Preserving History & Legacies
Women's Basketball: Paying Homage
Black History Month Podcasts … Listen here
College basketball paid homage to one of the women’s college basketball all-time winningest coaches – Vivian Stringer. After almost a half-decade of going to work at a job she absolutely loved, three games into the 2019 season at the Rutgers University (where she spent the past 24 years), she stepped down to deal with health issues. She joins a handful of coaches -men and women- who crossed the 1,000-win plateau in career victories. She won her first 250 games at Div. II Cheyney State in Pennsylvania and led the HBCU to the NCAA finals in 1982. She went on to Div. I success at Iowa and Rutgers and is the first coach in NCAA history to lead three different women’s programs to the NCAA Final Four. Her fame extends into world competition and the Olympics. Among her numerous honors was her induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
It’s fair to say she help set the tone for HBCU women’s basketball programs.
She sits atop the Who’s Who of the all-time HBCU winningest coaches. Read more…
2018-2019
APRIL CELEBRATIONS
This Month in Black College History
ED ADAMS FIRST BLACK COACH inducted into the HELM HALL OF FAME…led Texas Southern to first appearance into the NAIA National Invitational Tournament 1955 …HAMPTON INSTITUTE founded by Gen. Samuel A. Armstrong 1868 …HOWARD UNIVERSITY defeated Kendall College, 6-1 in the first interracial Baseball Game 1894 …
Congratulations...
The 10th Black College Football inducted its 10th class on Saturday, February 16, 2019. See more…
Roger Cador: A Builder of Teams...and Men
Roger Cador played baseball and basketball at Southern, and led the Jaguars in hitting in his junior season of 1972 at .393.
He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 10th round of the 1973 MLB Draft and play five seasons in the Braves organization, reaching Class-AAA in his final season of 1977 as an outfielder.
Following his professional career with the Braves, Cador returned to his alma mater to serve as assistant baseball coach from 1977-1978. During his tenure at SU, he has also served as an assistant basketball coach from 1980-84.
He served as head coach of the Southern Jaguars baseball team from 1978 – 2017…the first seven years as an assistant. (He served as a basketball assistant from 1980-84.
In 1980, he was named the head coach of the Jaguars.
Cador transformed the Southern baseball program into one of the premier HBCU programs in the country, and one of the most successful baseball teams during his tenure.
1995-96 season, The Jaguars led the country in winning percentage several times (1995-96, 34-7, .829); (2000-01, 43-12, .782); (2001-02, 45-10, .818); and (2002-03, 44-7, .813).
Cador ranks 20th among Division I coaches with 603 victories, .655 winning percentage.
In 2001, Michael Woods was taken in the first round, as the Jaguars received national attention which set the stage for an unheralded freshman, Rickie Weeks who went on to capture All-American honors and was named National Player of the Year.
Cador led the Jaguars to 14 SWAC championships, eight NCAA tournament appearances and three NCAA play-in tournament appearances and two black national titles in 2003 and 2005.
He completed his career at Southern with 14 SWAC Coach of the Year awards.
He holds the distinctions of having coached the first Golden Spikes
Award winner at a predominantly black school (Rickie Weeks Jr. in 2003) and the first NCAA Division I tournament game win by a black school.
Cador produced 35 players who played professional, or became coaches, umpires, or scouts, including 23 players drafted from 2001–2004.
To increase exposure, he organized the Urban Invitational featuring Historically Black Colleges and Universities televised on MLB Network.
He is also a member of a Major League Baseball task force to improve African-American participation in baseball.
Cador claims his greatest accomplishment was graduating approximately 80% of his players.
“It’s the people I’ve been able to help and grow with. It’s the kids society had given up on as a lost cause, and we turned it around and worked it out together.”
Cador is a member of the Southern University Athletic Hall of Fame.
From Obscurity to Legends: ESPN Honors HBCU Excellence
They epitomized “taking a little and making a lot” as Hall of Fame quarterback Doug Williams stated. Each coach and player have their own stories to tell. Some familiar names are iconic, while some of these great legacies have never been memorialized. We salute ESPN for shining the spotlight on HBCU football royalty.
