More than 65 years later, a college basketball championship team gets its White House moment

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: April 6, 2024 / 8:41 AM EDT


College basketball's national champions will be crowned on Sunday and Monday, with a likely celebratory trip to the White House to follow, but after more than 60 years, one team finally has its moment on Pennsylvania Avenue. "This is the greatest day of my life," said George Finley, a former basketball player for the Tennessee A&I Tigers during their championship run.

Finley, along with five of his former teammates who are now well into their 80s, met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday at the White House, an experience the former college athletes have waited decades for. The Tennessee A&I Tigers men's basketball team was the first HBCU team to win a national championship in 1957, and made history again by becoming the first college team to win three back-to-back national titles from 1957-1959.



"I thought this would never take place," said Finley, who was part of the 1959 championship team and eventually drafted by the NBA's Detroit Pistons but chose to play for the American Basketball League. "[Winning] the championship was big, but it wasn't as big as being here with [Vice President] Harris today."

But during the era of segregation and within the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Black college athletes were often denied the recognition and opportunities to play on an elite level. Tennessee A & I, now known as Tennessee State University, is a public HBCU. Harris hosted six members of the team in a meeting along with their family, friends, and those close to the group of former athletes. Henry Carlton, Robert Clark, Ron Hamilton, Ernie Jones, George Finley, and Dick Barnett joined Finley in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-ai-university-basketball-white-house-basketball-champions/

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Link to tweet

Vice President Kamala Harris
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The Tennessee A&I Tigers broke barriers on the court while fighting injustice off it.

In 1957, they became the first HBCU to win a national championship before becoming the first team to win three in a row.

It was my honor to welcome them to the White House for the first time.
Vice President Harris receives a jersey from the Tennessee A&I Tigers men's basketball team.
Vice President Harris welcomes the Tennesse A&I Tigers men's basketball team to the White House for the first time.
George Finley and the Tennesse A&I Tigers men's basketball team come to the White House for the first time.
7:30 PM · Apr 5, 2024

[bahboo]

1. fantastic....

[iluvtennis]

2. Awesome - thank you VP Harris. n/t

[CrispyQ]

3. Bravo!!

Good ball is good ball no matter who plays it!

[twodogsbarking]

4. This is something the world needs to see. Thanks to all involved. It got to me. Makes me feel good.

I was 8 in 1960 and 18 in 1970. It was quite a decade.
Things were starting to change for the better but resistance was there too, just as now.

[republianmushroom]

5. One of the many things that makes me so proud of this administration.

Gentleman it has been a long time coming and you earned it. Congratulations.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Excellent!

[SallyHemmings]

7. Bravo!

[Karadeniz]

8. Who was president at the time? Did champions get invited back then?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Eisenhower.

[former9thward]

13. Not for college teams back then.

President Ford, who was a college athlete himself, was the first to invite a college championship team in 1976.

https://sports.yahoo.com/when-did-championship-teams-start-visiting-the-white-house-190309190.html

[soldierant]

14. That does not make up for

his pardon of Nixon, but at least he did something nice.

(If you watch Antiques Roadshow and have for a while, you probably know that his first grade teacher always called him "Naughty little Gerry Ford."

[Mosby]

10. K and R

[AverageOldGuy]

11. Tennessee State Univ. was in the news recently

The Tenn state legislature is controlled by white supremacist Republicans. I saw a news article recently where the state legislature was attacking TSU because of ????? .

Racist shit never ends.

[AverageOldGuy]

12. Found it on Afro.com

Tennessee State University, the only publicly funded HBCU in the state, had their Board of Trustees removed by a new law, SB1596, which was recently signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

The legislation which wiped out the board was passed by the state GOP-controlled House on March 28 in a 66-25 vote

I’m posting in my phone, having problem
Posting links.