Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 12-22-17

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HBCU
Middleton Student Wins November Vanguard Award
The Willie Simmons era at Florida A&M is officially underway.
It started last week with as much fanfare as a homecom- ing rally.
Simmons was intro- duced in front of a group of FAMU supporters, athletes, coaches and busloads of peo- ple from his home town of Quincy.
Simmons said, "I'm home."
Simmons, head coach at Prairie View A&M from 2015- 2017, has a 21-11 record as a head coach. He’s built a repu- tation for offensive excellence – the Panthers were third in the SWAC in scoring last sea-
Qunicy, Florida native Willie Simmons is FAMU’s new head football coach. The Simmons family with FAMU President Robin- son are: FAMU student, freshman class president, son Tre, and daughters Raven and Shailoh with Coach Simmons and wife, Shaia Simmons, a two-time Rattler – Not pictured: Son, Wray- lon.
son.
FAMU hasn’t had a win-
ning season since 2011 and went 3-8 last season.
With the Vanguard Award check of $1,000 are: from left to right, Middleton Principal, Dr. Kim Moore, APA Don Hill, SMgt. Robit Rutzke, aunt, Terri Vanessa Scott, little cousin, Saniya Smith, Neville Salmon, Chuck McDonald, presenting the award; Angela Rodante, Jose Morales, John Courtney, Fred Reid, and Major Michael Mistretta.
These are football team seniors and they made the all-star team from Middleton. They had a team GPA of 2.94, 15th in the county this year. “We use to be at the bottom, but because of the hard work they have been putting in it's paying off for them on and off the field,” Coach Reid said.
Left to right: Maytray Batchlor, Fred Davis, Neville Salmon, Kenny Mellon, Coach Fred Reid, William Deralin, and Marc Joseph. The West Team was coached by Fred Reid.
Meet FAMU’s New Head Football Coach, Willie Simmons
Unbeaten North Carolina A&T Wins HBCU National Championship Against Grambling
Lamar Raynard scored on a 1-yard sneak with 38 seconds left and unbeaten North Carolina A&T won its second Celebration Bowl in three years, defeating Gram- bling State 21-14 on last Sat- urday in Atlanta.
N.C. A&T (12-0) won its fourth Historically Black Col- lege and University (HBCU) national championship. The Aggies claimed titles in 1990 and 1999 in addition to 2015, when they defeated Alcorn State 41-34 in the first Cele- bration Bowl.
Raynard, one of four fi- nalists for the Black College Hall of Fame player of the year, completed 23 of 43 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown and had 17 yards on eight carries.
The junior quarterback drove the Aggies 56 yards in seven plays for the winning touchdown, shaking off nearly throwing his third in- terception. Grambling (11-2) challenged, but the pass was ruled incomplete.
Grambling was trying for a second straight HBCU na- tional title as the Tigers edged North Carolina Central 10-9 last year.
Grambling quarterback DeVante Kincade, also a finalist for player of the year, completed 19 of 36 passes for 225 yards and two touch- downs while also scrambling for 93 yards on the ground.
The Aggies became the first MEAC team to go unde- feated for an entire season as
North Carolina A&T Aggies qb, Lamar Raynard won the game for his team in the last 38 seconds. He celebrates after with his teammates with the trophy. Grambling Tigers qb, DeVante Kin- cade played his heart out, but it wasn’t enough.
they continued their run of success under coach Rod Broadway.
COACHING CONNECTIONS
Both head coaches have a deep connection with the other team. A&T’s Broad-
way spent four years at Grambling, leading the Tigers to the 2008 HBCU na- tional championship.
Grambling running backs coach Lee Fobbs, the father of coach Broderick Fobbs, was A&T’s head coach from 2006-08.
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Despite having endured some hardships early in his life, a Middleton High School senior has stayed the course and was named the winner of the Swope, Rodante Van- guard Award in November.
Neville Salmon won the $1,000 check for his school. He was nominated for the award by his football coach, Fred Reid and JROTC leader.
Neville is on the school’s football team as a defensive (free safety) player. He’s a team captain and he also runs track, while keeping his GPA, and almost perfect atten- dance.
The Swope, Rodante Vanguard Award, founded in 2011, recognizes outstanding high school student athletes and coaches throughout Hillsborough County. The award program celebrates students who are achieve- ments in academics, athletics and community.
The program also recog- nizes the coaches who work with integrity and dedication in an effort to have a positive impact on the community.
Each month a student is selected and an overall stu-
dent is chosen at the end of the school year as the Student MVP of the year.
Having grown up in Ja- maica until he was 11 years old, Neville Salmon and his brother came to the United States to live with his father. His father had lived in the United States to work and send money back to the fam- ily. By this time, his parents had grown apart, he did not understand why.
Getting adjusted in school was very difficult, since he did not speak Eng- lish. Students made fun of him and even bullied him. Be- cause of his heavy Jamaican accent, the teachers did not understand him. He was held back a year.
It was a difficult time, but by 8th grade he finally started to adjust.
Since being at Middleton, Neville has been on the Prin- cipal’s Honor Roll or High Honor Roll. He is also taking AP classes. He is a member of the JROTC and has earned many awards in football, track and field and JROTC.
His goal is to get an aca- demic or athletic scholarship to a 4-year institution of higher learning. He has talked to by several colleges about his football abilities.
PAGE 12-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2017