Rolling at the Relays
Black college performers earned some bragging
rights at this year's Penn Relays.
South Carolina State sprinter Jeffery
Fourth, Central State hurdler Vida
Nsiah, the St. Augustine's women's 4x400 relay team and the
N.C. A&T men's 4x100 relay team all came away with first place finishes.
Fourth, a sophomore from Fort Lauderdale, Fl., led
a strong black college contingent in the men's 100m
dash, finishing first in the college men's championship with
a time of 10.33. Fourth beat out N.C. A&T's
Timothy Walls (10.42) and N.C.
Central's Jason Smoots (10.43) to claim the victory.
Central State's Eric Ndri (10.50) finished 6th in
the event. Nsiah won the women's 100m hurdles event,
finishing first with a time of 13.02. St. Augustine's
Kia Davis (13.86) finished sixth.
The St. Augustine's Lady Falcon's 4x400 relay
team claimed first place in the college event. The CIAA
champs completed the distance in 3:34.46.
The Aggies 4x100 squad beat Texas to grab the
relay victory in a time of 40.10. Norfolk
State's men's 4x400 team finished fifth (3:07.88) in the college men's
championship event while Lincoln University grabbed fifth
place in the IC4A version of the 4x400 relay.
Morgan State's women finished sixth in the finals
of the ECAC version of the 4x400.
St. Augustine's and N.C. A&T got some
satisfaction over in-state rival UNC in the college division 4x400
relay. St. Aug finished fourth (3.10.16) while the Aggie
squad finished fifth (3:10.46). UNC finished sixth (3:12.51).
South Carolina State finished fifth in the men's
4x200 relay completing the course in 1:24.56. N.C. A&T made
the finals but was disqualified.
Lincoln (1:25.17) finished second in the IC4A
version of the 4x200 relay and sprinted to third place (41.05) in
the IC4A version of the 4x100 relay.
Enshrined
Former Grambling State and Washington Redskins
quarterback Doug Williams and famed Southern
University head football coach Arnett William "Ace"
Mumford were among five players and two coaches added last
week to the College Football Hall of Fame.
"When you think about all the people who
have played, to be selected for this honor says a lot,"
said Williams, now in his third year as head coach at Grambling.
Williams, who guided the Tigers to a 35-5
record during his 1974-77 playing career and Mumford
who compiled a 233-85-23 coaching record at Jarvis
Christian, Bishop, Texas College
and Southern from 1924-61 were selected from NCAA Division I-AA, II, III and
the NAIA schools. In the previous week, 15 former
Division I-A players and three coaches were selected.
"I don't think it makes much of a difference
where you played. It's what you do where you play that
matters," Williams said.
Others named to the Hall on Wednesday were
former Indiana of Pa. star Jim Haslett, now head coach of
the NFL's New Orleans Saints, two-way players
Gordie Lockbaum of Holy Cross and Bill Redell of
Occidental; Freddie Scott, a wide receiver at Amherst; and Joe
Fusco, who built Westminster into a small-college power.
Williams passed for 8,411 yards and 93
touchdowns and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in
1977, the year Earl Campbell of Texas won the award. He was
the first player from a predominantly black college ever
chosen as a first-team All-America by The Associated Press
and was named MVP of the East-West Shrine All-Star
Game following his senior season.
In 1978, he was the first quarterback from a
predominantly black college to be picked in the first round of the
NFL draft when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took him with
the 17th pick. He played for the Bucs from 1978-1982
starting 33 of the team's first 36 victories and leading them to
the playoffs in 1979 and 1981.
In 1987, Williams also was the first black
quarterback to win a Super Bowl leading the Redskins to a 42-10
romp over Denver in Super Bowl XXII. In that game he set
Super Bowl records for passing yards (340), most yards passing
in a quarter (228), most touchdown passes (4) and
longest completion (80 yards).
Mumford is one of the coaching legends in
black college football. He led Texas College to the 1935
black college championship before being hired by Southern
to build the Jaguars program.
From 1936-1961 Mumford built a powerhouse,
posting a 176-60-14 record, a .703 winning percentage. His win
total represents the second-highest in Louisiana College
Football history, trailing only former Grambling
head coach Eddie Robinson. Mumford's teams won eight
Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and five black
college national championships, producing over 50
all-Americans. A native of Buchannon, W.V., Mumford graduated
from Wilberforce University and received a master's
degree from the University of Southern Califormia.
Southern's home football stadium, A. W.
Mumford Stadium, is named for legendary coach.
© 2001 Azeez Communications,
Inc.
