Feel Good Friday: The Undefeated’s William Rhoden
We can all use some feel-goods these days; Front Row will bring you all the feels, every Friday, through the goodness of familiar ESPN faces
Front Row is expanding on “FGF” goodness every Friday as we put our own spin on the segment by highlighting the “good” being done by familiar faces from around ESPN who are helping to make others – and themselves! – feel good. This ongoing series showcases even more ways that ESPN is #OneTeam, signifying how we are all in this together.
One of the regular Friday highlights now ingrained in the noon ET SportsCenter is a segment called “Feel Good Friday.” It’s self-explanatory.
Today, the co-anchors are Elle Duncan and Matt Barrie. SportsCenter’s Feel Good Friday feature focuses on skateboard legend Tony Hawk. With some help from a FedEx driver’s viral TikTok video, Hawk connects with a young fan named Cooper and sends him a skateboard.
Dear HBCU graduates, alumni and family
Please join us on social ALL DAY on May 23 as we celebrate the Class of 2020. #UndefeatedHBCUDay pic.twitter.com/Nir75CQDBM
— Andscape (@andscape) May 21, 2020
Today Front Row anticipates The Undefeated marking “HBCU Day” (see tweet above) with a celebration of the Class of 2020 graduates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities tomorrow. The Undefeated’s award-winning sports columnist William C. “Bill” Rhoden – the quintessential HBCU alum – will contribute a video essay on the legacy of HBCUs as part of #UndefeatedHBCUDay.
The day will feature a collection of more than 40 video messages, video essays, a digital show and written content shared across The Undefeated’s social accounts and curated on www.TheUndefeated.com beginning at 8 a.m.–11 p.m. ET.
In the video below, Rhoden shares one of the reasons to feel good as an HBCU graduate.
ESPN IMAGES: ESPN AND HBCU CONNECTIONS
In 2016, SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett (L) interviews the 44th President Barack Obama during ESPN’s A Conversation with The President: Sports, Race & Achievement. The event was held at North Carolina A&T University and Verrett is a graduate of Howard. Both are scheduled to participate in The Undefeated’s HBCU Day program tomorrow.
The Southern University Human Jukebox band performs during the 2017 MEAC/SWAC Challenge. The Human Jukebox was featured as the top band in The Undefeated’s inaugural HBCU Band Rankings that year.
Tiffany Greene, a Florida A&M University graduate and ESPN college sports play-by-play commentator, is pictured at the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl (2015) with North Carolina A&T’s Tarik Cohen (hoisting trophy). Cohen is now a running back for the Chicago Bears and is scheduled to participate in The Undefeated’s HBCU Day tomorrow.
ESPNFC soccer commentator Shaka Hislop signs a ball during an employee event at ESPN. Hislop played soccer at Howard, where he led the Bisons to the 1998 NCAA Tournament. He later led the Trinidad and Tobago national team’s to its first-ever World Cup match in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Howard University student Thomas Logan (L, wearing headset) was part of the ESPNU Campus Connection where he helped commentators Jerry Bembry (C) and Charlie Neal (R) during a regular season college basketball game between South Carolina State and Howard.
College GameDay visited Florida A&M in 2008 and analyst Lee Corso dressed as the school’s Rattler mascot.
In 2019, First Take was part of ESPN’s HBCU Week. First Take featured commentator and Winston-Salem State University graduate Stephen A. Smith (third from left) was honored as an Ambassador. Smith, who will be part of The Undefeated’s HBCU Day program tomorrow, is pictured with his former teammates.
Kimberly Jarvis contributed to this post.
