LEGACY HOOPS CLASSIC: The Jim Richardson Legacy Basketball Classic is the new name of the fifth Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend hoops confab to be held at the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005. The Classic will feature CIAA and MEAC teams in the event's first tripleheader and has been renamed in honor of the late elder statesman, a 14-year politician who served in the North Carolina House and Senate, and as a Mecklenburg County (N.C.) Commissioner. North Carolina A&T and Delaware State are slated to hook up in the 9 p.m. MEAC nightcap after North Carolina Central and Livingstone (5pm) and homestanding Johnson C. Smith and Winston-Salem State (7pm) take the court in CIAA action. The four-day weekend includes a host of events intended to bring civic and business leaders, educators, celebrities, alumni, students and community members together. In its history, the Classic has contributed over $350,000 towards charities and participating schools.

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS: Morehouse and Albany State picked up SIAC Cross Country Championships at the conference meet Friday at Mozley Park in Atlanta. It was the 10th consecutive title for the Maroon Tigers whose runners took four of the first five places.
ASU's women's title broke a three-year streak by Fort Valley State.
Morehouse's Josiah Lagat defended his individual men's title from last year while Clark Atlanta's Iris Pickett won the women's individual crown.
North Carolina Central completed its climb to championship status with a slim one-point victory over St. Augustine's to capture its first-ever CIAA Men's Cross Country Championship.
Last year, they were runners up to St. Augustine's falling three points short of first place. This year, the Eagles had the best overall score with five runners finishing in the top 10 positions.
St. Augustine's Larry Marshall defended his individual title by finishing first for the second consecutive year with a time of 24:28.19 over the 8K course. Marshall is a veteran of the championships having finished first or second for the past three years.
St. Augustine's women returned to the top as the Lady Falcons defended their title from last year.
The Lady Falcons placed five runners in the top nine spots to easily outdistance Shaw. St. Aug's women have won six of the past eight championships, falling to second place in 2000 and 2002.
North Carolina Central's Yolanda Barber won the women's individual title with a time of 19:43.4 over the 5K course. Barber's win gives NCCU its fifth individual title in the past six years.

HOF BECKONS: Fourteen (14) HBCU products are among a list of 89 former greats nominated for possible enshrinement in the Hall of Fame next summer, the NFL has announced.
Florida A&M, Grambling and Tennessee State each had three former players named while South Carolina State had two. Jackson State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff had one apiece.
The players are Henry Lawrence, Nate Newton and Ken Riley of FAMU, Claude Humphrey, Richard Dent and Ed "Too Tall" Jones of TSU, Everson Walls, Doug Williams and Albert Lewis of Grambling State, Harry Carson and Donnie Shell of SC State, Harold Carmichael of Southern, L. C. Greenwood of UAPB and Leon Gray of JSU.
Among the 14 HBCU graduates nominated for possible Hall of Fame induction are two Super Bowl MVPs; Tennessee State's Richard Dent (Chicago) and Grambling's Doug Williams (Washington).

© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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