Deion Sanders’ Greatest Play
Coach Prime’s #IBelieve Vision is a Game-Changer
Rumors of Deion Sanders accepting the head coaching job at Jackson State University circulated for days. Many JSU alumni like me dismissed the talk as noise. I thought there was no way an NFL Hall of Famer, one of the greatest athletes and sports personalities of his generation, would take on a project so big on a stage so comparatively small. But, after listening to him explain the passion and motivation behind his arrival, I believe.
JSU football is more than a game to most of the largely African American population in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a social and cultural experience that unites a community reeling from the effects of white flight. Pre-game, halftime, and post-game festivities are as important as the final score. Many kids leave the stadium imitating band steps while others begin dreaming of playing in a JSU uniform.
My late father often took our family to observe the pride and tradition at games. After his health deteriorated, we joined him in our den to listen to radio broadcasts. I cherish those Saturdays even more now because he used them to teach us the history of JSU football and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.
The NFL drafted over 50 JSU football players in the 1960s and 1970s as Mississippi’s predominantly white institutions (PWIs) worked to prevent or limit African American student enrollment. In his introductory press conference, Coach Prime paid tribute to JSU’s legendary football talent near the height of the movement. Mississippi’s PWIs wouldn’t have dared to play a game against one of those rosters.
After Mississippi’s PWIs accepted integration, they used their better-funded facilities and amenities to attract African American student-athletes to their campuses. The move paid off generously, as the influx of black bodies helped pave the way for an explosion of revenue in new television and advertising contracts. Meanwhile, the JSU football program dropped from powerhouse to second-tier level.
As head coach at JSU, Coach Prime is taking on Mississippi’s history of state-sanctioned segregation and unequal funding that perturbs men like my late father and me. When I applied to Mississippi State University with strong academic credentials, I received a $2,000 scholarship offer. JSU believed in me enough to offer a full ride. JSU also extended my best friend an invitation to walk onto its football team, an opportunity that he maximized into becoming an NFL draft pick and JSU Hall of Fame inductee.
I take pride in Jackson State University’s history of doing more for a large population of deserving African American students with far fewer resources than Mississippi’s PWIs.
Coach Prime, in an interview on Good Morning America, said “these kids need the playing field leveled.” He also announced that his initial round of recruitment offers targeted players like Maason Smith, the top-ranked football prospect in Louisiana. Smith, a 5-star athlete who will apparently now consider JSU alongside Power 5 schools, quickly tweeted that he felt “blessed” to receive the offer and endorsed Coach Prime’s #IBelieve ethos.
In his first day on the job, Coach Prime proved his game-changing value and vision. He transformed the doubt and long-time frustration of JSU alumni like me into belief that our alma mater can rise above historical inequities. And, if he can build the belief he has earned into achievements, he will eclipse his undisputed ranking as the best corner to ever put on a uniform. It will go down as the greatest play he ever made.
Malcolm Frierson is Associate Professor of History at Dallas College. His new book is Freedom in Laughter: Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, and the Civil Rights Movement.
