Bill Proctor: (Florida's) Senate displays a dim view of black students

BILL PROCTOR
LEON COUNTY COMMISSIONER
DISTRICT 1

Bill Proctor serves the Leon County commissioner for District 1, in which both Florida A&M and Florida State universities are located. Contact him at ProctorB@leoncountyfl.gov.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- One cannot miss the influence of the controversial theories on race and intelligence of Arthur Jensen and William Shockley as the guiding core of the Florida Senate’s thinking in voting to separate the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. This legislative act bolsters white supremacy and further marginalizes black communities. Clearly, the Senate deems the majority of FSU’s students superior in intelligence and worthy of investing millions more of taxpayer dollars.

Sen. John Thrasher declares his budget amendment to separate the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering would strengthen Florida State’s stride toward becoming a Top 25 public (taxpayer-supported) universitiy.

Like Gov. George Wallace, why are Thrasher and the Senate, legislatively speaking, standing in the doorway of the College of Engineering and decreeing that FAMU students cannot come in? In effect, Thrasher and the senators want FAMU’s students to get out and stay out of engineering sciences at FSU. Does “pre-eminence” mean that students from a black school are not welcome to tag along and mess up the white members-only society?

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TSU Tigers Play at Home for Final Time This Season



HEAD COACH JEFFREY DABNEY
Photo courtesy of Tennessee State Athletics

NASHVILLE, Tennessee  -- Tennessee State hosts SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois for a pair of Ohio Valley Conference double headers on Friday and Saturday. TSU will take to Tiger Field for the final time this season with both days starting at 1:00pm. TSU will honor Olivia Gamache and Ashley Haynes on Saturday during the senior day celebrations.

 

The Tigers have dropped five straight, including three in conference play. TSU, still fighting for a spot in the OVC tournament, is in tenth and will have to go through the top two teams in the West Division in consecutive days. The games can be seen on ovcdigitalnetwork.com.

 

Gamache enters the weekend in the top 10 in several pitching categories. The senior is sixth in appearances and games started. Gamache is seventh in wins and is six strikeouts away from surpassing 200, to become just the fourth Tiger to cross the threshold.

 

Haynes is ninth in games played and is four starts away from entering the top 10. Haynes has walked 37 times in her career, good for eighth. The senior has made her mark defensively as well and is one putout out of tenth. Haynes is fifth in assists and has a .935 fielding percentage, eighth best in history.

 

SIU Edwardsville (20-19, 12-3)

2013 Record: 35-13

Conference: Ohio Valley

2013 Finish: 17-5/2nd West

Series Record: 2-6

Last Time Played: 4-6-13, L 1-8

Last Win: 5-6-12, 4-1

 

SIUE turns to Haley Chambers to handle most of the pitching duties appearing in 29 of the teams 39 games. Chambers has tossed 159.1 innings and has earned a 12-12 record and a 1.97 ERA. Chambers is second in the conference with 163 fanning’s. Erin Greenwalt offers support at 8-7 and a 3.94 ERA with 71 punch outs in 80.0 innings. Chelsea Yankolovich sits atop the Cougars stat page, leading in average (.315), hits (40), runs (26) and stolen bases (9). Allison Smiley is batting .308 with a squad leading 17 RBI.

 

Eastern Illinois (30-11, 10-4)

2013 Record: 36-14

Conference: Ohio Valley

2013 Finish: 20-3/1st West

Series Record: 11-36

Last Time Played: 4-7-13, L 1-7

Last Win: 4-2-11, 7-3

 

The Panthers are batting .288 as a team and have four players hitting over .300. Jennette Isaac and Brooke Owens lead the way each batting .350. Isaac is tied with Rey Hutchinson (.325) in stolen bases with 10. Owens has a team high 28 runs, 10 doubles and five home runs. Hannah Cole is hitting at a .348 clip with nine doubles, three triples, five dingers and a team best 31 RBI. EIU relies on the pitching duo of Hannah Mennenga and Stephanie Maday. Mennenga is 16-4 with a 1.87 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 146 innings of work. Maday has compiled a 13-5 record with a 2.13 ERA and has sat down 100 in 115 innings.

COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION  

Gold Rush defeat Privateers for third consecutive year



XAVIER UNIVERSITY TENNIS CENTER

NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana's men won five consecutive matches Thursday to score a 5-4 decision against the University of New Orleans at XU Tennis Center.

The Gold Rush (9-9), ranked 10th in the NAIA, have a season-best three-dual win streak and defeated the Privateers (6-9) for the third consecutive year. It was Xavier's second victory in five days against an NCAA Division I opponent.

Blake Gregor and Luis Albuquerque gave UNO its only lead when they defeated Tushar Mandlekar and Kevin Chaouat 8-5 at No. 2 doubles. But Xavier won the next five matches to clinch the dual.

Viktor Svoboda -- honored in a senior day ceremony before the dual -- and Adam Albrecht beat Gonzala Garcia and Chris Appelgren 8-5. Then Kyle Montrel and Nikita Soifer gave the Gold Rush a 2-1 lead with their 8-5 victory against Timo Kranz and Rui Silva at the top doubles flight.

Mandlekar, winning for the third straight time in singles, made it 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Gregor at No. 4. Montrel defeated Kranz 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1, and Soifer clinched at No. 2 with a 6-2, 6-4 decision against Garcia.

Soifer is 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles in two seasons against UNO.

"Good win today," XU coach Alan Green said. "UNO is always tough to play against. But it was different today because we played them on our campus for the first time. Hopefully this will carry us over to next week and the unaffiliated tournament."

The Gold Rush will play Alcorn State at 2 p.m. next Thursday at Xavier to conclude the regular season, then compete the following day in the opening round of the NAIA Unaffiliated Group 2 Tournament in New Orleans.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
https://twitter.com/xulagold
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Prairie View hires XU's Bussie as women's assistant

Coach Landon Bussie
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

NEW ORLEANS -- Prairie View A&M University announced Thursday the hiring of Xavier University of Louisiana's Landon Bussie as a women's basketball assistant coach.

Bussie served the past four seasons on Xavier's men's basketball coaching staff, the last three as a graduate assistant. He was part of Gold Rush teams which won 97 games, won three consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championships and qualified four times for the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship.

Bussie was a two-year letterman for the Gold Rush (2008-09 and 2009-10) after transferring from Livingstone College. He is from Baltimore, Maryland and a graduate of Woodlawn High School. Bussie received his bachelor's degree from Xavier in 2011.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
https://twitter.com/xulagold
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XU's Jackson chosen LABC Coach of Year for first time

Dannton Jackson's 249 victories rank first in
Gold Rush history.

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Dannton Jackson has been chosen Louisiana Small College Coach of the Year for 2014, the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches announced Thursday.
   
This is the first time for Jackson to receive the award, which is chosen annually by the state's men's college basketball coaches. Jackson will receive the award May 3 during the LABC's 40th annual awards banquet in Baton Rouge.
   
Jackson became the Gold Rush all-time leader in coaching victories when Xavier won 71-66 at Spring Hill on Dec. 17. The Gold Rush were 23-9 in 2013-14, winning a third consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship and qualifying for the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship or the fourth straight year. Jackson retooled a program which had five senior starters the previous season, and his team produced seven victories against NAIA national tourney qualifiers, including an overtime home decision against top-10 William Carey.
   
Jackson set a GCAC record in 2013-14 with his third consecutive Coach of the Year award.
   
The Gold Rush's 97 victories during the past four seasons are the program's winningest four consecutive seasons since 1937-41.
   
Jackson's 11-year record with the Gold Rush is 249-107. His nine 20-win seasons trail only hall-of-famers Fred Hobdy (Grambling) and Dale Brown (LSU) in Louisiana men's collegiate history.
   
He is the second Xavier coach to win the LABC award and the first since Dale Valdery in 2001.
   
The Embassy Suites Hotel (4914 Constitution Ave., zip 70808) will be the site of the banquet, which will start at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $25.  

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
https://twitter.com/xulagold
https://www.facebook.com/xulagold 

FAMU Completes Sweep of Alabama State With 2-1 Win

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  --  Florida A&M (17-21, 10-7 MEAC) held Alabama State (28-15, 16-2 SWAC) scoreless over the final eight innings, for a final of 2-1, to complete the mid-week sweep on Thursday afternoon at Moore-Kittles Field. The win marked the eighth victory of the season for the Rattlers by one run and FAMU has now won six of their last eight games.

Rattler starter Chase Jarrell (4-2) earned the win while pitching five innings and only allowing one unearned run with three strikeouts. David Duncan pitched the final four scoreless innings to earn his first save of the season.

Bennie Robinson went 3-for-4 at the plate for FAMU with an RBI and a run scored, while Marlon Gibbs went 2-for-3 with the game-winning RBI in the third inning.



Alabama State picked up an unearned run in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Cesar Rivera singled into right center and stole second before scoring on a throwing error by Robinson, who overthrew third basemen Ryan Kennedy, trying to catch Rivera at third.

The Rattlers scored all they needed for the win with a pair of runs in the third inning, in what proved to be the final score of 2-1. Logan Seymour drew a one out walk and stole second. As Seymour stole second, Hornet catcher Richard Gonzalez tried to throw him out but the ball sailed into center field advancing Seymour to third. Robinson followed with an RBI single to plate Seymour for Florida A&M’s first run of the game. Robinson was aggressive on the base paths second and advanced to third on a wild pitch to setup what proved to be Gibbs game-winning RBI single.

Duncan came in in the sixth inning and pitched the rest of the way for FAMU. In the sixth, Duncan worked out of a bases loaded jam after two walks and a single from Richard Gonzalez. Dexter Price grounded out to third to end the inning, leaving the bases full for Alabama State.

The Hornets only had two hits over the final four innings.

Alabama State starter Michael Estevez (3-4) suffered the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in five innings of work. Estevez also struck out four and walked four Rattler batters.

Florida A&M is off over the Easter weekend, but next travels to face No. 18 Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday, April 23. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 pm.

BOX SCORE

COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Southern signs BRCC’s Ashley Williams

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana --  The graduation of Adrian Sanders left the Southern women’s basketball team with some big sneakers to fill, but coach Sandy Pugh thinks she found someone who can do it.

The Jaguars signed Baton Rouge Community College’s Ashley Williams on Wednesday, adding a versatile leader to the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season champions.

“She’ll be able to step right into Adrian’s shoes,” Pugh said. “She can rebound and get up and down the floor. She’s a hybrid like Adrian was.



“She has toughness, which definitely will fill a void. She can put the ball on the floor and finish in the lane. She’s a natural leader.”

Williams, who played at Walker High School, averaged ...

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