HBCU ORIGINAL

Florida A&M Receives Record $237 Million Gift During Commencement

Published

2 years ago

May 7, 2024

Florida A&M University has received a $237.75 million gift from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust and Gregory Gerami, the founder and CEO of Batterson Farms Corp, a Texas-based industrial hemp business.

The gift, the largest in Florida A&M’s 136-year history, was presented to FAMU President Larry Robinson at one of the university’s commencement ceremonies on May 4. You can watch the moment the gift was made here.

FAMU said it will use the gift to support various academic initiatives, student success programs and its athletics program. It is almost double the size of the university’s current endowment of $121 million.

With an enrollment of about 10,000 students, Florida A&M, located in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of the nation’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The new gift would appear to also be the largest donation ever made to an HBCU, eclipsing the prior record established in January when Spelman College announced receiving a $100 million gift.

“This gift is breathtaking in its generosity and its scope,” said Robinson in a news release. “It changes the narrative about what is possible for FAMU. I cannot thank Gregory Gerami and the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust enough. Their names are now etched into the annals of Florida A&M University in perpetuity.”

According to the university, Gerami reached out to FAMU officials last fall to discuss the possibility of making a sizable donation. Gerami believed that FAMU’s mission and research capabilities, especially in the area of hemp production, were strongly aligned with his own company’s emphasis and direction.

“FAMU has become like a family to our Trust, our company and to me. Our morals and our mission are in line with FAMU and FAMU’s mission,” said Gerami, in the press release. He emphasized his commitment to the university’s sustainability and growth. “It’s also about making sure that we set FAMU on the path to being the top HBCU in this country.”

Gregory Gerami achieved his business success despite a childhood of adversity, including being born with opiate addiction. After starting a small lawn care business, he eventually branched out and founded the Batterson Farms Corp, a hydroponic farming and hemp plastic company, in 2021.

In recognition of Gerami’s history of physical and health challenges, which are detailed in a biography on the Batterson Farms website, Florida A&M will use a portion of his gift to enhance its Center for Disability Access and Resources, which serves about 700 students. Center director Deborah Sullivan said the donation would increase the center’s ability to offer more programs and services on campus.

“The impact is just tremendous because we are not a department that often gets gifts like this. Alumni tend to give to their school or to athletics, but the Office of Disability Services doesn’t necessarily get recognized with monetary gifts like this and, especially, this magnitude,” said Sullivan.

As expected, some individuals in the public are and will continue researching Mr. Gerami. Please know that FAMU has done its due diligence when it comes to this matter. Additionally, Mr. Gerami has and continues to do his own due diligence on things that have been and are happening at FAMU.

While a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) we signed prevents us from disclosing many details, as was reported on May 4 – Mr. Gerami transferred $237,750,000 worth of stocks into our account last month. Mr. Gerami’s $237,750,000 stock transfer was received in the same manner in which we have accepted all other stocks donated to the University through the FAMU Foundation Inc. As with any non-cash gift received, such as cryptocurrency, real estate, and stocks, it will be converted to cash and recorded appropriately.

Gerami is quoted in the May 7 Tallahassee Democrat as saying, “The stocks have been held by the university for over a month now, so I don’t know where the confusion or the skepticism would be since it’s already in a financial account with the university.”

But the doubts still linger even within the FAMU community. On May 7, in a highly unusual move, Deveron Gibbons, the vice chair of FAMU’s Board of Trustees, called for a public “emergency meeting” of the board so it could give more scrutiny to the gift, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “A donation of this nature requires the highest degree of transparency and inquiry, and to this point that has not occurred,” Gibbons is reported to have said in a statement.

FORBES MAGAZINE

Campus

N.C. A&T’s Fellowship Gospel Choir Earns Stellar Award Nomination

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

HBCU ORIGINAL

By Charity L. Cohen | June 18, 2026

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. — The North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Fellowship Gospel Choir has long carried the “award-winning” tag, and now the group is in line to add to that reputation. The choir has been nominated for a Stellar Award in the newly created HBCU Choir of the Year category.

The choir joins four other finalists — Howard University, the Morgan State University Choir, the Southern University Gospel Choir and the Fort Valley State University Choir — in a category designed to honor outstanding gospel choirs from historically Black colleges and universities. Winners will be announced at the 41st Stellar Gospel Music Awards, which Grammy-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin will host.

The nomination adds another chapter to a 57-year history for the Fellowship Gospel Choir, which has served as a spiritual anchor for the A&T community and a symbol of the university’s dedication to faith, fellowship and musical craftsmanship.

Across those decades, the choir has shared the stage with major names in gospel and beyond, including Fred Hammond, Jason Nelson, Big Sean and Elevation Rhythm — collaborations that have helped cement its identity as a group willing to express its faith boldly through music.

“This nomination shows that our work isn’t in vain and that we are accomplishing our goal of encouraging people and bringing them closer to Christ,” said choir president Antonio Mattox Jr., a rising senior. “This recognition has given us a platform to do just that because that’s the entire purpose of our organization.”

Mattox, a choir member since his first year at A&T, narrated the group’s cover of Donald Lawrence’s “Matthew 28” — the very performance submitted to Stellar Award judges that ultimately clinched the nomination.

Choir director Marcus Williams, a 2017 A&T graduate who got his start with the group as a student drummer, said the “Matthew 28” performance captured both the choir’s talent and its history.

“It was a song that showcased their vocals. It had some dope moves that the kids created with it, which speaks to our legacy at A&T, and then it also had the choir robes, which just felt nostalgic,” Williams said.

For Williams, the nomination carries weight well beyond the choir itself, extending to the broader HBCU community and to Greensboro as a whole.

“I really can’t express how big it is, especially for Greensboro, but they’re celebrating and recognizing HBCUs as a whole,” Williams said. “It’s huge, and for the legacy of the choir being recognized, it just speaks of the hard work and innovation that was done over the years.”

The 41st Stellar Gospel Music Awards will take place Aug. 15 in Charlotte, where organizers will crown the first-ever winner of the HBCU Choir of the Year award.

Alumni Spotlight

Essence Fest 2026 puts Grambling State’s marching band and HBCU culture on a national stage

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

HBCU ORIGINAL

Coca-Cola is once again using the ESSENCE Festival of Culture to put a spotlight on HBCU pride, and this year Grambling State University is at the center of it.

The 2026 festival runs July 3-5 in New Orleans, and Coca-Cola has released its entertainment and cultural programming for the weekend. On the Coca-Cola Stage, the lineup includes performances from Destin Conrad, Coi Leray and Mario. But the bigger story for the HBCU community is a separate activation built around Coca-Cola’s “The World Is My Yard” platform, which brings actress Eva Marcille together with a performance from Grambling State’s World Famed Tiger Marching Band — one of the most recognized names in HBCU band culture.

The activation goes beyond a performance slot. Representatives from 15 HBCUs will be on-site holding office hours for prospective students and their families, covering admissions, academic programs, campus life and other pathways into HBCU education. That turns the festival into a recruiting and visibility opportunity as much as a cultural showcase — a chance for schools like Grambling State to reach families who may never set foot on a Southern HBCU campus otherwise.

This marks Coca-Cola’s 31st consecutive year as an Essence Fest partner. The company’s 2026 platform theme, “Every Side Shines,” is centered on music, wellness, culture and connection. Stephanie Eaddy, Coca-Cola’s senior director of cultural marketing, framed the festival as something bigger than a single weekend, calling it “a powerful platform for connection, community and impact.”

The festival’s footprint extends well past culture and music. Coca-Cola noted that the 2025 event generated more than $321 million in economic impact for New Orleans, supported upwards of 2,400 jobs, and produced over $103 million in income for local workers and businesses — numbers that underscore just how much weight Essence Fest carries for the city each summer.

For Grambling State, the appearance is another example of HBCU culture reaching a national audience through a mainstream platform — band culture, brand partnership, and student recruitment all overlapping in one weekend in New Orleans.

HBCU ORIGINAL

Ahead of the Draft: Why the HBCU Swingman Classic Is More Than an Exhibition

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

HBCU ORIGINAL

Here’s the full story:

Ahead of the Draft: Why the HBCU Swingman Classic Is More Than an Exhibition

PHILADELPHIA — By the time the last out is recorded at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night, some of the players on the field will have less than 18 hours before Major League Baseball starts calling names in the 2026 Draft.

That’s the calendar this year: the HBCU Swingman Classic presented by USA Baseball tips off July 10 at 7 p.m. ET, and the draft’s first three rounds begin the next morning, July 11, at the Philadelphia Convention Center — the same weekend, the same city. For a showcase built on getting overlooked players in front of the people who make those calls, the timing could hardly be more direct.

A track record scouts already trust

This isn’t a new theory. Over its first three years, the Classic has sent 10 alumni into the professional ranks. The inaugural 2023 class, played in Seattle, produced three draftees, including Xavier Meachen, a 10th-round pick of the Marlins. Two more alumni heard their names called in 2024 — Randy Flores of Alabama State, taken by the Angels in the eighth round, and North Carolina A&T’s Canyon Brown, picked by the Royals in the ninth. Last year’s group in Atlanta topped both of those combined, with five former Classic participants drafted, among them Southern’s Cardell Thibodeaux and Alabama State’s Kameron Douglas and Juan Cruz.

For the players about to take that same field this year, the message is simple: this game has already put people on rosters.

“We always like to be seen by the right guys,” Thibodeaux said ahead of last year’s event.

Built into baseball’s scouting pipeline, not separate from it

Part of why the Classic carries weight with evaluators is that it doesn’t stand alone. This year’s 50-man roster includes 22 players who have already come up through MLB’s other elite-development pipelines — the Hank Aaron Invitational, the Breakthrough Series, and Nike’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program — meaning many of these players are already known quantities to scouts before they ever step on the field in Philadelphia. Rosters in past years have also been unveiled live from the MLB Draft Combine, tying the event directly to the same scouting apparatus that sets draft boards.

North Carolina A&T catcher Tyler Smith, who has come up through those same programs, said Hall of Famer and Classic founder Ken Griffey Jr. has been part of that development for years. “He’s always there to answer questions,” Smith said.

Why Griffey built it this way

Griffey started the Swingman Classic in 2023 with a specific gap in mind: talented players at HBCUs often don’t have access to the travel-ball circuits, showcase events, and Power Five budgets that put other prospects in front of scouts year-round. The Classic — and the national broadcast that comes with it — is designed to close that gap in one night.

Jimmy Rollins, managing the National League squad this year alongside Rickie Weeks on the American League side, said he saw the request to manage as an easy call once he understood what it could mean for the players. “Giving these players an opportunity to shine on the big stage,” he said, was reason enough. Griffey has been more direct about what he wants to see from it: kids “seen and heard,” and, eventually, drafted in bigger numbers than the sport has historically pulled from HBCU programs.

The stakes this year

Every previous Classic has fed into a draft that followed within weeks. This year, it feeds into one that follows within hours. Scouts, executives, and front-office decision-makers who watch Friday’s game on MLB Network will, in many cases, be back in draft rooms by Saturday morning — some of them picking for the same teams whose scouts were just in the stands.

For a 50-man roster that includes returning participants looking for a bigger league night after prior appearances, and newcomers making their first case to a national audience, the Swingman Classic isn’t a preview of the draft. This year, it’s the opening round.

HBCU ORIGINAL

HBCU Swingman Classic Set to Kick Off MLB All-Star Week in Philadelphia This Friday

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

HBCU ORIGINAL

PHILADELPHIA — All-Star Week in Philadelphia opens this Friday, and the first game on the calendar belongs to college baseball’s next wave.

The fourth annual HBCU Swingman Classic presented by USA Baseball takes over Citizens Bank Park on July 10, giving 50 of the top Division I players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities a national stage before the Majors’ own All-Stars take the field.

Quick facts

When: Friday, July 10 — gates open 5 p.m. ET, first pitch 7 p.m. ET
Where: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
Watch: MLB Network and MLB.com, with Dave Sims on play-by-play and Harold Reynolds analyzing
Tickets: On sale now at AllStarGame.com/Swingman

Two familiar faces in the dugouts

This year’s rosters are split into a National League squad managed by Phillies Wall of Famer and 2007 NL MVP Jimmy Rollins, and an American League squad led by longtime big leaguer and HBCU baseball legend Rickie Weeks. Both will lean on coaching staffs stacked with former big leaguers with deep ties to HBCU baseball.

A hometown storyline

For Philadelphia fans, the roster has a local hook. Delaware State’s Santino Harwood, a Roman Catholic High School product, and Lincoln University’s Solomon McKinney will both take the field close to home — McKinney becomes the first player from Lincoln, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU, to make the Classic. They’ll join players from 19 different HBCU programs around the country, including several returning faces like Norfolk State’s Justin Journette and Southern’s KJ White Jr., both back for another shot at the spotlight.

For coaches like Milt Thompson, a Howard University alum now serving on the American League bench staff, the event is as much about visibility as it is about competition. As he put it to a Philadelphia TV station, most fans know HBCUs have been around for generations, but “we really don’t know a lot about them.”

More than a game

The Classic has grown into a full showcase of HBCU culture beyond the box score. This year’s pregame slate includes a trip to Philadelphia City Hall, where the full roster will take part in an educational program honoring Octavius V. Catto — the 19th-century HBCU alum and civil rights figure who helped found one of the country’s first organized Black baseball clubs — before visiting his memorial. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, a Lincoln University graduate, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and performances from Grammy winner Durand Bernarr and Howard University alum Eric Roberson will round out the ceremony. Uniform patches this year will also honor the late Roger Cador, the longtime Southern University coach who helped shape generations of HBCU talent, including Weeks.

Griffey’s vision, still growing

Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. founded the event in 2023 after watching talented players miss out on the exposure that comes with bigger programs and bigger budgets. Comedian and Florida A&M graduate Roy Wood Jr., who’s supported the Classic since it began, has described Griffey’s presence around the players as that of “a baseball magnet for all the Black greatness that preceded these young men.” Griffey has said his real measure of success will be the number of Swingman Classic alumni who eventually hear their names called on Draft day — a number he’d like to see keep climbing every year.

What’s next

The Swingman Classic is just the opening act. Capital One All-Star Village opens the following day, July 11, and runs through the week, building toward the 2026 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard on Tuesday, July 14 — also at Citizens Bank Park, airing live on FOX at 8 p.m. ET.

For now, though, the spotlight this week belongs to the players who’ve spent their college careers proving they belong on baseball’s biggest stages.

HBCU ORIGINAL

Morehouse Duo Earn National Spotlight with Selection to 2026 MBP HBCU All-Star Game

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

HBCU ORIGINAL

ATLANTA, Ga. — Morehouse College continues to make its mark on the national baseball scene as Robert Robinson Jr. and Elijah Pinckney have been selected to compete in the 2026 Minority Baseball Prospects (MBP) HBCU All-Star Game, showcasing two of the nation’s top HBCU baseball talents.

The annual event, set for June 6 at Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, North Carolina, brings together elite players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities while providing exposure to professional scouts and celebrating the legacy of Black college baseball.

Maroon Tigers Represent on National Stage

Robinson and Pinckney will suit up for Team Wilbert Ellis, named in honor of legendary Grambling State coach Wilbert Ellis, who amassed more than 700 career victories and multiple SWAC championships. They’ll face Team Larry Watkins, recognizing the former Alabama State coach who guided the Hornets to over 500 wins during a distinguished 30-year career.

The selections continue Morehouse’s growing presence in the prestigious showcase. Robinson and Pinckney become the fourth and fifth Maroon Tigers to participate, joining program standouts Derrick Odom, Jaiden Proper, and Casey Coates.

Pinckney also makes history as the first two-time MBP HBCU All-Star selection in Morehouse baseball history, having previously competed in the 2025 event.

Historic Season for Morehouse Baseball

The duo helped power Morehouse to one of its best seasons ever, finishing 25-21 overall and 17-14 in SIAC play. The Maroon Tigers recorded their highest conference finish in nearly 20 years, reached the deepest SIAC Tournament run of the modern era, and earned their first appearance in the Black College Nines Top 10 Poll.

Robinson Emerges as One of SIAC’s Top Sluggers

Junior standout Robert Robinson Jr. put together an outstanding offensive campaign, batting .379 with:

58 hits
47 runs scored
13 home runs
44 RBIs
9 doubles
.693 slugging percentage
.505 on-base percentage

Robinson also displayed exceptional versatility, posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage while splitting time between catcher and first base.

His breakout season earned him:

SIAC First Team Designated Hitter
SIAC Second Team Catcher
NCBWA Second Team All-South Region
D2CCA Second Team All-South Region

Pinckney Caps Legendary Career

Senior shortstop Elijah Pinckney closes his Morehouse career as one of the greatest players in program history.

During the 2026 season, he hit .331 with:

51 hits
16 doubles
38 RBIs
36 walks
.465 on-base percentage

Pinckney earned Second Team All-SIAC honors while also receiving the prestigious SIAC Elite-16 Award, recognizing the conference’s top student-athlete for academic excellence.

His four-year career numbers are equally impressive:

.370 career batting average
214 hits
195 runs scored
54 doubles
134 RBIs
52 stolen bases

His impact reached beyond statistics. Pinckney became just the second baseball player in Morehouse history to have his jersey retired and only the third student-athlete in school history to receive that honor.

He also made history as the first NCAA Division II player selected to the HBCU Swingman Classic, while earning the T-Mobile Impact Award and multiple Black College Nines recognitions for his leadership on and off the field.

Building the Future of HBCU Baseball

The MBP HBCU All-Star Game has become one of the premier postseason showcases for HBCU baseball, connecting top student-athletes with professional scouts while celebrating the excellence and tradition of Black college baseball.

For Robinson and Pinckney, the selection is another milestone in remarkable careers and another example of Morehouse Baseball’s continued rise on the national stage. As they head to Kannapolis, they’ll carry the Maroon Tiger legacy while representing the talent, leadership, and academic excellence that define HBCU athletics.