HBCUs capitalize on growing interest by adding sport options

The outrage, frustration and emotional trauma Jahi Jones felt when he saw video of the police killing of George Floyd three years ago compelled him to look for ways to lift up other young black men.

He just wasn’t sure how to do it.

Jones had attended the University of Maryland on an academic scholarship and was a walk-on for the wrestling team. He became a team captain, competed in the NCAA championships, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He later noted that black men made up half of wrestling’s 10 Division I national champions in 2021 but less than 10% of Division I wrestlers.

Then everything started to click.

“I would start thinking about how I could get involved to help out within the wrestling community and just make things fairer and more just,” he said. “It was just seeing the lack of diversity, but also seeing that … we excel within the sport but[we]just don’t have the same development opportunities.”

Jones, 25, is executive director of the HBCU Wrestling Initiative. With a great deal of support from this program, Morgan State will be the only historically black college or university (HBCU) to offer Division I wrestling next school year. The school had already stopped the sport in 1997.

Kenny Monday – the first black wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal – will be the coach. The Baltimore school will also add women’s acrobatics and tumbling, which could one day be a full-fledged NCAA championship sport.

Morgan State’s additions reflect a growing phenomenon with HBCUs riding a wave of popularity not seen in decades: many adding sports beyond the more typical offerings of football, basketball and track and field.

The Associated Press contacted 46 Division I and D-II HBCUs and five conference bureaus about the trend over the past decade; 20 schools responded, saying they have added at least 42 NCAA championships or emerging sports since 2016, including at least 32 sports since 2020 alone. Several of those new teams are scheduled to begin competing next school year. Only three of the newly added sports were track and field, two were soccer and none were basketball.

Division II Bluefield State was the busiest — the West Virginia school added 13 sports as of 2020.

Even smaller schools are moving. Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee added women’s gymnastics last season. Talladega College (Alabama) is scheduled to start women’s gymnastics as early as this fall.

HBCU administrators say the new sports fill a need, noting that Black parents are increasingly choosing other, “non-traditional” options for their children. Sports like gymnastics, lacrosse, and volleyball have gained more black competitors at the NCAA level in recent years, and HBCUs are adapting by expanding their offerings.

Chara Hinds, a sophomore from Barbados who competes in women’s triathlon in the state of Delaware, said the changes are already making a difference.

“It means a lot to me because it gives me the opportunity to compete in triathlon and still go to an HBCU, and as a person of color it’s a unique experience,” she said.

This trend intensified in 2020. The surge in social awareness following Floyd’s assassination and a surge in interest in HBCUs led to a surge in donations and helped support a clear interest in black athletes playing non-traditional sports.

“I think it’s just an evolution of where we (Black people) are as a society,” said Delaware state athletic director Alecia Gadson, whose school added women’s triathlon in 2021 and will add women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse next school year. “We think differently. You know, now that you have a kid, you don’t have to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to push them to basketball just because they’re big. You might say, “Hey, you know what? Maybe they can play volleyball.” I think it’s a mindset.”

Deion Sanders has been instrumental in raising the profile of HBCUs. The former NFL defenseman coached the Jackson State football program for three seasons, most recently in 2022, before being hired at Colorado.

“I think Deion’s involvement helped to add fuel to the fire,” said Anthony Holloman, commissioner for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). “But I think the fire was already lit.”

Organizations such as the HBCU Wrestling Initiative, the HBCU Gymnastics Alliance, and the First Point Volleyball Foundation have funded and directed new programs.

The wrestling initiative received a $10 million commitment from investor and former Princeton wrestler Michael Novogratz. Jones said Novogratz had already donated $6 million, which covered the $2.7 million needed to get sports back at Morgan State. Jones said the initiative has had discussions with Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) schools about potentially adding more programs.

First Point Volleyball provided a $1 million grant to help SIAC launch men’s volleyball. Six schools began gaming in 2022, becoming the first HBCUs to offer the sport.

“I just think that the importance of diversity and representation in sport in general needs to increase and improve, so it’s phenomenal to see an overall increase and improvement in men’s volleyball,” said Anitra Brockman, men’s and women’s volleyball coach near Central State (Ohio). “It just really goes to show that minorities in general, black athletes in particular, can participate in predominantly white sports and be just as successful and be equally supported.”

Volleyball made sense as a sport – it’s among the fastest growing sports in America. According to NCAA data, the number of black participants in men’s volleyball has slowly increased from 93 in 2012 to 214 in 2022; of these 214, 54 – 25% – were in HBCUs. During the same period, the number of Black players increased from 1,481 to 2,046, including 579 in the past year at HBCUs (28%).

Investing in men’s volleyball is strategic. Holloman said the SIAC is working with John Speraw, the Team USA and UCLA men’s volleyball coach who runs First Point, and is looking at ways to increase the talent pool nationally.

Holloman said Speraw had the right idea and his timing was perfect.

“If you want to immerse yourself in our culture, what better way than to build a relationship with historically black colleges that have historically produced great athletes in all sports?” said Hollomann.

Black athletes are taking advantage of their opportunities. Cameron Lee, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, said he didn’t even play volleyball until after his senior season of high school basketball at Edmond North (Oklahoma) High School. He played club volleyball for a year before joining the Central State program.

Teammate D’Aaron McCraney, a 6-foot-9 college student from Las Vegas, also started playing basketball before switching to volleyball. He said he loves the ability to pursue his passion and be himself.

“I just feel like being around and being in the school — especially with people who understand me as a black man — I don’t have to explain myself and behave differently to them because I’m a black man,” he said.

Fisk is the first HBCU to add women’s gymnastics, the latest step in an explosion of interest in the sport among black athletes. Corrinne Tarver, Fisk’s athletic director and gymnastics coach, said she was amazed at the attention her program has received.

“We knew the importance,” she said. “We knew it was important, but we didn’t expect it to be so big and draw so much attention and interest. It was absolutely insane. It was wonderful.”

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AP Sports writers Hank Kurz and Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CliffBruntAP