By John Zenor Marc Smith was relaxing in his basement when he got an alert on his phone. An athlete at his alma mater, Grambling State, had posted on social media about not having enough food and needing help. That incident led Smith to form the Icon 1901 Collective in April 2022 to help Grambling athletes land paid endorsement deals at the school best known for iconic football coach Eddie Robinson. Smith searched and couldn’t find a single historically Black college or university with a collective focused on name, image or likeness compensation so he expanded Icon 1901 to represent
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