"This has always been a dream of mine, to play professional basketball and now I have my chance," said Brown. "I'm very excited and truly blessed for this opportunity. I just want to pave the way for others who follow me and to show them to never give up on their dream."

During the 2015-16 season she averaged 12.2 points, 3.5 assists while shooting 85.7 percent from the charity stripe. She finished the season ranked 42nd in the nation in free-throw percentage and was ranked 2nd in free-throw percentage, 5th in assists and 10th in scoring, in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).

"I am extremely happy for Shaniece," head coach Deont'a McChester said. "She deserves this opportunity; she has represented our program and university with high character on and off the court. Every coach wants to see their athletes live there dreams and I am very blessed to help Shaniece with hers." McChester continued, "My assistant coach Nanyamka Moore helped develop Shaniece to think and work like a professional and her impact can't go unnoticed."

Brown is the first Claflin player under coach McChester tutelage to sign a professional contract.

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