Watching Southern University's Aeneas William, Tennessee State University's Claude Humphrey, and Texas Southern University's Michael Strahan go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame should have been a bittersweet moment for every enthusiast or advocate of historically Black colleges and universities. On one hand, it was a celebration of our greatest athletes and institutional ambassadors reaching the pinnacle of success in the nation's most popular sport.
On the other hand, it was a stark reminder of the kind of talent we'll likely never see again on an HBCU football field; a larger, more cruel reminder that what our institutions used to be has little bearing on what they are to be in the future.
