Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Why Not?

If there’s a college basketball season this year,  I guarantee we’ll get to see five-star recruit, Kenyan-Australian basketball player, Makur Maker a few times on television.  So, what’s significant about that?  Makur committed to attend Howard University, becoming the highest-ranked player in modern recruiting history to commit to HBCU.

Why not an HBCU? I’ve often had this discussion with colleagues, friends, and parents.  Most of the responses, “I don’t want my kid to go to an HBCU.” This response is typically from parents of student-athletes with scholarship offers from HBCU’s in hand.

Negative parental and student responses are never based on educational opportunities or the universities’ indicators of excellence. I always ask what kind of research students and parents conducted on HBCUs or any other college offering an athletic scholarship.  Normal response….blank stares. 

Howard University has a lineage of notable alumni.  Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, Elijah Cummings, Andrew Young, and Ossie Davis, to name just a few.  When I started writing this blog, Senator Kamala Harris,  also a Howard Alumni, wasn’t a part of the conversation.  I wonder now how many of those same parents would have the same response given Sen.  Harris, a Howard University graduate, could become the Vice President of the United States of America. Let that sink in.

I’ve always imagined what a shift there would be if top high school athletes decided to attend HBCU versus the current trend. We all understand television contracts are based on viewership, and common sense says that if you have the top players at HBCUs,  those games will be televised. Will the impact be immediate, probably not, but if this trend continues, the effect is inevitable. Television and media follow the best athletes, and if those athletes happen to be playing for an HBCU, the revenue streams from television rights, endorsements, etc. will grow. Exposure to the school’s academic offerings will also increase.

This blog is about the decision made by Makur Maker, and the impact that could have for HBCU’s not only as it relates to athletics but education as well. There are many other HBCU’s with notable accomplished alumni (Athletes): Walter Payton (Jackson State), Althea Gibson (Florid A & M), Shannon Sharpe (Savannah State),  Doug Williams and Willis Reed (Grambling State), Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State),  Steve McNair (Alcorn State), to name a very few. There are many other prominent figures such as authors, politicians, and entertainers who have all attended various HBCU’s, too many to mention in this blog.

So I return to the point of this blog.  Why not an HBCU?