UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
MORGAN OUT AT FVSU: Gwendolyn Reeves, director of athletics at Fort Valley State University,
has announced that
she has opted not to renew John Morgan's contract as head
football coach. "After careful review and consideration, I believe it is
in the best interests of our football program to move in a different direction
under new leadership," said Reeves. "I
extend to Coach Morgan my thanks, and that of our university
community, for his contribution and service." Morgan has served as
head coach since 2003 leaving as an assistant at
Bowie State to run the Wildcats grid fortunes
after Kent Schoolfield was fired. Morgan compiled
back-to-back records of 7-4 before finishing at 7-2 last season to finish
his three seasons with a 21-10 overall mark. His team has
never finished out of the top four in the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference during his tenure. He remains
under contract until June 30, 2006. A national search for a new
head coach, responsible for daily management and
administration of all phases of the university's Division II football
program in accordance with all NCAA, SIAC and university
regulations, will commence immediately.
NICHOLSON HONORED: Former Grambling State University publicist and sports information director Collie J. Nicholson, a marketing and promotional genius who for three decades (1948-78) teamed with famed football coach Eddie Robinson and late Grambling President Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones to make Grambling a household name and national football power, will have the press box at the school named in his honor. Nicholson, now in his 80s, wrote stories by hand and delivered them to over 400 newspapers across the country promoting Grambling's football team and created a one-of-a-kind television network that had as many as 126 stations carrying Grambling football highlights in the late 1960s. His accomplished goal was to make Grambling to black America as Notre Dame was to Catholics. Nicholson made contacts and negotiated contracts to get Grambling in Classic Games like the 1960s sellout vs. Morgan State at Yankee Stadium and was responsible in the late 1970s for setting up the neutral site Bayou Classic vs. Southern which is still a cash cow for the university today. Grambling has been and continues to be the standard-bearer for black college classic games. In the late 70s, he also got Grambling to play in two games in Tokyo, an unheard-of accomplishment for an American football team. He helped launch the careers of numerous Grambling football icons like Paul "Tank" Younger, Buck Buchanan, Ernie Ladd, James Harris and Doug Williams. Nicholson used trailblazing experience as the first black Marine Corps war reporter during World War II to push Grambling to the national stage. "My time as a combat correspondent gave me the understanding of what editors were interested in," Nicholson told The Shreveport News-Star in 2003. After his retirement in 1978, Nicholson wrote for newspapers across the country and worked for a while alongside boxing promoter Don King. He received lifetime recognition from the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and the College Sports Information Directors of America Trailblazer Award in 2002. Both Williams and Harris, now executives with NFL teams, told the News-Star of Nicholson's legacy. "As long as there is a Grambling," Williams said, "Collie J. should be a part of it." Harris agreed: "It's a tremendous honor for a guy who really made a significant contribution to Grambling's growth and development and long-time tradition that has withstood the test of time. He was a pioneer, so having his name on the press box is very deserving."
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.