2023 Super Bowl full of historic milestones Black athletes and artists were crown jewels of Super Bowl 57. This year’s event was full of historic “firsts” as Sheryl Lee Ralph performed an inspiring renditionof James Weldon Johnson’s Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” for the first time ever. Rihanna also gave a landmark […]
Category: Sports
Posted inHBCU
Fisk University gymnasts sparkle as first HBCU gymnastics team in NCAA
By Bianca Crawley, Special to the AFRO This year is special for Fisk University, a private historically Black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tenn. On Jan. 6 their gymnasts became the first HBCU team to compete on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level for their sport. Since 1906, the NCAA has showcased remarkable competitive […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Mount Holyoke College appoints Danielle Ren Holley as first Black female president to lead institution
By Howard News Staff Danielle Ren Holley, noted legal educator and social justice scholar, will become the twentieth president of Mount Holyoke College on July 1, 2023. The Board unanimously elected Holley following a thorough and inclusive search process. President-elect Holley is the first Black woman in the 186-year history of Mount Holyoke College to […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Extraordinary and influential former track coach of Mervo, Freddie Lee Hendricks, dies at 81
By Nicole D. Batey, Special to the AFRO Family members of retired track and field Coach Freddie Lee Hendricks recently announced that he completed his final race on Jan. 27, 2023. Hendricks, who taught physical education at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical (Mervo) High School for 36 years, leading the high school’s team to numerous city, state, […]
Posted inSports
Coppin State’s Jewel Watkins Named MEAC Women’s Basketball Defensive Player of the Week
Submitted by Steven Kramer, Director of Athletic Communications NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State’s Jewel Watkins has been named the MEAC Women’s Basketball Defensive Player of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon. This is Watkins’ first weekly award this season after receiving a pair of Rookie of the Week honors […]
Posted inNational Sports
Ticket demand, anticipation grows as LeBron nears Kareem
By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Basketball Writer Courtside seats 166 and 167 at the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers play their home games are pretty much as good as it gets. The people occupying those chairs when LeBron James breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA scoring record will have an up-close view, with their feet on the […]
Posted inWord In Black
NFL has been slow to embrace mental health support for players
By Mark Kreidler, Word In Black When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field in the middle of the “Monday Night Football” game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2, Carrie Hastings, half a continent away, understood what she needed to do — and right away. “I had a few guys […]
Posted inSports
Sports Roundup: a look at local high school sports
On Jan. 27 the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM) track and field teams gathered at the Prince George’s County Sports Complex in Landover, Md. Some of the best high school talent in the area participated for the championship, including two outstanding athletes Elise Cooper, of the McDonogh […]
Posted inNational Sports
Frank Reich, fired by Colts, named to coach Carolina Panthers
By Reginald Williams, Special to the AFRO The Carolina Panthers filled its head coach vacancy with former Indianapolis Colts Frank Reich Jan.26 in a move viewed as the latest example of Black coaching talent being overlooked in the National Football League. The decision to jettison interim head coach Steve Wilks comes in the wake of the […]
Posted inBaltimore News
The Moore Report: Sports betting: the power to win- or not– now in the palm of your hand
By Ralph E. Moore Jr., Special to the AFRO Looking at the television commercials these days, comedian and Oscar winning actor, Jamie Foxx, is quite excited about betting on sports events on his phone. So is the also very popular comic and movie star, Kevin Hart. The former entertainer is on the BET MGM app, […]
Posted inSports
Ed Reed ‘gone’ from Bethune-Cookman head coaching job
By Reginald Williams, Special to the AFRO “Bethune Cookman University has announced that Ed Reed has withdrawn his name from consideration to become the next head football coach at the university,” read the email submitted to Reed on the morning of Jan. 21. Responding before a room filled with parents, players and volunteers, an emotional […]
Posted inNational Sports
Titans’ 1st Black GM says he stands on ‘shoulders of giants’
By Teresa M. Walker, AP Pro Football Writer Ran Carthon looked up, pausing before answering a question his aunt warned would come. He is the first Black general manager in the history of the Tennessee Titans, a franchise founded in 1960 as the then-Houston Oilers in the original American Football League. “I understand I’m standing […]