Independence Day Fireworks at Washington, D.C.

Former Saint Augustine's Kia Davis chooses different path to Beijing Olympics

Excerpt from article:

"It really hasn't sunk in yet," the 32-year-old Kia Davis said by phone Thursday afternoon. "I want to treat it like just another meet, but I know it isn't just another meet. I'm sure I'll start getting those butterflies inside very soon."
The only thing that would make the experience better is the uniform she will be wearing in China.

Davis will compete for the Republic of Liberia, the homeland of her father and paternal grandparents, not for the United States. She will be competing in the 400-meter dash, and possibly the 200. "It wasn't an easy decision," Davis said. "I agonized over it. I sat down and had a long talk with my coach, Bethune-Cookman University's Garfield Ellenwood, who also is coach of the Liberian national team, my family and my fiancée (Michael Ford, an assistant coach at Baylor).

"I know some people won't like that," said Davis, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University. "They'll think I'm un-American or unpatriotic. I've already received some static over it. If someone can come to this country and take a spot away from an American athlete, why can't an American do the same thing elsewhere?

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McAfee coached for more than wins

The Wichita Sports Hall of Fame inducts 10 individuals and a team.

When David Norwood was asked to talk about Arthur McAfee Jr., his former coach at Morehouse College, Norwood didn't say one word about basketball. He said nothing of McAfee's knowledge of the sport, about McAfee's 518 career victories. Didn't reference McAfee's induction into the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.

When Norwood talked about McAfee, he spoke solely of him as a person. "Coach Mac, he gave me a second chance. He was an individual that really gave me a chance to be the person I am today," said Norwood, a 1990 Heights High graduate. McAfee allowed Norwood to walk on in 1992, less than a year after Norwood got out of jail for selling drugs.

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Former Saint Augustine's hurdler earns Olympic berth

EUGENE, Ore. - Former Saint Augustine's College hurdler and current Falcon student Bershawn Jackson gained a berth to the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a convincing victory in the 400-meter hurdles final on Sunday (June 29) at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at Hayward Field. This is the first Olympic berth for Jackson, a Miami, Fla., native who lives and trains in Raleigh, NC, under George Williams, the legendary Saint Augustine's College track and field coach and 2004 U.S. Olympic team coach.

Jackson blitzed the field in the finals, crossing the finish line in 48.17 seconds to beat Kerron Clement (48.36) and Angelo Taylor (48.42), who both are going to the 2008 Olympics as well. The top three finishers advance to the Beijing Games.



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Stillman AD knows all about hard work, challenges

TUSCALOOSA - Curtis D. Campbell, athletics director at Stillman College, came to town with the experience of an administrator, having worked at colleges of various sizes. He also had the experience of jumping from an airplane with a full load of military gear, having serving as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. So he knows something about responsibility and discipline.

Campbell, 45, got the job on July 1, 2007, becoming Stillman’s fifth AD in three years. He replaced Greg Thompson, head football coach, who served two stints as athletics director.

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JCSU leader prepares to step away

Photo: Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy.

CHARLOTTE -- Nearly 50 years ago, Johnson C. Smith University’s 12th president set foot on the campus, first as a student and then years later at a leader. Now, Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy says it is time to say good bye. Yancy started at JCSU in 1960, and while at first she was homesick, the school would eventually be her home away from home. Upon graduating in 1964, she knew her time at the university was far from over.

"I left here determined to make Johnson C. Smith University proud of me,” said the first woman to ever be the school’s president. "It was different coming back as interim president. I thought I'd be here for maybe six months because … I figured by September I'd be back in the classroom at Georgia Tech and life would continue. I never expected to be here for 14 years."

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