Browsing: Sports

Last week’s column covered the myriad successes achieved by the Dillard girl’s cross country team under the dynamic leadership of Coach Davidson Gill. In an effort to highlight, educate and create more interest in a sport surely deserving, I wanted to chronicle the successes of the women’s and men’s championship teams: North Carolina State University (women) and Northern Arizona University (men).

To be held at DRV PNK Stadium in  Fort Lauderdale, Dec. 15-17 2022 Florida High School Football State Championships – DRV PNK Stadium (Fort Lauderdale)

     In May 2022, Florida A&M’s star football player Isaiah Land considered leaving the HBCU for a school in a Power Five Conference. Land, an NFL prospect heading into his senior year, had the talent to play at any school in the nation and wanted to test the waters in the transfer portal. His top choices were Texas, UCF, Auburn, LSU, Memphis, and UGA, who won the College Football National Championship last season and are currently the No.1 team in 2022.

     After 294 days in Russian custody, including the past several weeks in a dreaded and dangerous penal colony, WNBA star Brittney Griner is free.

The Committee’s report, titled “Conduct Detrimental: How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up Decades of Sexual Misconduct,” determined that Snyder and the National Football League worked to suppress evidence in the investigation into the team.

The casual high school sports fan has probably never even given cross country a passing thought-  understandable but nevertheless disappointing. While hundreds of students and parents eagerly attend Dillard football games, the same attention and enthusiasm falls woefully short when speaking of cross country, a sport that demands courage, endurance, sacrifice and commitment sans the physicality, immediate excitement and anticipation inherent in football or other traditional sports . I continue to draw the comparison because both are fall sports held at similar times. However, on many high school and college campuses, the sport’s popularity has skyrocketed. For example, who knows or has ever heard of Katelin Tuohy or Charles Hicks? Allow me the privilege of sparing you the aggravation. Katelin led the Atlantic Coast Conference North Carolina State University Wolfpack to the 2022 NCAA Division I XC championship,  winning her first individual title in 19:27  while garnering the team’s second consecutive title. Stanford’s Charles Hicks won the men’s individual XC title, setting a course record at Oklahoma State University with a time of 28:43, one second ahead of pre-race favorite Nic Young of Northern Arizona, NCAA men’s XC ‘22 champs.

   Sanders’ impact on HBCUs, HBCU athletics, and HBCU culture was undeniable and that deserves to be respected. He fought to provide new resources to his players at Jackson State, which included personal sacrifices like donating half his salary to that cause. His personality, bravado, and ability to win also brought extensive exposure to Jackson State and HBCUs across the country. Many major media outlets started creating HBCU verticals during Sanders’ time at Jackson State and networks like ESPN even sent College GameDay, their flagship college football show, to cover a couple of HBCU games during Sanders’ tenure including a game in Jackson this year against Southern University. 

     In 1991 Dillard High School track phenom Jonathan Carter completed one of the most successful, electric and captivating athletic careers in Broward County history. Not only was he the Class 4-A state champion in the 100 meters, he also led the team to a second place finish at the state meet which catapulted him to accept a scholarship to FSU where he became a six- time All-American in the 100 and 200 meters and four by one relay.

     Black Ambition supports Black and Latino and Latina entrepreneurs with a series of prizes to underwrite strong ideas. It was founded by music artist and philanthropist Pharrell Williams, whose No. 1 hit ‘Happy’ made him a household name. Black Ambition’s pitch competition is critical for applicants who undergo three months of inspection and interviews with partnered entrepreneurs and senior business leaders. 

An athletic department administrator at a school in the Southeastern Conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Once the NCAA lost in court, they basically pulled out of Afghanistan. There’s no rules. It’s crazy.”