Black College Football Hall of Fame: Journey to Canton

- [Jamir] The game wasn't born here, but no other community can lay the claim of being the cradle of professional football like Canton, Ohio.

It was here the sport flourished in the early 20th century with the Canton Bulldogs, led by the world famous Jim Thorpe, and it was here in 1920 that the National Football League was given life.

For those reasons, along with strong civic support, it made sense that Canton became the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and since 1963 has celebrated the heroes of the game to great fanfare.

- You got to make people understand what we had to go through.

- In 2016, it was announced that another hall of heroes would soon call the city home.

While the Black College Football Hall of Fame doesn't have roots here, the story of HBCU football has long been a part of the pro game story.

(inspirational music) 1892.

That's when William Pudge Heffelfinger accepted $500 to play in one game for the Allegheny Athletic Association, thus making him the first known pro football player.

That same year, Biddle University defeated Livingston College in the first Black college football game.

Although unrelated, it's perhaps the first of many parallels between pro and Black college football.

Unfamiliar to some, the term Black college football simply refers to football played by teams from historically Black colleges and universities, which were created out of necessity.

- There's a time in this country when there was a segregation post-Civil War, not long thereafter, some historically Black colleges and universities, where there was no historically before them then, were formed to basically educate a certain rank of freed slaves or those people of color who were born free or had bought their freedom.

They, most of them started out as religious types of schools, divinity types of schools, but eventually morphed into the Howard Universities and the Bennett Colleges and the Meharry's and the Fisk where again, during segregation, which took it all the way up into the '50s and '60s, those were the only learning options and teaching options, and a lot of times employment options for people of color in this country.

- So in order to get a quality education, the HBCUs were started, giving an opportunity to go places, and I think it grew from there because there was so many people who didn't have those places to go.

- In the '50s and the '60s where Black football players typically didn't play, and they definitely didn't play at the Southern schools, but even, even at the Northern schools, they were in limited numbers.

- Most of us had no real options but to come to the schools that we came to, and those schools were responsible for us developing into men.

- [Jamir] Much like the Negro Leagues of pro baseball that began in the 1920s, Black college football did not receive mainstream attention during segregation.

- There were great players coming out of the historically Black colleges and universities, but the doors of professional football were not always open to them.

It really wasn't until the 1960s and primarily because of the new American Football League, who were looking for good players and they had to go a little colorblind to find some, and they did, and then that opened the doors in the then rival NFL.

Bill Nunn, the great Pittsburgh Courier sports editor, became an employee of the Pittsburgh Steelers to scout historically Black colleges and universities, found players like Mel Blount to play for the Steelers.

So there was a wealth of talent in these schools.

They just had to be invited to the dance.

There are so many Black college football players who had great pro careers that most people don't understand and realize that they went to historically Black colleges and universities.

- So when they see the amount, the number of guys that played in the Black colleges and universities, the guys that been, that's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the guys that's in the Black College Football Hall of Fame, their jaws are going to drop because I had my, my, my son the year that I was inducted here a couple of years ago and his jaw dropped because he said, "I didn't know this guy played in a Black college."

You know, people don't know this.

People are not really thinking about where these guys went to school.

They think about, you know, the white colleges, Oh, they must've went to Penn State.

They must've been, went to UCLA or Alabama.

They're very excited, excited about seeing that, yes, the Black colleges can produce very good football players.

- You can put what someone did at a historically Black college and university in a box sometimes, but we can never discount that once they, when they step foot on a professional football team in the National Football League, whether it was the AFL back in the day or whether it was the NFL, how the DB's, their speed and agility change the coverages, whether the quarterbacks, you know, now you could be a little more mobile and that, that athleticism, that agility, you could see it if you just look at the timeline.

- Acceptance of African-American players at mainstream colleges and in the pros didn't happen overnight.

- We had a guy named Henry Davis that played at Grambling, was one of the hardest hitting people you can find, and it was hard for him to break in as a middle linebacker in the pros.

They missed a lot of great talent that way because you had a lot of great linebackers.

You know, if a guy played linebacker, whether it's outside or inside, they can adjust.

You just got to give them the opportunity.

- [Jamir] Even as teams integrated more, prejudiced beliefs limited opportunities for Black players at the so-called thinking positions of quarterback and middle linebacker until players like HBCU alumni James Shack Harris and Willie Lanier began to win the starting roles with their undeniable abilities.

- When you was Black coming into the league back in the day, it wasn't being even.

You couldn't be even.

You gotta be much better than the guy that's in the same position.

- [Jamir] Fittingly, it was Harris and Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, who recognized the need to honor the history of Black college football and founded its Hall of Fame in 2009.

- You know, anytime you build a Hall of Fame, you like to have a place to house the guys that you honor, and we didn't have a place but we was doing it from a publicity standpoint, and we realized that someday, somehow we had to have a place to put these plaques or videos or whatever we is going to have for people to come along and see that that there was a Black College Football Hall of Fame.

- I was a part of that committee when we first started out 10 years ago not knowing where we would be, and we looked at where, and that was one of the big issues that we have, where would we house the Black College Football Hall of Fame?

- The only time you could see the Black College Football Hall of Fame was if you came to one of our induction ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia and it was one time of year, that's it.

In February, one time a year for Black History Month.

- We looked at a lot of different things.

We actually first had discussions with the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Those didn't progress as well as we wanted them to.

We had, I think, a little bigger vision in terms of what we wanted for this to be, and, and then as they say in Hawaii, like manna from heaven, Joe Horrigan and David Baker came into our lives.

I know Joe Horrigan was already in Shack, Shack's life with a many, many year relationship.

- And they were looking for a little bit of guidance as to how the Pro Football Hall of Fame has selection process with judges, and what's the format they use.

The reason that Shack actually made the call to me was if we go back to 1969, when Shack was a rookie with the Buffalo Bills, and as he tells the story, in 1969 the Buffalo Bills thought so much of him, they drafted him in the eighth round and they sent the ball boy to the airport to pick him up.

- And I was just wandering through baggage claim trying to prepare for this adjustment I was making, and then this ball boy come up and meet me at baggage claim and asked, helped me with my luggage and got me in the car, and as we are, I wasn't saying much, he wasn't saying much, just enough to develop a relationship.

- I was that ball boy, and that was the start of our relationship.

Many years passed, we had lost track of each other, and then one day, Hall of Fame weekend, you know, some, I don't know, gosh, 10, 15 years ago, more than that, I see James Harris at the Hall of Fame Game.

He was scouting and I went up, re-introduced myself to him.

We started reminiscing, talking about the good old days, and from that point on, we crossed paths a number of times in his role as a scout and coming to the Hall of Fame in different ways, and we just kind of renewed our relationship and became fast friends again.

So they were looking for some place to build a Black College Football Hall of Fame.

It rapidly became obvious to me that that while there was a lot of good intentions, there really wasn't a plan that sounded at least to me that it would be sustainable.

I mean, some of the historically Black colleges are in small communities, small cities, small towns.

There, there wasn't any major metropolitan area that we were talking about, and it didn't make sense to me to build something that people probably wouldn't be able to go to, wouldn't find, and they wouldn't have the wherewithal on the universities and colleges that were, they were talking about possibly locating to be sustainable, while at the same time, it was a period of time when the Pro Football Hall of Fame was going through some great expansion plans.

So I first thought about it and shared it with a couple of people at the Black College Hall of Fame as to what would be the reaction of the board of the Black College Hall to being in Canton, Ohio.

- We were at an owner's meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.

Man, it must've been eight or nine, 10 years ago and said, what about the possibility of having the Black College Football Hall of Fame Museum in Canton, Ohio?

Said, never thought of that, but this is something where hundreds of thousands of people come.

You know, every few years, I think there are 250,000 a year coming through the museum, and that's different.

I remember we had a discussion where a lot of museums were, they, they were dying at the time because they were all one-offs.

People come and see them and not return but the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a legacy museum, right?

That's where fathers bring their sons and daughters and there's families come back every year and Steelers fans and Browns fans come to see because of the location multiple times a year, and so the fact that that discussion was had and then we took it to the, to, you know, James Shack Harris and Doug Williams.

- Without hesitation, they thought it would be a wonderful idea but I said, "well, it's just a thought.

"Let me take it back to Canton and see "what kind of reaction I get."

I met with David Baker, president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and without hesitation, I mean, not only did he embrace the idea, he said, "this isn't just a good idea.

"This is the right thing to do."

- After exploring hypothetical possibilities, it was time to act.

Shack Harris and Doug Williams formerly approached David Baker about bringing the Black College Football Hall of Fame to Canton.

- My first question was, why wouldn't this be at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta?

We're the Pro Football Hall of Fame and, you know, their response was, that's a difficult story for college football to tell, but, but frankly it's a wonderful story for the NFL to tell because when it got to be about performance, it was all about, could you do the job?

If you were Jim Brown, you know, you're going to get the ball.

If you were Marion Motley, you were going to get the ball, and all of this together is really, you know, kind of, I think what was so special about understanding why the Black College Football Hall of Fame should be here.

We are in the business of telling stories here.

We've got six million pictures and 40 million documents, and every one of these guys here has a story.

We also have an archive for every player that was ever in the NFL and a lot of the guys from the Black College Football Hall of Fame, most of them played in the NFL, or we think there's wonderful stories to tell.

We think it's very compatible with the National Football League.

We're excited to have the Black College Football Hall of Fame here at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

(crowd cheering) - But when the Pro Football Hall of Fame approached and, and we had a collaboration and they said, hey, let's open the doors to the, to the Black College Football Hall of Fame and put it in Canton, Ohio, it was jubilation.

- Think everyone's like, okay, now we have a home.

Now we know, not only can we, you know, educate people who are familiar with HBCUs and Black college football but those that aren't, people who may be coming to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame or see someone from the Philadelphia Eagles can see, oh, what's this, you know?

Who's, who's Willie Jeffries?

You know, who are some of these Black college legends?

Oh, wow, Harry Carson and Michael Strahan went to historically Black universities?

I didn't know that.

So the fact that they've got a tangible museum where they can see history, history that they didn't know is huge.

- When you think about how many people are going to be attracted or are going to be exposed to the Black College Football Hall of Fame because they are already being exposed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think that's the added value of having it in Canton.

- We're able to take the Pro Football Hall of Fame and what we have here and bring with it on a whole new opportunity for companies and philanthropy to get involved and to support the mission of the Black College Hall of Fame as well, and to take our current partners and prospects and to grow them into a different area that can include the diversity inclusion initiatives of, of many of these corporations on a national platform like the Pro Football Hall of Fame has some really strong synergies.

- It wasn't long before the leadership from both Halls decided to embark on a new project together, the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic.

- Well, once we decided that we were going to have the Black College Football's permanent home here, you know, there was obviously consideration as to, how do we make it sustainable and that means we need to generate income, and one of the ideas was to have an annual Classic.

- It is absolutely critical.

The Classic has played a significant role in branding Black college football.

It goes back as far as the '20s.

- These are fundraisers, right?

The budget for athletic programs at most HBCUs is minute.

- When you speak about classics in Black college football, it's, it's an event.

It's something that everybody circles on the calendar the minute that schedule comes out.

- But the game is almost an excuse for everything else that happens over usually a two or three day period.

- The band's going to be out there.

The cheerleaders are going to be there.

The dancers going to be there.

10, nine out of 10 there's going to be a concert involved, going to be a step show.

So it's not just a football game.

It become an event, and I think a lot of people like being part of events and that's the good part about the Classics.

- It's all about, you know, celebration.

That, we felt was something that would help explain the Black college experience to a lot of people that weren't familiar with what it is, and at the same time, be a potential revenue stream for the Black College Football Hall of Fame and also serve as a tool to the community, the Black community in particular, in Ohio, where there's a hotbed of high school football but yet, they may not be that familiar with the opportunities that still exist today at historically Black colleges and universities.

So we felt that having the Hall of Fame here would serve for HBCUs as a great marketing tool beyond the Black College Football Hall of Fame as well.

(upbeat folksy music) - There was a time where our African-American community of Canton may have felt disconnected from the Hall of Fame.

The activities, the events, the concerts, other activities, might not necessarily cater to the African-American community, and then here comes the Hall with an opportunity to say, we want to embrace all communities and all cultures.

- [Jamir] With new opportunities arose new challenges.

This new effort would require a grassroots campaign to raise awareness.

- In talking with Joe, one of the first things that I knew that was going to have to happen was local community input and how that was going to happen, I didn't know, so I put the word out.

Other folks put the word out that we had an open meeting at the Canton Urban League and anybody interested in being on a committee to help do this show up.

A lot of folks showed up.

- Every meeting it grew and grew and grew and every meeting, someone was coming to the meeting with something positive to contribute and there was no infighting.

There was no turfism issues.

It was just a community understanding that how important this was to the Canton community, and it was all hands on decks and everyone had a role to play.

- If you really want to get something out in the Black community, barbershops, beauty salons, and churches are your, your best avenues to, to get messages out.

When we walked into the barbershops, people were just excited to know that a Black classic is coming to Canton, Ohio.

I mean, people were excited to hear about that.

People were excited to know that, you mean to tell me we're going to have a museum honoring historical Black college football players?

Right here in Canton, and when the word went out, it went like fire.

- One of the marketing things that, that occurred that caused a lot of people to feel so positive was David Baker and Joe hosted a breakfast for minority ministers and minority barbershops and beauty shops, and it was so many minorities in this building.

I'd never seen that many before, and people were talking about never being in the Hall of Fame before and how they felt that it was, it was a, a psychological barrier.

They weren't, really didn't feel accepted into the Hall of Fame a lot, especially the local minorities, and here to have this great breakfast, everybody from Cleveland, from Pittsburgh, some folks were from Toledo and Columbus were here and they were just feeling so good about themselves and feeling so good about the event and pleased that the Hall of Fame and David Baker would reach out to them and their community and make them welcome, feel welcomed when they came here.

- [Jamir] The inaugural Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic took place on Labor Day weekend, 2019, and hospitality was extended to more than just fans.

- To be able to play here at the Pro Football Hall of Fame is something very special.

When the players get on the field and they look around, to see the gleam in their eye, to they're using the same locker rooms as the players, the NFL, their heroes, it's just an amazing experience.

- [Announcer] He fires complete and he is gone.

Sabrian Moore, one play touchdown, 40 yards.

Frank Bailey.

- [Commentator] We're seeing the big run.

Bailey is gone.

He's gone.

He took that.

There's the explosive play, guys.

I'm going to send it back up to you.

- [Announcer] A 59 yard touchdown.

You ask for the explosive play.

- [Analyst] On second and goal from the one.

It is Santo Dunn into the end zone.

- [Commentator] Something goes wrong here, clock could run out on them.

- [Announcer] Let's see what Glass does.

Aqeel Glass will throw.

End zone, and Jenkins has it for the touchdown with three seconds.

- [Jamir] The game itself was a thriller.

Alabama A&M defeated Morehouse in the final seconds.

- And you could not ask for a more exciting game but now you're taking a community in Canton where they may not be that familiar with Black college football.

So now you've got the bands marching through their streets.

They're like, okay, all right.

I kind of got this a little bit, and then the game was well attended.

They saw the great game.

Again, they saw the pageantry, they saw a different brand of football because you've got some smaller players here, some bigger players there.

They go, okay, this is kind of cool.

Now it's going to come back.

Our name of our community is going to be out there because it is nationally televised.

It does get a lot of promotion.

These are all things that, that you see the domino, community, recruiting, awareness, fundraising for these schools and the opportunity for these schools to play in a high profile game and get a W or a loss, which can set their season towards a bowl game or some type of playoff type of experience.

- But we really want to grow the event.

We want to offer symposiums and career days and development opportunities set to bring people together.

- It gives us an opportunity to highlight the great work that HBCUs have done in the past, but also what they're doing now and in the future.

HBCUs are incredible institutions that provide incredible opportunities for students, and what we want to do is be a part of highlighting the great things that they do for students, not just athletic, athletically, but also from an education perspective and from a contribution to society perspective, and we have the platform to help highlight that for them.

- We anticipate that, you know, it's not going to happen in one year and it's not really going to happen in three years, but just like the enshrinement has taken 57 years to be what it is, we're going to make progress every year together, but I was very, very pleased our first year, and I think very, very happy with it.

- It is a great stepping stone in terms of education, history, and the future of HBCUs, plus having a game there, a classic game each Labor Day weekend, can only enhance people's awareness of where HBCUs came from, where they are now, and what the possibility is of the future.

- There's no doubt in my mind I can rest assured, I can rest easy that we're in the best place that we can possibly be.

- While their paths began on separate routes more than a century ago, the stories of professional and Black college football intertwined along the way to their common home here in Canton.

- We've just begun to scratch the surface of what we can be.

(inspirational music)