MEMPHIS – For me, Black College football is where it all started.
Now 30 years later, it feels only right, only natural, only complete that we
circle back to the foundation on which my sports media career, social mindset
and love of culture and history were nurtured. Today, as part of our continuing
expansion into college football coverage, Grind City Media has given me the
opportunity to launch the MikeCheck HBCU Football Power Poll.
In addition to our Memphis Tigers and SEC football coverage, we’re sharing the
unique stories, scenes and sounds that make HBCU football special. The Power
Poll will be my weekly ranking of the top five teams as we wind toward the Dec.
15 Celebration Bowl in Atlanta to crown a HBCU national champion.
My introduction to Black College football came in 1988, during a meeting with
Doug Williams. I was in junior high school and Williams was making his
post-Super Bowl rounds in my Washington, D.C. hometown as the first real sports
hero I idolized and simultaneously met. A few months earlier, Williams led my
hometown Redskins to a 42-10 throttling of John Elway’s Denver Broncos in Super
Bowl XXII.
Williams set a record at the time by passing for 340 yards and four touchdowns
to become the first black quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP. That ascension
secured his spot in my late-1980s sports Mount Rushmore: Mike Tyson. Michael
Jordan. Darryl Strawberry. And Doug Williams.
What most people forget is Williams started that 1987 season as a backup and
went 0-2 after taking over as the starter. And also often overlooked is that
Williams suffered a bad knee injury early in the Super Bowl before limping to
his prolific finish. Basically, what Aaron Rodgers did in a thrilling comeback
on one functional leg in last Sunday’s season opener, Williams did 30 years ago
on the biggest stage in pro sports. But there are two things that resonate to
this day from Williams’ performance.
First, one of the biggest questions Williams was asked during the press
conferences surrounding that Super Bowl victory was, “How long have you been a
black quarterback?” Williams would later tackle the audacity of that inquiry in
his 1990 autobiography, QuarterBlack: Shattering the NFL Myth.
Secondly, I’ll always remember seeing Williams during his round of sponsorship
appearances and camps throughout the city in the aftermath of the Super Bowl.
With his Southern drawl and measured tones, Williams spoke about this seemingly
mythical man and magical place that were the source of his inspiration.
That man was legendary coach Eddie Robinson, who retired as the winningest coach
in NCAA history. A man who, in the face of vicious civil rights oppression,
shared the courage and fortitude of Martin Luther King Jr., the heart of Mother
Teresa, the coaching mind of Bear Bryant and the gravelly voice of Louis
Armstrong – all wrapped into someone whose playbook was full of life lessons
between all those Xs and Os.
That place was Grambling State University in tiny Grambling, Louisiana.
I had never heard of Robinson. And I never imagined a place called Grambling
existed on the map. All I knew was that at that moment, I made up my mind I
would go there, too. Five years later, my family made the 1,134-mile drive from
D.C. down I-95 and I-85, then across I-20 to drop me off at Grambling for my
freshman year. Soon, a journalism scholarship and job with the school newspaper
were my credentials to chronicle Robinson’s teams around the country.
Years later, when I covered Florida State football, Hall of Fame coach Bobby
Bowden once told me he learned so much from Robinson by simply being in his
presence during offseason coaching conventions.
“Coach Robinson knew more about football than all those dadgum big shots
conducting the clinics at those conventions,” Bowden said. “But he’d be the
first one in the room, sitting in the front row every time with those pencils
and notebooks, soaking in everything like a sponge.”
There was also the story former Alabama player and coach Mike DuBose shared with
me about recalling only two occasions Bear Bryant ever stopped practice when a
visitor arrived.
“One was for President Lyndon Johnson,” DuBose said. “The other was when Coach
Robinson came by.”
As Robinson marched toward his 400th career victory after more than 50 years at
Grambling, I doubled as a correspondent for some of the nation’s biggest
newspapers and radio stations. I wrote about the coach who won on the football
field and often wept in press conferences while drifting into stories about his
life’s journey. I was fortunate to be among a swarm of reporters at Robinson’s
side inside Robinson Stadium as he was handed a telephone. On the other end of
the line was President Bill Clinton calling moments after Robinson’s 400th
victory.
Grambling State University Legends Doug Williams and Eddie Robinson after a
Super Bowl XXXII press conference at the San Diego Convention Center in San
Diego, California. Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
But I was most lucky to always be one of the last reporters out of the press box
after tough losses, only to walk by the locker room many late Saturday nights to
find Robinson. He was well into his 70s, alone and putting away rows of folding
chairs after sending the janitors home. I’d always find another question or two
to ask because I knew his answer would evolve into some larger lesson on life or
embracing adversity or being a proud American. No matter what, Coach Rob loved
being an American.
On nights like this, it all made sense. It all came together. I was experiencing
firsthand what Williams had described about Robinson and Grambling to us kids
years earlier in the weeks after that 1988 Super Bowl triumph. Symbolically, one
of my first assignments in my first job after leaving Grambling was to return
and cover Robinson’s 1997 retirement press conference. That’s the day Robinson
also handed the head coach’s keys to Williams.
A photo captured of Robinson and me together that day now sits in my office at
FedExForum. A cropped version of that shot is my Twitter avatar. My story is 30
years in the making, and just one of many that highlight the impact HBCU
football has on those it molds.
These programs often get overlooked or under-covered in mainstream media. Our
goal is to shine a bit of spotlight on some of the best and brightest HBCU
football teams each week, right here.
The defending Black College national champions carry the nation’s longest
winning streak (FCS or FBS) at 15 games into their bye week. N.C. A&T jumped up
to No. 4 in this week’s national FCS STATS poll, the highest ranking in school
history. The Aggies are also 3-1 against their last four FBS foes.
Up Next: Idle Saturday
How are the Panthers ranked this high? They nearly upset FBS foe Rice, then
smacked N.C. Central in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge on national TV and lost a close
game to top-5 ranked FCS power Sam Houston State. Tailback Dawonya Tucker has
run for an FCS-leading 542 yards.
Up Next: Saturday at UNLV (1-1)
First, the Tigers game against Jackson State in last weekend’s Southern Heritage
Classic was washed out by lightning and rain. Now, coach Rod Reed’s team is in a
holding pattern yet again after the threat of Hurricane Florence forced
Saturday’s game against Hampton to be postponed.
Up Next: Saturday at Hampton (1-1), postponed
The unbeaten Maroon Tigers from the NCAA Division II’s SIAC picked up two big
wins over Grind City Media regional teams, first upsetting FCS-level
Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener and routing Lane College last week to
put two standouts on the SIAC players of the week honor roll.
Up Next: Saturday vs Central State (1-1)
The two-time defending SWAC champs get a week off to heal after being outscored
83-24 in road losses to FBS Louisiana-Lafayette and a Northwestern State team
that tested Texas A&M in the opener. The Tigers always find a way to regroup for
SWAC play, where they’ve won 26 in a row in conference.
Up Next: Idle Saturday
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Memphis
Grizzlies. All opinions expressed by Michael Wallace are solely his own and do
not reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations
staff, owners, parent companies, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known
to the Memphis Grizzlies and he has no special access to information beyond the
access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the
media.
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