WSSU Athletics needs a history lesson

Roman author Cicero said that history is "the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity."

That being said, Winston-Salem State Athletics is in dire need of a history lesson. As you read this, the Rams will have one game left in the 2007 basketball season, a season that will live in infamy for years to come.  In their first season as a Division I team, the Rams have been on the rough end of more than twenty losses. In 1967, the Rams, led by legendary head coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines and future NBA Hall of Famer Earl Monroe, compiled a 31-1 record and won what is now the Division II Championship. The Rams made history as the first team from a historically black institution to win an NCAA title of any kind. "The Pearl," as he was known, averaged over 42 points per game that season, before going on to being named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history.

Amazingly, many people on this campus don't know that Monroe wasn't WSSU's first superstar player to make it to the NBA. In the late 1950's and early 60's, Rams guard Cleo Hill terrorized the other teams in the then-mighty CIAA.

"Cleo Hill was better than anybody in the ACC," said television analyst and former Wake Forest guard Billy Packer. Hill averaged 23 points per game during his career at WSSU (then Winston-Salem Teachers College), broke the CIAA scoring record, and averaged nearly 26 points per game his senior season. He was the first player from an HBCU picked in the first round of the NBA Draft, when the St. Louis Hawks selected him with the eighth pick overall in 1961.

The move to Division I has taken a lot of time and effort on the part of the administrators at the Athletic Department. Their efforts should be applauded and, overall, they're doing a good job. With that being said, it's inexcusable that the 1967 team wasn't recognized this year and that Earl Monroe and Cleo Hill's jersey haven't been erected to the rafters of the Gaines Center.

It would seem like now is as good a time as ever to honor the '67 Rams.  With WSSU making the move to Division I, they have to have something to distinguish themselves from the crowd, besides a horrible record. With home games few and far between, you would think the athletic department would try to give fans some sort of excitement and hope for the future.

The North Carolina recently had a ceremony to honor their national championship teams from 1957 and 1982.  If a program with a history as storied as North Carolina can take the time to honor their history, why can't WSSU?  It doesn't have to be anything extravagant, just simply invite all the former players back and honor them during half-time of a home game.

Some in the administration have proposed waiting until the 50th anniversary of the championship season. These men are already in their sixties. What if, 10 years from now, some of these players have passed away?

As far as Hill and Monroe are concerned, these are once-in-a-lifetime players, and they deserved to be treated as such by their alma mater. Please, do the right thing and give these men their honor and due while we they are still with us. Their jerseys should be hanging high in the Gaines Center as a reminder of what WSSU basketball has been and could be.