ASU's Ex-Wetumpka star asked to do more as vocal leader

MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Kejuan Riley has proven there isn’t too much he’s unable to do on the football field. He has established himself as perhaps the premiere defensive back in the SWAC. He’s earned countless honors and awards over his three-year career at Alabama State and is an interception away from rewriting the Hornets’ history books.

And the list could go on and on. But there’s one vital piece missing from Riley’s arsenal that remains in the developmental stages — vocal leadership skills.

“Lately, I’ve been trying to get out and talk to everybody a little bit more,” said Riley, the Wetumpka native. “I am a laid back guy, but I know that being one of the leaders on this team I need to talk a little bit more.”

There’s no secret amongst teammates and coaches that the senior free safety’s voice has to become a regular presence on the sideline and in the locker room.




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AT&T Nation's Football Classic™ Tickets Now on Sale

WASHINGTON, D.C.  -  Events DC announced today that tickets for the 2nd annual AT&T Nation’s Football Classic™ are now on sale via Ticketmaster, at the Howard University Box Office located at Cramton Auditorium and the Morehouse College Bookstore.

The AT&T Nation’s Football Classic™ takes place Labor Day weekend with a rematch between the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers and the Howard University Bison on Saturday, September 1 at RFK Stadium. Tickets are priced $25 to $50, plus all applicable fees. Through June 30, $25 tickets are available for $15 (while tickets last). Suite and group ticket sales will begin July 1.

“The inaugural AT&T Nation’s Football Classic™ took the nation’s capital by storm, and we look to build upon the success of last year’s event. Holding the Classic during Labor Day weekend presents a greater opportunity for students and alumni to come show their school pride and enjoy all the festivities,” said Erik A. Moses, managing director of the Events DC Sports and Entertainment Division. “With the support of our sponsors, our partner schools and the city, we cannot wait for the festivities to begin.”

In addition to the football game, there are several free events that will be held throughout Labor Day weekend including the AT&T Kickoff Rally, Pepsi MAX Fan Festival, Academic Symposium, and Morehouse vs. Howard Student Debate.




The Howard University Box Office at Cramton Auditorium is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and located at 2455 Sixth Street, NW. Washington, DC 20059. The Morehouse College Bookstore is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and located at 830 Westview Drive, Atlanta, Ga. 30314. Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster locations and via ticketmaster.com and nationsfootballclassic.com.

For more information on the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic™, please visit nationsfootballclassic.com.

About the AT&T Nation's Football Classic™
The AT&T Nation's Football Classic™ is a black college football game held annually at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. This year, the game features Howard University against Morehouse College. Organized by Events DC, the AT&T Nation's Football Classic™ was created to celebrate the passion and tradition of the college football experience, recognize the history of service to others by the students, faculty and alumni of historically black colleges and universities, highlight the unity of African American culture, and honor the heritage and excellence of these proud institutions. Tickets for the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic™ are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, the Howard University Box Office at Cramton Auditorium and the Morehouse College Bookstore. Seats are priced $25 to $50.

Blow Returns as SAC Head Men's Basketball Coach!

COACH LONNIE BLOW JR.
HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL
SAINT AUGUSTINE'S COLLEGE

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Saint Augustine's College announced the hiring of Lonnie Blow, Jr. as its head men's basketball coach on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

This is Blow's second stint as Falcons' head coach. During his first tenure from 2008 to 2010, the basketball program experienced its most successful period in school history. In 2010, Blow directed the Falcons to their first CIAA championship and NCAA Division II playoff berth in 13 years. It was the Falcons' second conference title overall.

“We are excited to have Coach Blow back as we transition into university status,” President Dr. Dianne Boardley Suber said. “Coach Blow exemplifies the leadership that propels student-athletes to not only excel on the court but in the classroom.”

His teams compiled a 46-15 record in two years including a 27-5 mark in the 2009-10 season, which was the best season winning percentage (.844) for the Falcons since the NCAA started keeping track of the program's statistics in 1975. Blow, who won a conference crown quicker than any St. Aug coach, was named NCAA Division II national coach of the year by Heritage Sports Radio Network and CIAA coach of the year in 2010, the same year his team was ranked 23rd nationally in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll and third in the Atlantic Region.

During his time at St. Aug, Blow was known for discipline and defense. The Falcons ranked first in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.358) and third in the nation in rebounding (42.8 rpg) in 2010.

“Coach Blow's return is a step in the right direction for the men's basketball program,” athletic director George Williams said. “He showed in his first stint that he knows how to be successful in the CIAA. We look forward to competing on a conference, regional and national level.”

Blow returns to St. Aug from Old Dominion University where he was an assistant coach at the Division I mid-major program for two seasons. He used his defensive knowledge to help Old Dominion become one of the best defensive teams in Division I. In the 2010-11 season, the Monarchs were the top rebounding team and the third-ranked defensive team in the nation. That same season, the Monarchs won the Paradise Jam tournament, captured the CAA title and received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They finished the season as the third-ranked mid-major team in the nation. In the 2011-12 season, the Monarchs reached the quarterfinals of the College Insiders Tournament.

“This is a great opportunity for me,” Blow said. “This is a good time for me to come back. I look forward to the challenge of returning the program back to a competitive level.”

Honors such as these are not rare to Blow who prior to coaching college was the head boys basketball coach at Granby High School from 1995-2005, and the men's assistant coach at Maury High School from 1984-1995. At Granby, he coached the boys' team to the Virginia AAA state title and was named AAA state coach of the year in 2000. In 2001, Blow led Granby to the Virginia AAA state semifinals.

Blow was named Eastern District coach of the year in 2001, 2003 and 2004, while earning Eastern Regional coach of the year honors in 2000 and 2001.

Blow served as an assistant coach at Norfolk State University from 2006-08 and at Hampton University from 2005-06 where he coached four All-MEAC players and a MEAC Tournament MVP. Hampton won the 2006 MEAC title.

Before entering the coaching profession, Blow was an outstanding college basketball player from 1979-82 at Virginia Wesleyan College. Blow was named Dixie Conference player of the year during the 1980-81 season. He was also a two-time All-American and All-South Atlantic Region selection, and a three-time All-Dixie Conference player, including two selections to the first team.

Blow is Virginia Wesleyan's third all-time career scorer with 1,574 points. He shares the Virginia Wesleyan single game scoring record of 40 points against St. Andrews in 1981. He still holds the single season record for points with 625 in 1980-81. That same year, he made 281 field goals which is also school single season mark. In 2009, Blow was inducted into the Virginia Wesleyan Sports Hall of Fame.

Blow was a first-team All-Tidewater selection at Frederick Military Academy and led the area in scoring during the 1977-78 season with a 31.1 points per game average. He also served as coordinator for the summer youth programs at Old Dominion from 1992 to 2001.

Blow received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Wesleyan College in 1982 with a degree in sociology and criminal justice. Blow is married to Donna Maxine and has an adult son, Kenneth.

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Women's hoops player leaving ODU for Hampton

JO GUILFORD
5'-10" R-JUNIOR GUARD
PORTSMOUTH, VA
PHOTO GALLERY
(Photo Courtesy ODU Athletics)

NORFOLK, Virginia - JoNiquia Guilford will play for the Hampton University women’s basketball team next season. She’s eager and excited for that opportunity. That much, she and Old Dominion head coach Karen Barefoot agree on. How she got there, well, that’s a different story.

Guilford is one of two Lady Monarchs players who were released from their scholarships and are set to transfer, joined by center Brittany Campbell.  But Guilford said she wishes she weren’t leaving the program.

Guilford and Roger Smith, her coach at Wilson High School in Portsmouth, say Guilford’s scholarship was pulled by Old Dominion. Barefoot says Guilford made the choice in the face of reduced playing time.

“It was taken away,” Smith said. “They released her. It was not her initiating the release. They were going in another direction. I know it’s a business. I don’t like how that it is, but it is. Her job depends on winning. I just don’t like how it was handled.”

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Former NCCU chancellor, USOC head Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, dies

DURHAM, North Carolina -- Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, a historic leader in the U.S. Olympic movement and a hugely accomplished coach and educator in North Carolina, died Monday in Durham, his home for more than 60 years. He was 93.

Walker was the first African-American to head the U.S. Olympic Committee and was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Games to his native Atlanta in 1996.

In his long life, he overcame poverty and discrimination to earn honors as an athlete and coach, but he also was an academic. He was the first African-American to earn a doctorate in biomechanics, and he went on to become chancellor of N.C. Central University.

LeRoy Walker was truly a remarkable human being, a great teacher, a great leader as chancellor, and a great international figure in competitive sport, especially the Olympics,” said William Friday, president emeritus of the UNC system and a friend of Walker for 40 years. “I don’t know of a man who has had a greater impact in his world than did LeRoy. He will be greatly missed.”

Walker as an inspiration

Walker was a member of more than a dozen halls of fame, but his admirers said his most impressive legacy may be not in what he accomplished, but in what he inspired and enabled others to achieve.

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Dr. Walker said at the time of his being named president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, “There are a lot of disenchanted blacks, women and Hispanics in our country who feel they will never get their just due no matter what they accomplish. I think I serve as a model of the idea that if you constantly pursue excellence, in spite of everything you have suffered, there are enough fair-minded people out there who will eventually recognize your talents.”

Longtime NCCU, Olympic coach dies in Durham

DURHAM, North Carolina — LeRoy Walker, a longtime track and field coach at North Carolina Central University and the first African American to head the United States Olympic Committee, died in Durham Monday. He was 93.

During his career at NCCU, he coached 111 All-Americans, 40 national champions and 12 Olympians. He also served as chancellor from 1983 to 1986.

Walker coached Olympic track and field all over world, including in Israel and Kenya. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he led a 10,000-member group of some of the most talented athletes in the world.

In addition to track and field, Walker was passionate about education.

"It is our young people now that are our next group leaders," he said in February 2007, about a week before he was given a lifetime achievement award from the Triangle Urban League for his leadership in the community. "(They) are going to make this the community we want it to be, but they have to have some training."

He had degrees from Benedict College in South Carolina and Columbia University in New York. He got a PhD in exercise physiology and biomechanics from New York University in 1957.  He was named president of the United State Olympic Committee in 1992.

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Paine second after first day of SIAC Golf Classic

AUGUSTA, Georgia -- The 2012 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Golf Classic teed off Monday at Jones Creek Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The two-day classic features teams from Benedict College (BC), Kentucky State University (KSU), LeMoyne-Owen College (LOC), Morehouse College (MHC) and Paine College (PC).

Two-time defending champion Morehouse College currently leads the field at the close of round one after shooting a team score of 335. The Maroon Tigers hold a three-stroke lead over second-place Paine College, who shot a team score of 338. Benedict College is not far behind in third place with team score of 348. Kentucky State University is in fourth place with a 351 followed by LeMoyne-Owen with a 391.

Paine College’s Carlos Solio shot a 75 in round one and currently sits atop the individual leader board while teammate Victor Tapia is in second after shooting a 78. Morehouse College’s Bryan McElderry sits in third place with an 81 while teammate Alexander Atkinson is tied with Benedict’s Jordan Buchanan for fourth with an 84 to round out the top five.

The final round of the 2012 SIAC Golf Classic will tee off on Tuesday, April 24th at 9:30 a.m.

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Dillard's Kierrariel Mitchell Receives 2012 MS-INBRE Scholars Award

KIERRARIEL MITCHELL
WOMEN'S BLEU DEVILS BASKETBALL
5'-10" FRESHMAN GUARD/FORWARD
HOMETOWN: JACKSON, MS

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi - Kierrariel Mitchell, a freshman Biology major, is a recipient of the Mississippi iDEA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (MS - INBRE) research scholar award for the 2012 summer research project.

The MS-INBRE Research scholar project is a 10-week summer internship program held at the University of Southern Mississippi. Scholars work with a mentor of their choice during the 20-week period and agree to present a project poster at the state-wide Mississippi Academy of Sciences meeting that is held annually in February.

Kierrariel Mitchell, biology major, was recently named to the Dillard University's Dean's List for achieving above a 3.5 GPA. She is a member of the Dillard University women's basketball team. The 5-10, guard/forward was instrumental in helping the Lady Bleu Devil achieve a 13-12 overall record, and 9-5 GCAC record, which put the team in three way tie for third place. Kierrariel started in 15 of 25 games for the Lady Bleu Devils this season. In her first year, she averaged 19.2 minutes per game and shot 71% (20/28) from the free-throw line while accumulating a total of 122 rebounds (2nd on the team).

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