“They are so important”: NBA star Chris Paul emphasizes the importance and impact of HBCUs

NBA veteran Chris Paul joined entertainment journalist Kevin Frazier for a panel discussion with the Milken Institute on Wednesday. During the course of the talk, Frazier bought up Paul's loong-time support for association with Historically Black College and University.

Chris Paul, a Winston-Salem, North Carolina, native recalled his early basketball days:

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“I also realized when I was becoming this high school phenom when it came to basketball, Winston Salem State didn't even recruit me. It's not like that Winston-Salem State was dumb about it.

"They probably realized they didn't have a chance because growing up, you knew you had to go to one of those blue bloods or whatnot to make it to the NBA. So, it was the Dukes. It was the Carolinas. It was all of this different type stuff.”

However, once he joined the NBA, Paul grew more curious about HBCUs and looked more into them.

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"As I started to learn more about HBCUs and why they are so important, I learned that my mom went to Winston Salem State and my dad had went but they had me and my brother so they dropped out of school."

"Like you said, these HBCUs are so important because there are some of these other schools that you can't even get into. So I just wanted to continue to champion these HBCUs, and in the process of it, I learned about so many of them."

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Chris Paul's efforts to bring wider opportunities to HBCUs

Chris Paul partnered with the fellow WSSU graduate B Daht and introduced CP3 Classic, a new AAU basketball tournament in 2024 at Winston-Salem State University, his alma mater. The guard graduated from WSSU in 2022 with a bachelor's in degree in mass communications.

This tournament is in addition to the CP3 HBCU Tip-Off and Challenge that The Chris Paul Family Foundation organises in association with Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Paul has executive produced “Why Not Us,” a docuseries highlighting the various black college sports programs across the nation.

In the same discussion with Frazier, Chris Paul talked about his efforts to introduce Harvard Business School's Entertainment, Media and Sports program to HBCUs.

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“After one of my NBA seasons, I got an opportunity to go to this really cool class at Harvard with Anita Elberse. It was about sports and entertainment at Harvard. It's called the BIMS program; this class is so dope.

"You start to learn and realize that some schools don't have the finance to offer such classes. I talked to the professor, we partnered together and started offering these classes at HBCUs.”

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What do you think of Chris Paul's efforts to highlight the talents at HBCUs? Let's know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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