% \
%
ME AC CONTINl
faces Delaware State.
But the real test of the amtntious .
producers' capabilities will come
Saturday, Jan. 19. when the network
will cover games in separate cities for
simultaneous broadcast in different
regions. North Carolina and Florida
viewers will seethe matchup between
Bethune-Cookman and N.C. A&T
from Daytona Beach, while the rest of
the country will watch Howard take on
Delaware State.
Drakeford said the split-game approach
will be tried again on Saturday,
Jan. 26, when black college basketball
fans in Maryland and Florida will view
Morgan State and Bethune-Cookman
in Baltimore while other stations carry
N.C. A&T's game against S.C. State
from Greensboro.
Game coverage will follow the standard
network format, alternating playby-play
description with live interviews,
commentary and special
features. Calling the games will be Don
Shea, sports director at WTVD in
l
BARRY COOPI
The Harsh Re<
By BARRY COOPER
Syndicated Columnist
It seems that historically black colleges,
once at the forefront of educa
uun in mis cuumry, arc wcamcring
assaults on all sides these days.
Among their woes are money cutbacks
from the federal government,
as well as drops in enrollment and
apathy among alumni.
The problem is especially severe in
athletics, where many black schools
are experiencing acute financial
pains. Once powerhouses that attracted
professional scouts in droves,
the black schools now have taken a
back seat to larger universities which
have outbid ? oops, outrecruited them
for the best talent.
The effect of having to settle for
less than the very best has been
devastating. No longer can Gramblin
a matrh nn An fnAthall fiplH
UAg iiliftfcVil Up V/AA MAV A WAVWl
with larger, more well-known
schools. Florida A&M football
Coach Rudy Hubbard, who once
boasted that his team "can line up
against any team in the country and
expect to win,*' can no longer make
that claim.
It is the same for most other black
v ~t. > . t . ? M - . . t .
555=5
=IEL,
JED
Durham for 20 years before joining
Jim Valvano Enterprises* and Donnie
Tuck, another former WTVD sports
announcer and former Howard
University sports information director
who now edits The Sports Gap.
Fred Snow den, former head coach at
the University of Arizona and the first
. black coach in America at/ a
predominantly white school, will handle
the games' halftime shows, featuring
highlights of each of the MEAC
schools. Snowden will provide the
shows with analyses of conference,
nonconference and league play, as well>
as tips from other coaches.
What's more, Drakeford said,
"We're going to be doing a lot of
women's basketball. We're interviewing
a number of female announcers for
the women's games." The company
has signed Eva Watts, a 10-year
veteran of ABC, as one of its pro
ducers for the wojp^s coverage. If
All College Sports gets the tournament
E R
ility of BigVersi
schools, and in every sport. The Mid
Eastern Athletic Conference basketball
champion is embarrassed each
year in the NCAA Tournament. Except
for Alcorn State, the champion
of the Southwestern Athletic Conference
has not fared any better.
Most other sports at black colleges, ' <
except for some track programs, are a
virtual joke, their worth having been
ruined by a lack of money and 1
facilities.
For the most part, this decay has i
taken place at the country's Division I i
black schools, such as Grambling, J
Florida A&M, North Carolina AAT i
and Maryland-Eastern, Shore. The <
strain of trying to compete just a <
.IWH H MWW UK UJ| UU?& Ul 400UHU
and on the same level in all other i
sports has been too much for the ]
schools to handle. ]
Many of the other black colleges,
particularly those which remained in i
Division II, have relatively healthier 1
bank accounts and seem much more l
competitive on their own level. J
The bottom line, however, is simple:
Most black college athletic pro- i
grams are losing respect. It seems that J
few people take them seriously I
ACT COLLEGE SI
V I
rights, Drakeford said, it plans to
televise 13 women's games this year
and field an all-woman team of anTHE
SCHEDULE
Jan. 12 N.C. A .A T vs. Howard at <
Jan. 14 N.C. A A T vs. Dalawaro SI
Jan. IS UMES vs. Morgan Stato at
Jan. 19 Sothuno Cookman vs. N.C
- Jan. 19 - Howard vs. Dalawaro Stat
Jan. 21 Bathuna-Cookman vs. S.C.
Jan. 26 Morgan Stato vs. BattiunoJan.
26 S.C. Stato vs. N.C. AAT at (
Jan. 26 Howard vs. Morgan Stato <
Fob. 4 N.C. AAT vs. UMIS at Oros
Fob. 9 Dalawaro Stato vs. N.C. Al
Fob. 16 Morgan Stato vs. Howard i
Fob. 25 Dalawaro Stato vs. Howar
nouncers to call the women's tournament
games.
it the venture succeeds, Drakeford
is Small In Colic
anymore. Players from black colleges 1
are left off of the major all-America to
teams, have no chance at being con- Stil
sidered for the Heisman Trophy and pla
are not invited to participate in major rov
post-season all-star games. (
Furthermore, black college players pea
often are overlooked in the NFL and else
NBA drafts, and have to rely on free ha\
A ? CI 1 -I
agency iu iiiiu mcir piaces on pro scic
rosters. I
Such a tactic could mean the loss of Wi]
more than $1 million. Take Grambl- pas
ing's Everson Walls, for example. A not
few years ago, the Dallas Cowboys for
signed him as a free agent after the \
Cowboys and every other NFL club ove
declined to draft him. wid
? All Walls did was lead the league in ?the
interceptions that year and make all- and
pro. His-salary: a paltry $40,000, the dra
NFL minimum. ?
Had Walls been drafted on the first teai
ound as he was worthy of, he would Ten
iave signed perhaps a three-year con- NC
Tact worth 4300-000 n? VMr nine a
f ? / w? I f/IMil H AI
(250,000 signing bonus. on i
So you figure Walls, under the in- T
tial contract he signed, lost some V
(260,000 a year plus the signing athl
x>nus.
PORT/ EtVttW
?
said, the producers may expand their
coverage into other conferences - or
possibly into ME AC football.
htensbovo. N.C.
at* at Oreentboro, N.C.
Princess Ann*, Md.
. A A T at Daytona Beach, Fla.
at Washington, D.C.
, State at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Cookman at Baltimore, Md.
Breensboro, N.C.
at Washington, D.C.
insboro, N.C.
fcT at Dover, Dei.
at Baltimore, Md.
d at Dover, Del.
But, he pointed out, "We're still trying
to get the bugs out of this one
before we attempt that."
>ge Athletics
I
7ortunately for Walls, he was able |
renegotiate his contract last year. ||
11, he'll never catch up with the
yer who was taken in the first >;
ind. ' |
)n the surface, much of this ap- J
its to have racist overtones. How
; could the NFL, which claims to B
re college scouting down to a p
ince, miss out on Everson Walls? |||
low could quarterback Doug
iliams, who shattered numerous ^
sing records while at Grambling,
have been considered a candidate ||
the Heisman Trophy?
Vhy isn't the nation's press raving
r Mississippi Valley's Jerry Rice, a |.
e receiver who right now may be * ^
best -in the eollege ranks this year
1 is destined to be a No.l NFL I
ffrchoice?
low can black college football H
ns like Mississippi Valley and j||
hm?M> i/V VAVIUUCU 1IUIU inc E||
AA Division I-AA Top 20 poll?
: would be easy to blame the above
sheer racism and nothing more.
hat is not true, though. _
/hat is hurting black college |
etic programs is not so much j|
HMMHOctober, 1984-Page 5