Third Annual HBCU All-Star Game to be Held, Televised April 7 on CBS

An HBCU Black college basketball experience will be coming to Phoenix, Arizona and on television sets live during 2024 NCAA Men’s Final Four Weekend. The HBCU All-Star Game will be held on Sunday, April 7, 2024  at Grand Canyon University Global Credit Union Arena at 1 p.m. PST/4:00 EST. The game, which will air on CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+, will comprise the nation’s top 24 HBCU All-Stars players who complete the rosters of Team Ben Wallace and Team Rick Mahorn. 

“The 24 players that have been selected from our 2023-24 basketball season and top 65 Watch List represent the best in college basketball at our country’s esteemed Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” said All-Stars LLC Founder and CEO Travis L. Williams in a press release. “For the past five months, I have been on an amazing HBCU All-Stars national promotional tour across the country talking about this God-driven vision providing E.A.R. and O.R.R. (Exposure, Access, Recognition, Opportunities, Resources, and Results) for our proud and prestigious HBCUs, hard-working, talented, ambitious, deserving students, student-athletes, and brilliant coaches across the country.” 

HBCU All-Stars, LLC is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 2019 with the mission to advocate, educate, expose, mentor and invest in talented students, student-athletes and coaches who work at HBCUs. 

Ambitious HBCU players deserve to shine in the spotlight on an elite platform. Their talent and potential is greater than the limited exposure of yesteryear. While all of them may not be NBA bound, there are notable NBA players who attended HBCUs such as Earl “The Pearl” Monroe of Winston-Salem and Robert Covington, a Tennessee State University alum who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

This year’s Top 24 HBCU All-Stars includes Seth Towns.

“The HBCU All-Star Game celebrates the best of the best in HBCU basketball,” said Seth Towns, a Howard University basketball player. “I’m grateful to have the opportunity to represent Howard proudly.”

Williams also explained that HBCU All-Star Game players represent the four premiere Black college conferences –The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association; and independent HBCUs.

“We represent 49 participating HBCUs within the four conferences.”

Williams divulged that he grew up in Tifton, Georgia. Sports became a way for him to cope after his single mother passed away at the age of 30. 

“Basketball was kind of my refuge to keep me off the streets. During that time, it was like my sacred space,” Williams explained. 

He still uses his late mother’s untimely death to motivate him. A milestone included becoming the first person in his family to attend and graduate from college. He attended Georgia State University on a full basketball scholarship. He later became a college coach who worked with student-athletes at HBCUs, including his alma mater.

“In October 2019, after 17 successful years of coaching, God placed a vision in my spirit and said, ‘You’re no longer going to coach anymore. I’m putting something in your spirit that’s going to change the trajectory of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” said Williams, recounting parts of his journey.

He told his wife, Kaya Williams that he would focus on building a Black-owned sports marketing, events and media company. Kaya serves as the chief financial officer and co-founder of HBCU All-Stars. The couple is making notable moves.

“This is history in the making once again to host the first ever HBCU All-Star Game in the “Valley of the Sun” (Arizona) and in a part of the country where HBCUs do not exist,” Travis said. 

The HBCU All-Star Game Experience kicks off the week of Tuesday, April 2, 2024 and concludes April 9, 2024. Kaya and Travis are answering the call to elevate HBCU players, culture and coaches while amplifying community voices and needs. Ancillary events are held around the game including an HBCU college fair for high schoolers; an event-related internship component; a Black business expo for entrepreneurs; connected community initiatives; a social justice luncheon; civil rights panel discussion; an HBCU All-Star Pro Day Combine; and an awards ceremony. 

Coaches and legendary careers of HBCU players are also integrated into the HBCU All-Stars’ platform. 

“Our goal is to always pay homage to our HBCU legends,” Travis said. “We are able to amplify everybody in this.”

Visit www.hbcuallstargame.com and follow @hbcuallstargame, to learn more about the HBCU All-Star Game, ancillary events and tickets.