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Mixed Student Reaction to Curry’s Golf Donation

Steph Curry, center, at the recent announcement of his golf program. Photo by Howard University.

BY Alexandra Banks, Howard University News Service

Howard University athletics and NBA basketball player, Stephen Curry, made history last week by announcing that Curry will be sponsoring both the men’s and women’s golf team for the university. Curry’s endowment fund, which is set to fund the program for the next six years, would allow Howard University to be one of the few Historically Black Colleges/Universities to have both a Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division 1 Golf program. 

However, Curry cannot take all of the credit for implementation of the new program as most of the work was done by Howard University senior, Otis Ferguson, who reached out to the NBA star earlier this year. 

Since the announcement students have had positive reactions to the program and opportunities it could potentially bring. 

Howard University senior, Onyekachi Akalonu, was delighted to hear the news and feels optimistic about what else it could bring to the school.

 “Seeing Steph Curry donate his own time and his own money to not only fund a college program but a HBCU college program means a lot” said Akalonu. “That’s gonna set precedence for other black athletes to set up other programs for other sports here and I hope that carries forward.”

Some students also feel the establishment of the program serves as a testament to the capabilities of the institution and its students.

“To have such a notable person like Steph Curry even donate or kinda pay attention to us like that it means a lot for the university and it kinda just shows we can do anything.” said Aleeya Sawyer, a member of Howard’s women’s soccer team. 

However, not all students were as happy with the announcement of Curry’s endowment.

Sophomore, JaKari Hargrove, tweeted his concerns regarding the news with “homeless at howard but yesss get that hole in one sis 🙁.”

Hargrove and other students believe the golf team, should not be high on the list of needs for students. Although he is not against the golf program, he doesn’t want the publicity to overshadow the current issues that students are facing. 

Hargove received both support and backlash from his tweet from both undergraduate students and alumni of the university. 

Despite some students having mixed feelings toward the new teams, most are hopeful about the future of the program and the university. 

Another member of the women’s soccer team, Kennedy Weaver, feels the team will present future students with more opportunities.

“Even though the money isn’t going towards helping things like housing it’s still helping our university grow because now there are more opportunities for other students,” she said.  

Steph Curry, center, at the recent announcement of his golf program. Photo by Howard University.

The university aims to debut both the men’s and women’s teams within the 2020/2021 academic school year.