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CIAA Profile:
Chowan ready for CIAA debut, CIAA ready for change
Bonitta Best
BCSP Contributing Writer
Tim Place looked as nervous as a guy who's about to ask the prettiest girl in high school on a date.
Place and Chowan University were making their official debut as members of the CIAA family at July's preseason football luncheon on the campus of Virginia State University, about to be forever engraved in black college sports history as the first predominately white institution to join a historically black conference.
"We understand the significance of
being the first, and we take it very seriously,"
Place said.
While the announcement made last September caught many be surprise, those who know CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry weren't.
"I'm going to be on the bubble because I'm changing the perspective of the conference," Kerry said before the Chowan announcement. "I don't have a problem integrating. Time is passing us by." He was right.
Since the late 1990s, the NCAA Div. II conference has lost Hampton, Norfolk State, Winston-Salem State and N.C. Central Universities. The former three are members now of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, while NCCU is in its second year as a NCAA Div. I (FCS) Independent.
There was some question whether the conference could survive after the recent departures of WSSU and NCCU, which had two of the largest combined fan bases. But the conference is bouncing back.
Chowan is in for football only - for now - and Lincoln (Pa.) University , one of the original members of the CIAA, officially returns next year after moving up to NCAA Division II status. And there could be others.
"We've got a 75 percent chance of getting Kentucky State, and we're still talking with UNC-Pembroke," Kerry said.
Kentucky State is currently a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, another historically black Div. II conference. UNC-Pembroke, a member of the Peach Belt Conference, has been named the most diverse state university in the country.
Both would be admitted for football only. Pembroke is a member of a conference that doesn't have football. Athletic Director Dan Kenny said last year that they were talking to all the conferences and a decision won't be made until 2009. So for now, Chowan is the star of the show.
Located in Murfreesboro, N.C., school officials are quite familiar with the CIAA. The Hawks are in the same region as Elizabeth City State - a rivalry ready to be born - and is only a short distance from the Hampton Roads, Newport News and Virginia Beach areas, all a hotbed for CIAA fans and alumni. Chowan is a D-I member of the National Christian College Athletic Association and a member of the NCAA D2. Ironically, Chowan officials were ready to move to the CIAA before being invited.
"The president [M. Christopher White] and I talked about it in March 2006," Chowan Athletics Director Dennis Helsel said. "But we didn't meet the qualifications [historically black], and we felt we could not approach the conference for that reason. We never thought about asking them to change their requirements." Then a chance meeting changed the course of history.
"In May 2007, some of the [CIAA] presidents were out in San Diego at a meeting and our president happened to be there," Helsel continued. "They approached Dr. White and asked if we would be interested in joining. Whether they were asking in jest or whether they were serious, we took the ball and ran with it. We sent them a letter immediately, and the rest is history."
Anytime there is change, some dissension is sure to follow. On the CIAA side, supporters decry the death of exclusivity for black colleges. Will Chowan's entrance bring more? What will it do to the culture and "flavor" of the conference?
"The CIAA will always be the CIAA," Kerry said. "It's not like there are dozens of black schools out there for us take. And we're not going to let just anybody in. They have to come with the complete package."
On the Chowan side, well, white people moving into an all-black neighborhood is just too much. "If I'm a minority, and something that gave me and my children an opportunity, I think I would have concern over what does Chowan do to that," Helsel said. "I can't change that, but I want people to realize that, hey, we're here and we're here because it's an athletic conference, and we're thankful that we were given the opportunity. We're sure going to try to show people that maybe this world is more green than we think it is."
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.