NBA Player Chris Paul Creates HBCU Basketball Tournament
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To pay tribute to the importance of HBCUs, Phoenix Suns’ star player Chris Paul has been donning t-shirts from various schools. Paul, a veteran in the NBA and known for starring in State Farm commercials, now wears outfits pre and post-game at the Footprint Center to show love to different HBCUs. So far, Paul has worn shirts representing Winston-Salem State, Florida A&M, Howard University, Albany State, Texas Southern, and many more.
Paul is now taking his desire to spread awareness about HBCUs to the next level by working with Boost Mobile to create the Boost Mobile HBCU Center, held at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Grambling State, Hampton University, Morgan State, and Norfolk State are the HBCUs involved in the upcoming tournament. The goal of this tournament is to put HBCUs on a big stage to promote their athletics in order to encourage current high school students and even younger children to consider attending an HBCU.
As reported by Arizona Sports, Paul researches each HBCU before he dons their clothing, as a way to discover the history of how each school was developed. Despite the fact that Paul attended Wake Forest, a PWI (Predominantly White Institution), he’s always been surrounded by HBCU culture. Everyone in his family attended Hampton, North Carolina A&T, and Winston-Salem State, which was not too far from his childhood home.
“I think it’s phenomenal for a guy who didn’t go to one but has an affiliation with them because of his family to be able to raise awareness, raise funding and bring attention to the HBCU schools,” said Phoenix Suns Coach Monty Williams, as reported by Arizona Sports.
Paul’s goal for the tournament, which premiered on ESPN’s network, is for the younger generation to learn about HBCUs and develop an interest in attending them one day. In addition, with more high school star basketball players going to HBCUs, it can bring in more money to the institutions. As reported by CBS News, Paul stated, “If a few of these kids team up and come to HBCUs, the camera crews, everything, everyone will come.”