Last year, the Howard University men’s basketball team, normally donning its blue and red school colors in home and away uniforms, debuted an alternate uniform in time for Black History Month. The uniform was black with red and green accents on the jersey and the shorts.
Across the jersey in red font was “The Mecca,” a nickname well known by those who follow Howard and those familiar with historically Black colleges and universities nationwide. The Bison wore the uniforms during their NCAA Tournament run last year.
Howard men’s basketball coach Kenny Blakeney grew up in Washington, D.C., before going on to play college basketball at Duke. He’s known Howard to be The Mecca for years — and for a long time, it had nothing to do with basketball. Or sports in general at the university located in the northwest part of the nation’s capital.
“It meant Black excellence in everything academia,” Blakeney said. “When we talked about it as high school kids around the city, talking about going to college, none of us felt like Howard was serious about athletics. There was a lack of winning tradition and history with the programs. … Nothing there from an athletic standpoint that made anybody serious about basketball want to go to Howard.”
Some things haven’t changed. Howard is considered a premier HBCU by U.S. News & World Report and still a center for Black excellence. What is changing, however, is the idea of Howard not being serious about athletics. Howard’s football team played in the Celebration Bowl in December, and on Tuesday, the Bison will play in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
Howard (18-16) beat Delaware State 70-67 to win the MEAC Tournament Saturday in Norfolk, Va., and earn an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. The Bison will face Wagner in a battle of 16 seeds — a First Four game — Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio. The winner gets North Carolina on Thursday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C.
One of the first references of Howard being The Mecca was in 1909, when a student, J.A. Mitchell, wrote in the Howard University Journal: “Howard indeed bids well to become the Mecca, toward which the eyes of our youth will instinctively turn.” An editorial four years later from the Journal stated: “Howard is a strategic institution. She is ‘The Mecca’ of higher education attended in main by Negro youths.”
That reputation hasn’t waned over the years. It’s actually expanded. When junior guard Bryce Harris, an All-MEAC first-team selection, chose to play at Howard, his decision didn’t solely surround basketball.
“It’s another pillar in Black history,” Harris said of Howard. “There’s a ton of historical figures that if they haven’t gone here, they’ve been here. Howard University is a crucial part in Black history, to say the very least.”
Holding a confident nickname means backing it up with evidence. Howard was founded in 1867 and boasts several prominent alumni, including Vice President Kamala Harris (first woman and first Black vice president), Thurgood Marshall (first Black Supreme Court Justice) and authors Toni Morrison and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Additionally, Anthony Anderson, Phylicia Rashad, Taraji P. Henson and the late Chadwick Boseman are among the prominent actors who have earned Howard degrees.
Five of the nine oldest predominantly Black Greek-lettered organizations were founded at Howard. The school has also long been a part of popular culture, oftentimes mentioned in songs and represented on T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats.
But on Tuesday, the focus will be on Howard’s basketball team. The Bison battled injuries all season to win the MEAC Tournament. As a No. 4 seed in the MEAC Tournament, Howard beat top-seeded Norfolk State in the semifinal round after losing twice to the Spartans in the regular season.
Harris, at 6 foot 4, leads the team in scoring and rebounds, averaging 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Harris is the only Howard player to start all 34 games this season. Seth Towns, a 6-9 forward and another all-MEAC selection, is averaging 14.2 points and leads the team in assists. Guards Marcus Dockery and Jordan Hairston played all 40 minutes and combined for 33 points against Delaware State.
When he accepted the coaching position at Howard, Blakeney believed it was possible to build a winning team. After a 4-29 record in his first year, the 2019-20 season, and a following season halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bison are 56-42 over the last three seasons.
Blakeney firmly believes athletic success can further enhance the profile of a school that already owns an academic reputation. He saw it while at Duke from 1991-95 when the basketball team garnered plenty of attention with winning seasons. He’s hoping Howard can write a similar chapter. A strong showing by his team on Tuesday can be a stepping stone.
“We had the Kamala effect at Howard when she got into office, and hopefully with the basketball visibility now, it’s telling a story through a different lens, an athletic sports lens, a basketball lens on a national stage,” Blakeney said. “(Tuesday) is going to be a two-hour infomercial for Howard University, talking about the history and the tradition and the culture of our fine university.”
Howard can make history Tuesday with a win over Wagner. The Bison have never won an NCAA Tournament game. They lost to Kansas 96-68 last year.
Harris said Blakeney has created a basketball culture that fully embraces The Mecca concept, an idea that could make the program one to watch for years to come.
“All we want to do is to be able to hold ourselves accountable to that,” Harris said. “We don’t want to let those people down. … We can elevate where we are, so the people after us can be at a higher level than we were.”
(Photo of Bryce Harris: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
