Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Michael Strahan, John Stallworth and Rich Caster are among the hundreds of NFL stars who played their collegiate ball years ago at one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
Another outstanding group of HBCU players, who played their final college season last year, will be in the national spotlight this Saturday, February 24 at the third Annual HBCU Legacy Bowl in New Orleans. The game will be broadcast on the league’s NFL Network beginning at 4 PM ET.
“We are pleased that this class of young players will get seen and showcased in this Legacy Bowl as has happened the last two years,” says Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams, who later coached at HBCU schools Morehouse and Grambling State. “In addition to the television exposure, we also want to give the NFL scouts an opportunity to meet these players in person. We already have a large group of scouts scheduled to be in New Orleans to watch practice this week.”
The Legacy Bowl is presented by the Black College Football Hall of Fame which was co-founded by Grambling State grads Williams and James (Shack) Harris. Mel Blount, Willie Lanier and Art Shell also serve on the Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees. This Hall of Fame was established in 2009 to preserve the glory of HBCU schools and honor their greatest football players, coaches, and contributors. There have been 114 individuals inducted into this Hall since its founding. It currently is housed in Canton at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We were concerned in recent years that NFL scouts were overlooking the best HBCU players,” says Harris, who himself was an eighth round pick of the Bills in the 1969 NFL Draft. “We believe one of the reasons for this is that scouts evaluate the schools and not the individual players. We believe the Legacy Bowl is helping to change that.”
Many of you alumni attended one of the 107 HBCU schools around the country. Those of us in the national Alumni office will be watching the game this Saturday and hoping these players –just like you–will get the serious attention they deserve from NFL personnel departments.
