Winston-Salem State alumnus and ESPN First Take host Stephen A. Smith made a special appearance at Corbett Sports Center for North Carolina A&T's rivalry matchup with North Carolina Central. The sports media star, who did his normal shift on First Take from 10 AM-12 PM earlier in the day, showed up at North Carolina A&T in support of his former teammate and current coach of the North Carolina A&T Aggies Monté Ross.

 

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Although he showed up to support Ross he also spoke to the North Carolina Central players in the locker room and applauded them on their play. Per a video posted on Twitter by Eagles head coach LaVelle Morton, he said to the North Carolina Central players, “There's always somebody watching. I'm watching today. I see some of the talent in this room. I'm gonna go spread the word and then other people covering this sport, they're gonna hear about y'all, they gonna come see y'all, they're going to pay attention to it. Ask the coach about you. Ask the assistant coaches about you, sit up there and check you out.”

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Stephen A. Smith has one of the biggest media brands and platforms in sports and he is very supportive of HBCUs. In early November, Smith spearheaded an HBCU tour to Savannah State and his alma mater Winston-Salem State where First Take hosted a live show and spotlighted the institutions.

Smith also regularly uses First Take to spotlight HBCUs in special vignettes during the year such as Spelman and Florida A&M.