Tennessee State to be 1st HBCU offering hockey as sport

NASHVILLE --Tennessee State University will form a men's club hockey team and become the first historically Black college and university (HBCU) in the United States to offer the sport.

University officials made the announcement Wednesday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena along with officials from the NHL, NHL Players' Association, Nashville Predators and College Hockey Inc., all partners in the endeavor.

"Bringing ice hockey to Tennessee State University is part of our continued commitment to provide our students with new opportunities and to broaden new interests in areas where they had limited or no access," TSU president Glenda Glover said. "We appreciate our ongoing partnership with the Nashville Predators, which has played a pivotal role in our decision to pursue this historic undertaking.

TSU also wants to eventually add NCAA Division I women's hockey.

"TSU has a tremendous legacy in athletics. Adding hockey to our programs will start a new chapter and build upon that legacy."

TSU plans to begin play in 2024-25 with the intention of eventually shifting to NCAA Division I status, following paths taken by Arizona State University in 2015-16 and Penn State University in 2012-13. Home games will be played at one of the Predators' Ford Ice Center facilities.

"Launching the club team is another tremendous step forward for both the game of hockey and the sport in our community to pursue the ultimate goal," Predators CEO Sean Henry said. "TSU has been a great partner of the Predators for some time, and we are excited to help the work toward becoming the first HBCU to field a NCAA Division I college hockey team."

Henry said Glover and TSU athletic director Mikki Allen "are visionaries in their respective positions and should be lauded for continuing to build Nashville into the ultimate hockey town."

TSU's decision to offer club hockey comes after the university had a feasibility study in 2021 funded by the NHL and NHLPA's Industry Growth Fund to determine what it would take in terms of cost, people power and facilities to have a team.

"We are thrilled whenever we have a chance to add any hockey program at the collegiate level, but to be able to announce the addition of club hockey at Tennessee State University is truly special," NHL vice president hockey development & strategic collaboration Kevin Westgarth said. "Welcoming club hockey at a storied HBCU is a meaningful step in the right direction for the sport and will undoubtedly contribute to the vibrant hockey community and inspire future players."

The team will be under TSU's athletic department, which is searching for a director of club hockey operations who will handle fundraising, corporate partnerships and student-athlete recruitment.

University officials said they will be looking for talented students and elite-level players from across the United States and Canada who want an HBCU experience and be hockey ambassadors on and off the ice.

TSU is among the more than 100 colleges and universities in the United States, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands that are federally designated as HBCUs. They were established before 1964 with the primary mission of educating Black Americans who were denied admission to predominantly white institutions during the pre-civil rights era.

Notable HBCU graduates include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., United States Vice President Kamala Harris, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, film director Spike Lee, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, a TSU alum.

TSU athletics is famous for the Tiger Belles, the women's track and field team that produced 40 Olympians who won combined to win 23 medals, including 13 gold. Among them was Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympics (Rome, 1960).

Now TSU will be the latest HBCU to offer so-called "nontraditional sports" for their students. Fisk University in Nashville debuted the first HBCU gymnastics team in 2022-23. St. Augustine University in Florida started the first HBCU cycling team in 2020.

Hampton University in Virginia formed a men's lacrosse program in 2016. Washington, D.C.'s Howard University, through a donation from NBA star Stephen Curry, renewed a golf program it disbanded in the 1970s. And Howard is the only HBCU with an NCAA Division I swim and diving team.

Word of TSU's announcement was greeted enthusiastically by several minority-oriented hockey programs. Jason McCrimmon, the United States recipient of the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award at the 2023 NHL Awards on Monday, called the move "dope." McCrimmon founded Detroit Ice Dreams, an NHL Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate, and is ambassador for Learn, Play, Score, a program funded by the Detroit Red Wings.

"It's huge, it shows the growth of the game," he said. "The fact is, if I could go back 20 years, I would definitely think about that option."

Rochelle Popyon, co-founder of the Black Hockey Mommies, a Facebook group formed in 2019 and has gone on to organize all-Black youth hockey teams that compete in tournaments, said TSU's announcement is amazing news.

"We want to encourage our kids to go to HBCUs," Popyon said. "I think it would be so amazing for other HBCUs to not only get club hockey programs, but it would definitely be a start to having them be able to offer scholarships to our boys."

Popyon coincidentally appeared on the San Jose Sharks' "Teal for Change" podcast in May and implored TSU to start a hockey program so Panthers players could become TSU Tigers.

"We have a team of 23 players that are already ready," she said on the podcast. "Fill the team with the Panthers. Let's do it."

Malik Garvin, executive director of Ice Hockey in Harlem, another Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate, said his organization will do its part to become a potential TSU player pipeline.

"I'm going to start sending kids there immediately," Garvin said. "We're going to fill their team."