HBCUs revel in NBA All-Star spotlight as they pitch more talented athletes on attending

Historically Black colleges and universities nationwide will take another step forward into the spotlight when Howard University and Morgan State University play in the inaugural NBA x HBCU classic during the league’s All-Star weekend in Cleveland.

Howard University athletic director Kery Davis told Yahoo Sports the university was “really excited to get that call” to be a part of the game, which Howard won 68-66 on Saturday.

“This opportunity gives us an opportunity to tell our story,” Davis said.

What the event means for HBCUs

There are 101 HBCUs in the United States. The institutions date back to the early 1800s and were established as safe havens for African Americans to pursue an education when they were often denied elsewhere due to racial discrimination.

HBCUs are “chronically underfunded,” according to the Brookings Institution, which is why Morgan State’s interim athletic director, Erlease Wagner, says the exposure from the event is truly invaluable.

“The free publicity about the institutions, the institutions’ programming, campus, academics, the athletic programming, their history, everything that an HBCU represents — whether it's Howard or Morgan State … that's just invaluable to the institutions,” Wagner said.

This year’s event marks a continuation of the NBA’s efforts to showcase HBCUs during All-Star weekend. In 2021, the NBA highlighted student artists and played on a court during the exhibition in Atlanta which was designed to honor HBCUs.

“When you look at the NBA and some of their partnerships and some of the programming that they do, the NBA really is in the forefront of providing opportunities for HBCUs,” Wager said.

Wager also says “there's absolutely an opportunity” for other professional leagues to get involved and support HBCUs moving forward.

The NFL, currently facing a high-profile racial discrimination suit from former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, began a partnership with HBCUs in 2016 and says more than 3,000 students have participated in various programs focused on student and administrator development, career exposure and networking.

HBCUs are attracting more athletic talent

HBCUs have also received an exposure boost recently as new NCAA name, image and likeness rules that allow players to capitalize on their fame help expand the realistic destinations for top athletes. Five-star football recruit Travis Hunter, a cornerback who decommitted from Florida State, took his talents to Jackson State to play for NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.

In an Instagram post on his decision, Hunter references a hope that HBCUs become a more common choice for talented athletes.

"Historically Black Colleges and Universities have a rich history in football. I want to be part of that history, and more, I want to be part of that future," Hunter said.

Hunter wasn’t the only recent recruit to choose an HBCU over a Power 5 school. In 2020, five-star college basketball recruit Makur Maker chose Howard over UCLA, Kentucky and Memphis before the change in NIL rules. Announcing his commitment to Howard, Maker said, “I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow.”

In 2014, Mo’ne Davis took the world by storm with her tremendous pitching performance in the Little League World Series. Davis then attended Hampton University to play softball in 2019, although her aspirations are to be a sports broadcaster.

“The decision [to attend Hampton] was kind of easy for me. I was looking more into the school as the school for education and not for sports, although all the girls on the softball team are amazing … but I would say the Scripps Howard program, just the journalism school was what really caught my eye, because that's what I want to do in the future,” Davis told ESPN’s “First Take” in 2021.

Today, there is only one active HBCU alum in the NBA, Los Angeles Clippers forward Robert Covington, who went to Tennessee State University. Of course, additional exposure could mean additional talented recruits eyeing HBCUs. Whether headline-making high schoolers will continue gravitating to HBCUs remains to be seen, but but Howard’s athletic director asks, “Why not us?”

“I don't want you to do us a favor. I want to do it because it should be in your best interest,” Kery Davis said. “You're gonna be walking into a culture that has shown that it can nurture and develop and support pioneers in every industry … there are pioneers coming out of these schools in every industry. So you'll be part of that culture.”