A senate RESOLUTION

 

TO CONGRATULATE Willie Jeffries FOR winning the 2024 Maxwell HBCU award.

 

Whereas, the South Carolina Senate is pleased to learn that Willie Jeffries has won the 2024 Maxwell HBCU award for contributions to HBCU football; and

 

Whereas, a native of Union, Mr. Jeffries grew up in a small, tightly-knit town in the segregated South. A hard worker in the classroom and on the field, Mr. Jeffries earned a scholarship to play football for South Carolina State College (now South Carolina State University), which afforded him an opportunity for higher education that might not otherwise have been accessible to him; and

 

Whereas, Mr. Jeffries began his football coaching career as an assistant coach at Barr Street High School in Lancaster in 1960. His years playing for the Bulldogs laid the groundwork for his career as a coach. He was a natural leader on and off the field, and his love of sports and education helped him easily transition from playing to coaching; and

 

Whereas, after a short period of time at Barr Street High School, Mr. Jeffries began his first head coaching assignment at Granard High School in Gaffney. Three consecutive state AAA championships later, it was clear he had a gift for leadership and winning football games; and

 

Whereas, in 1968, Mr. Jeffries was hired to coach the defensive line at North Carolina A&T. This would be the start of a remarkable run of thirty-four consecutive years of coaching at the collegiate level. He spent four seasons in Greensboro and one with the Pitt Panthers; and

 

Whereas, in 1933, needing a new head coach to succeed Oree Banks, South Carolina State turned to Mr. Jeffries, who hit the ground running in his debut at his alma mater. He won seven games with a squad that had gone 1-9 a year earlier. His early success as the Bulldogs coach attracted national notoriety as well as numerous coaching inquiries, including several as an assistant in the NFL; and

 

Whereas, in 1979, Mr. Jeffries accepted Wichita State's offer to become the first African American head coach of an NCAA Division 1-A (now FBS) football program. In 1984, he accepted the head coaching job at Howard University. He spent the next eighteen seasons leading successful HBCU programs, five with the Howard Bison and thirteen with South Carolina State; and

 

Whereas, over the years, Mr. Jeffries has earned a number of honors and awards, including three Black College Football National Championships, seven MEAC titles, five MEAC Coach of the Year honors, the Order of the Palmetto, and the Order of the Silver Crescent. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the MEAC Hall of Fame, and the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame; and

 

Whereas, the Senate is grateful to Mr. Jeffries for his dedicated service to the people and the State of South Carolina and takes great pleasure in saluting him for receiving the prestigious 2024 Maxwell HBCU award for contributions to HBCU football.  Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the Senate:

 

That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, congratulate Willie Jeffries for winning the 2024 Maxwell HBCU award.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Willie Jeffries.

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