Big East Announces Black Fives Educational Initiative
The Big East 2021 Media Day this past Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City included an announcement by their commissioner, recent Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinee Val Ackerman, of a league-wide educational initiative with the Black Fives Foundation, involving all of the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball teams.
This is the official video of Val’s announcement.
The Big East Conference is comprised of Georgetown, Creighton, Villanova, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, Xavier (Cincinnati), St. John’s, Seton Hall, Butler, and UConn.
“We are delighted about this initiative and honored to be involved,” said Black Fives Foundation founder and executive director Claude Johnson. “It fits perfectly because a big part of our mission is to teach the history of the Black Fives Era of basketball, and also because the Big East footprint covers many of the regions and cities where early African American squads first emerged and thrived.”
Shoutouts to Commissioner Val Ackerman; Executive Associate Commissioner, Men’s Basketball, Stu Jackson; Senior Associate Commissioner, Women’s Basketball and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Tracy Ellis-Ward; Sr. Associate Commissioner, Marketing and External Affairs, Nicole Early; Sr. Associate Commissioner, Broadcasting, Rick Gentile, and others. Thank you!
Please stay tuned for more details!
All of the Big East coaches, including Basketball Hall of Fame member and former Knicks star Patrick Ewing. 
Two of UConn’s players. 
Ironically, the Georgetown Hoyas under Patrick Ewing won the Big East Tournament last year despite being the last seed. It was the first time a player who had won the tournament came back to win it as a coach.
