The Southwestern Athletic Conference has announced its 2024 SWAC Hall of Fame Class, which is set to be enshrined on Friday, December 13th, 2024.
The enshrinement ceremony is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. EST at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.
The newest members of the SWAC Hall of Fame were chosen from a list of nominees who were submitted by their respective institutions and selected by the SWAC Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
The 2024 Hall of Fame Honorees include Alcorn State’s Fred McNair, Grambling State’s Hillary Matthew Bossier (Legend), Southern’s Pete Richardson, Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Earl Goldman (Legend), and Charlie Neal (Contributor).
Fred McNair
McNair coached the Braves to four Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) East Division titles and two SWAC Championships.
He was named SWAC Coach of the Year two times and helped lead the Braves to the Celebration Bowl in 2018 and 2019. He is the original “Air McNair” and the older brother of the late Tennessee Titans quarterback and 2003 National Football League (NFL) Co-Most Valuable Player – Steve “Air II” McNair.
McNair compiled a 37-17 SWAC record after eight seasons on the Alcorn State sidelines while posting an overall record of 48-33. He became Alcorn State’s first SWAC Coach of the Year winner since Cardell Jones achieved the feat in 1992.
The Braves posted their first 7-0 record at home inside Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium history during the 2019 campaign. In fact, Alcorn entered the 2022 season, having won its last 13 games consecutively in the friendly confines of Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.
At the end of the 2019 season, McNair saw his quarterback, Felix Harper, earn his second consecutive SWAC Offensive Player of the Year award. He developed Harper, who ranked fourth in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in passing touchdowns (33), fifth in points responsible for (19.7 points/game), seventh in passing efficiency (160.7), eighth in yards per completion (14.5) and ninth in yards per pass attempt (8.7). McNair’s defense led the nation in both interceptions (21), and turnovers gained (36) in that same SWAC title-winning season.
McNair was named as the 21st head football coach of Alcorn State University on Feb. 2, 2016. Prior to that, he worked at Alcorn as the quarterbacks coach for three seasons under former head coach Jay Hopson. McNair began his collegiate football career as a wide receiver at Alcorn in 1986 before moving to quarterback his junior season.
After making the move under center, McNair went on to finish fifth in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) in passing efficiency during his senior year and was named to the SWAC all-conference second team following the 1989 campaign. He received his bachelor’s degree from Alcorn State in 1992 before going on to earn his master’s in education in 1996.
Hillary Matthew Bossier (Legend)
Bossier was an NAIA All-American in the pitcher position. He led the nation with a 0.53 earned run average in 1961 as Grambling State claimed its first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball title. Bossier and the team then advanced for the first of four national NAIA tournament appearances under R.W.E Jones.
Bossier once struck out 17 batters during a seven-inning game against the Alcorn State Braves. Grambling State pitchers topped the individual charts in 1961, 1962, and 1963, with Bossier’s nation-leading 0.53 ERA. As a team, Grambling State led the nation in both hitting and pitching in 1963 with a .370 batting average and a 0.61 ERA.
Bossier signed with the Midwest’s minor-league affiliate of the New York Mets, going 6-2 in 1962 with 71 innings pitched.
Pete Richardson
Upon his arrival in Baton Rouge in 1993, Richardson ushered in the golden era of Southern University Football, compiling 128 wins during a 17-year career. He is currently the second-winningest coach in Southern football history in wins and winning percentage.
Richardson, affectionately known as “Coach Pete,” led Southern football to five Southwestern Athletic Conference titles (1993, 97, 98, 99, and 2003), including a three-peat from 1997-99 (the school’s first consecutive SWAC titles since 1959-60). His teams also claimed four Black college national titles (1993, 1995, 1997, and 2003), birthing one of the greatest fan bases in college athletics, The Jaguar Nation.
Richardson’s teams won four Heritage Bowl titles and went 12-5 in the Bayou Classic. He owns the distinction of being the only coach to go undefeated against Grambling’s iconic coach Eddie Robinson. He was also named the SWAC Coach of the Year five times (1995, 97, 98, 99 and 2003).
His winning percentage of 68.4 percent in 17 seasons (134-62) at the school is second behind only College Football Hall of Fame coach A.W. “Ace’ Mumford’s 70.4 percent (176-60-14). Prior to his arrival, Southern had last won the SWAC in 1966 and 1975.
Richardson is a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Winston Salem State University Hall of Fame, and most recently, the Black College Football Hall of Fame. In 2021, the field inside A.W. Mumford Stadium was renamed Pete Richardson Field. The first Southern home football game of every season is designated the “Pete Richardson Classic.”
Earl Goldman (Legend)
Earl Goldman, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, graduated from Merrill High School. He set several records while performing for the Golden Lions from 1967-70. As a sophomore, he was the 1968 NAIA national 800-meter champion after registering a 48.1 second time in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That record time still stands today in the school’s history, Arkansas AM&N, now UAPB. He earned a tryout at the 1968 U.S. Olympic Trials.
In that same year, he anchored in the Golden Lion’s sprint medley relay team that claimed winning honors at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and the mile relay team at the NAIA National Federation Indoor Track Championships sprint medley relay at the Houston Astrodome in 1970.
He attained professional golfer status in 1975, winning 20+ tournaments. On September 16, 2005, Goldman was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Goldman, an avid golfer, is retired and lives in White Hall, Arkansas.
Charlie Neal (Contributor)
Neal started his broadcast career as a radio disc jockey in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then broke into television as a sports anchor in Washington, D.C., and worked in Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York City.
While working in Detroit, he met Bob Johnson, who was in the process of starting Black Entertainment Television. His association with BET started in 1980, and for 24 years, he was the voice of sports on the network. This included Black college athletics, talk shows, and coverage of all major sporting events, from Heavyweight Championship boxing to the Super Bowl.
Neal also worked for CBS Sports, announcing college football, basketball, track and field, and gymnastics. He continued to cover sports for BET while also doubling up with assignments from Turner Sports, which included the first-ever Goodwill Games in Moscow. He hosted the NBA halftime shows for TNT and did play-by-play assignments on basketball, gymnastics, and track and field.
When BET decided to drop sports from its programming, the timing seemed right, as ESPNU was being launched. Neal immediately landed a position with the network. Neal broadcast the first football game on ESPNU in 2005. He has overseen numerous assignments for the network, from traditional sports to bowling and tennis.
He is now the lead announcer for HBCU GO Sports, which broadcasts a variety of Black college sports covering the SWAC, SIAC, and CIAA. Along the way, he has worked with some of the top names in sports, including James Brown, Lem Barney, Doug Williams, Bernie Bickerstaff, and Sam Jones.
Neal has announced numerous historic moments, including legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson’s game in which he broke Bear Bryant’s record of 323 wins in 1985. He recently received the Chris Shenkel Award from the National Football Foundation, becoming the first African American to receive that award.
He has been recognized for his contribution to Black college athletics by being inducted into the MEAC, CIAA, and Black College Football Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Chairman of the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Courtesy: SWAC
