HBCU Sports
  • SECTIONS
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • Softball
    • Volleyball
    • Track & Field
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Bowling
    • Other Sports
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Features
  • BANDS
  • PODCASTS
  • FORUMS
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • DONATE
No Result
View All Result
HBCU Sports
  • SECTIONS
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • Softball
    • Volleyball
    • Track & Field
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Bowling
    • Other Sports
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Features
  • BANDS
  • PODCASTS
  • FORUMS
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • DONATE
No Result
View All Result
HBCU Sports
No Result
View All Result

Home Football

HBCU Products Shine During Pro Football Hall Of Fame Ceremony

Kendrick Marshall by Kendrick Marshall
August 3, 2014
0
image1
120
VIEWS

You might also like

Report: Morgan State head coach Tyrone Wheatley to join Denver Broncos coaching staff

Senior Bowl, NFL announce HBCU combine in 2022

Former HBCU star, L.A. Rams assistant coach Tory Woodbury kneels during the anthem

Three HBCU products — Michael Strahan (Texas Southern), Claude Humphrey (Tennessee State) and Aeneas Williams (Southern) — were officially enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday night.

Their paths to the NFL, and then Canton, were all uniquely different.

Strahan, the 2001 AP Defensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants, played only one year of high school football before enrolling at Texas Southern in the early 1990s.

“The improbable happened,” he said. “I got a scholarship from Texas Southern University.”

“It was perfect for me. I didn’t get swallowed up,” Strahan continued. “I had coaches who loved me and cared about me. The thing I learned the most at Texas Southern is that I had to grow up.”

Strahan would go on to be taken in the second round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He would play 15 years in New York and become the franchise leader in sacks and games played.

If Strahan’s rise to NFL stardom could be described as improbable, Humphrey was by accident, he said.

A late bloomer in his own right, Humphrey, who would star for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles, spoke about how he ended up at Tennessee State.

“But a lot of recruiters came to visit me my senior year, but none like John Merritt,” he said. “John Merritt was the greatest coach in historic black college football.”

“The first thing that came out of my mom’s mouth was, ‘hey, but that Coach Merritt, he’s sure a nice guy. You’re going to like Coach Merritt. He’s going to take care of you.’ And he did. He took care of me,” Humphrey said.

After his stint at Tennessee State, Humphrey would go to the Pro Bowl six times, named an All-Pro five times and was a catalyst on the 1981 Eagles Super Bowl team.

Williams, who played for the Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams in a decorated career, was part preacher, part motivational speaker during his 29-minute enshrinement address.

“You see, I was on Southern University’s campus, freshman and sophomore year. And if you had told me ‘Aeneas, you have the potential to be one of the best cornerbacks, or within 24 guys to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a defensive back’ I would have thought you were crazy and hit you with the right hand,” Williams said.

Williams got in-depth about how he walked on to the Southern football team as a junior. A decision that changed his life forever.

“All of a sudden, it entered my heart to walk on the football team a week before the season starts. Made no sense,” he said.

After Southern, Williams was drafted in the third round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Cardinals.

He finished with 55 interceptions and 23 fumble recoveries during his career. Williams returned nine interceptions for touchdowns, tied for second in NFL history. He scored an astounding 13 touchdowns, which ranks fifth all time among defensive players.

“I didn’t set the goal of being one of the best cornerbacks in the game,” Williams said. “I set a goal to be one of the best husband’s and best men that I could be.”



Tags: NFL
Kendrick Marshall

Kendrick Marshall

Kendrick Marshall is an award-winning journalist and a graduate of Jackson State University.

Next Post
winston salem

Winston-Salem State Ranked Preseason No. 13 In D2 College Football Poll

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending Posts

  • Alabama State football player suspended for striking security guard
  • Jackson State football players explain what’s different in post-Deion Sanders era
  • Here is what Eddie Robinson Jr. said about incident involving Alabama State football player
  • Jackson State women’s soccer player makes Tigers football history
  • How different is the Jackson State offense under Jason Brown than Shedeur Sanders? We looked at the numbers
  • FAMU band Take a look: Here are the top 5 HBCU band halftime shows from Week 3
  • Here’s why Jackson State decided to use a female kicker against Bethune-Cookman
  • Ultimate HBCU Sports Division I Top 10 Football Poll — Week 4
  • Texas Southern QB Andrew Body to make social media announcement about status
  • Chicago State moving toward adding a Division I football team. Could they land in the MEAC?

RSS HBCU Sports Forums

  • Netflix: Top Boy
  • 2023 HBCU D1 FB Game Picks Week 5
  • Mobs of masked teens ransacked Philadelphia stores. Police have made over a dozen arrests
  • AAMU Homecoming Game vs Tuskegee Univ Sept.30, 2023 will be televised on HBCU Go
  • Band warnings during football games
  • 2023-2025 Vehicles
  • The 82nd Magic City Classic
  • 2023 Transfer Portal IV
  • Week 4: SWAC HONORS!
  • FAMU rose to No. 91 among the nation’s public universities
  • TERMS & CONDITIONS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • COMMENT POLICY
  • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
 CONTACT US

© 2023 RASHAD MEDIA - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PARTNER OF IONE DIGITAL / CASSIUS NETWORK

No Result
View All Result
  • SECTIONS
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • Softball
    • Volleyball
    • Track & Field
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Bowling
    • Other Sports
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Features
  • BANDS
  • PODCASTS
  • FORUMS
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • DONATE

© 2023 RASHAD MEDIA - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PARTNER OF IONE DIGITAL / CASSIUS NETWORK

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

X