By Chris Stevens
A notable list of who’s who in the Black College Football world earned some national recognition Monday afternoon as the College Football Hall of Fame announced its list of candidates for the Class of 2025.
At the top of the list is former Texas Southern defensive end Michael Strahan, who went on to win two Super Bowls as a member of the New York Giants and is now a national TV host on both Good Morning America on ABC and the NFL on Fox.
He is joined by another two-time Super Bowl winner, Fort Valley State alum Tyrone Poole, who won back-to-back championships with the New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004.
Mississippi Valley State is also heavily represented, as former NFL cornerback Ashley Ambrose, NFL linebacker and current North Carolina A&T head coach Vincent Brown, and one-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Parnell Dickinson are on the list of candidates.
Maryland-Eastern Shore defensive end Carl Hairston, who played in Super Bowl IV for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Winston-Salem State and Dallas Cowboys running back Timmy Newsome round out the list of players nominated as a part of the CFB Hall of Fame’s Division segment, highlighting players at the FCS, Division II, and Division III level.
There are some legendary HBCU coaches who were announced as candidates as well.
Eddie P. Hurt coached at Virginia-Lynchburg but was best known for his 30-year tenure at Morgan State, where he led the Bears to six Black College National Championships and 14 CIAA trophies.
Rod Broadway is also a candidate. Broadway won at every level of HBCU football, winning back-to-back CIAA championships at North Carolina Central in 2005 and 2006.
He then went to Grambling, where he won the SWAC and Black College National championships in 2008. He returned to North Carolina in 2011, where he led the North Carolina A&T Aggies to the first Celebration Bowl championship in 2015 and another in 2017 after making the FCS playoffs in 2016. Broadway retired following the 2017 season.
Another North Carolina legend is nominated as Bill Hayes, who coached Winston-Salem State for 12 years and North Carolina A&T for another 13 seasons, making the list of candidates. Hayes won 195 games in his 25-year career, taking the Rams to the Division II national semifinals in 1977 and guiding the Aggies to the FCS quarterfinals 22 years later.
Gideon Smith, who coached the Hampton football team for a record 19 seasons, is also nominated. Smith led the Pirates to the Black College National Championship in 1922 and four CIAA titles. He remains the second-winningest coach in school history behind Joe Taylor.
