WINSTON-SALEM, NC — The boxscore will show that HBCU Winston-Salem State (WSSU) defeated Ohio Dominican 19-13 in an overtime contest.
But I’ll always remember this game as confirmation that I made the right choice for my HBCU and that I made the right choice for my career.
Thursday afternoon, I received the call that no one wants to receive. I found out my father passed away less than a week after his 59th birthday. The loss was sudden and unexpected.
My father introduced me to sports as a child. Being an athlete was not my life’s calling, but more important to him was making sure I went to college and had options in my life. He never went himself, but he made sure my two brothers and I knew he was serious about doing so. Eventually, after several frank conversations with me about what would happen if I didn’t take school seriously, I managed to get accepted to a few colleges and chose to go to WSSU. That led me to finding my career path and eventually starting HBCU Gameday.
If you are wondering what this has to do with WSSU or HBCU football — just keep reading.
The final two years of my father’s life were filled with doctors visits and limitations designed to help monitor his heart condition. It not only inhibited his ability to work — it also caused him to limit viewing of his beloved Dallas Cowboys. His heart couldn’t take too much of it. It was sobering. But with newfound time on his hands, he was able to consume the content from HBCU Gameday in a way he hadn’t before. Whether he was letting me know he saw something someone had said negatively about myself and Gameday or texting me and telling me to fix my glasses in my video because they were crooked, I knew he saw me in a way that all children want to be seen by their fathers.
And suddenly, he was gone.
I decided that I would do what my father would want me to do on Saturday — keep living and doing what I love. So I went to Bowman Gray Stadium to cover WSSU as it took on a Division II PWI from Ohio. I rode with my good friend, Alonzo Turner, who I met while attending WSSU. The friendship of he and so many others have been particularly vital.
Even before I entered the stadium, I was greeted with a heartfelt hug and kind words from Etienne Thomas, the Director of Athletics at WSSU. From there, everywhere I turned I was showered with love, condolences and kind words from those who knew of my recent loss. It confirmed what I already knew: that I have an awesome family (or Ramily, as we call ourselves) that cares about me and for me in a way that is distinctly HBCU.
It continued on the field in the pregame. I accepted all of the love, and prepared to take in one of my favorite things — a night game at Bowman Gray Stadium.
WSSU got off to a hot start, going up 7-0 on its first drive, and taking a 10-0 lead into halftime.
I did my best to stay focused on the game, though my mind did drift to my father and my new reality at times. But I enjoyed all the things that come with a game at Bowman Gray — the thumping beats of the Red Sea of Sound, the elegance of Scarlet Lace, the stomp-and-shake of the WSSU Powerhouse and the orchestration of it all through PA announcer extrodinare B Daht.