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Pete Richardson and Fred McNair are to be recognized in the Southwestern Athletic Conference(SWAC) Hall of Fame.They announced its 2024 Class which is set to be enshrined on Friday, December 13th, 2024. The enshrinement ceremony is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. EST at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.
The original “Air McNair” is the older brother of Steve “Air II” McNair, the late Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens quarterback. He coached the Alcorn State Braves to four Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) East Division titles and two SWAC Championships.
McNair was named SWAC Coach of the Year twice and led the Braves to the Celebration Bowl in 2018 and 2019. Over eight seasons, he compiled a 37-17 SWAC record and an overall record of 48-33, becoming Alcorn State’s first SWAC Coach of the Year winner since Cardell Jones in 1992.
On Feb. 2, 2016, McNair was appointed the 21st head football coach of Alcorn State University. Before that, he served as the quarterbacks coach for three seasons under former head coach Jay Hopson. McNair began his collegiate career as a wide receiver at Alcorn in 1986 before switching to quarterback his junior year.
During his senior season, he finished fifth in the FCS in passing efficiency and was named to the SWAC All-Conference Second Team following the 1989 campaign. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Alcorn State in 1992 and a master’s in education in 1996.
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Coach Richardson ushered in a golden era of Southern University football upon his arrival in Baton Rouge in 1993, compiling 128 wins during a 17-year career. He is currently the second-winningest coach in Southern football history by wins and winning percentage.
Richardson led Southern to five SWAC titles (1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2003), including a three-peat from 1997 to 1999—the school's first consecutive SWAC titles since 1959-60. His teams also claimed four Black college national titles (1993, 1995, 1997, and 2003), cultivating one of the greatest fan bases in college athletics, known as The Jaguar Nation.
Richardson’s teams won four Heritage Bowl titles and posted a 12-5 record in the Bayou Classic. He is the only coach to go undefeated against Grambling’s legendary coach Eddie Robinson and was named SWAC Coach of the Year five times (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2003).
His winning percentage of 68.4 percent (134-62) in 17 seasons is second only to College Football Hall of Fame coach A.W. “Ace” Mumford’s 70.4 percent (176-60-14). Prior to Richardson's arrival, Southern had won the SWAC titles in 1966 and 1975.
Richardson is a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Winston-Salem State University Hall of Fame, and most recently, the Black College Football Hall of Fame. In 2021, the field inside A.W. Mumford Stadium was renamed Pete Richardson Field. The first home football game of every season is designated the “Pete Richardson Classic.”
