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Texas A&M’s Amirah Abdur-Rahim continues brother’s legacy on ‘every play, every basket’

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When Texas A&M moves forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim was a highschool student, the 6-foot-10 forward from Georgia participated in greater than a dozen Division I college basketball programs competing for her talent and commitment.

Abdur-Rahim and her family were no strangers to collegiate athletics. At the time, she was preparing to turn out to be the ninth sibling in her family to play college basketball. Her siblings, Shareefhe went all of the technique to the NBA.

Getting Abdur-Rahim to commit to this system wasn’t easy. The school needed to persuade Abdur-Rahim and her older brother Amir. During Abdur-Rahim’s recruitment, Amir Abdur-Rahim was promoted to assistant men’s basketball coach at Texas A&M after which at Georgia. From 2001 to 2004, he played college basketball as a member of the All-Southland Conference in Southeast Louisiana and oversaw his younger sister’s recruitment.

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“He was the caller who came to campus and made sure Amirah had a pros and cons list,” the Texas A&M coach said Joni Taylorwho recruited Abdur-Rahim when she was in highschool.

Texas A&M University forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim tries to attain a goal during a game against Western Michigan on November 10 in College Station, Texas.

Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

In between coaching duties, Amir Abdur-Rahim did every little thing in his power to develop relationships with the coaches recruiting his sister, ensuring she can be in good hands, challenged and growing as an individual and player wherever she went. When Abdur-Rahim decided to maneuver programs, her brother, then an aspiring coach, desired to stay within the loop.

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“He was always there whenever he could,” Abdur-Rahim said. “He’s definitely my protector.”

On October 24, Amir Abdur-Rahim died in a Tampa hospital from complications that arose during a medical procedure for an undisclosed illness. He was 43 years old.

The news spread throughout the school basketball world when Amir Abdur-Rahim was the boys’s basketball coach in South Floridahe was widely considered the following big name in college coaching.

For Abdur-Rahim, it meant the lack of one in all his role models, a trusted confidant and one in all his biggest inspirations.

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As the school basketball season continues, Abdur-Rahim intends to uphold and share his brother’s legacy by staying connected with him, continuing the sport that brought them together.

“The one thing that motivates me every day is knowing that he wants me to continue,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I just keep every positive thing he had about him.”


Abdur-Rahim was on the Texas A&M facility when she received the news of her brother’s death. She had just left Taylor’s office and had a temporary conversation with the associate head coach Chelsea Newton when she received a call from her older sister Asha. Abdur-Rahim sensed something was incorrect from the tone of her siblings’ voices.

“But I didn’t think so,” she said. “I used to be standing outside our training room and he or she told me. And then I immediately ran to my coach’s office because I didn’t know what else to do.

Taylor, who had left campus, ran back. For the following 4 hours, Taylor, Abdur-Rahim, and Newton sat in Taylor’s office.

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“They were there for me, they let me feel everything I needed,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I was surrounded by people who loved me and who I know really love Amir.”

Taylor has known Amir Abdur-Rahim for nearly 20 years, and their first contact was in 2007 as an assistant coach when Taylor was at Louisiana Tech and Amir was in his first coaching position at Murray State as a graduate assistant.

The two grew up together within the industry, exchanging information and attending to know one another. They later worked side by side when Amir Abdur-Rahim became an assistant Tom Crean in 2019 in Georgia, where Taylor has been the ladies’s basketball coach since 2015.

As news of Amir Abdur-Rahim’s death began to flow into, Taylor’s phone began ringing. They coached teammates and called Taylor to verify the news or check on Abdur-Rahim. When Taylor answered the calls, she put them on speaker so Abdur-Rahim could hear them.

“Everyone wanted to share a story,” Taylor said, adding that lots of her staff members who got here together with her from Georgia had ties to Amir Abdur-Rahim. “It was really special for her to experience those moments and hear the impact Amir had and the legacy he left behind.”

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For Texas A&M University forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim (left), the death of her brother Amir Abdur-Rahim (right) meant the lack of one in all her role models, a trusted confidant and one in all her biggest inspirations.

Amirah Abdur-Rahim

Abdur-Rahim said it helped her to listen to the memories her brother’s friends shared.

“It kind of lit a light in me,” Abdur-Rahim said. “You know he’s loved, everyone loves him. You know, I’m not the just one combating this news. Even though they are usually not family, in a way they’re family to him.


Recently, Abdur-Rahim fell in love with basketball, which she said was a results of having to continually rehab from injuries and deal together with her mental health. What reignited her passion for the sport was watching her brother grow as a coach.

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“His passion for the game, his love, his dedication, that inspired me too. It inspired me to be more dedicated,” Abdur-Rahim said. “Seeing him as a coach in an environment where he could be himself and show such passion brought me closer to the game. It actually bonded us.”

Taylor watched the boys’s team practice in Georgia. Taylor said that while watching Amir Abdur-Rahim as a member of Crean’s coaching staff, his love for the sport stood out.

“The passion, the intensity and the amount of time he spent perfecting his craft. … He was just someone who loved, breathed and lived basketball,” she said.

In his first coaching job at Kennesaw State, which began in 2019, Amir Abdur-Rahim finished his first season with just one victory. By the time he left three years later, the Owls had won 26 games, a conference championship and appeared within the NCAA tournament.

In his first season at South Florida, Amir Abdur-Rahim led a team that had had one winning season within the last 11 years to the American Athletic Conference regular season title and second round from NIT. It was named AAC Coach of the Year in March.

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“I’m not sure you can put a value on what he did for the people, for the young men he coached every day and for the people he led,” Taylor said. “He was at the highest of his game. Next up was Amir. He was going to take over men’s basketball.

When Abdur-Rahim and his brother met by phone, they often talked about topics starting from basketball to memories of their father, William, who died in 2020. Sometimes, Amir Abdur-Rahim would ask his sister for suggestions on musical artists or advice on which lyrics can be a greater caption on Instagram, which she all the time responded to.

Sometimes they talked about their dreams for the longer term.

“I feel that Amir has already fulfilled his dream. He was destined to become a great coach,” Abdur-Rahim said. “It just breaks my heart that he wasn’t able to reach his highest limits.”

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During games this season, Texas A&M University forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim pays tribute to her late brother by wearing shoes together with his initials inscribed on the underside of the suitable shoe, flanked by two hearts and one in all his signature quotes: “Love Wins . “

Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

While much of Abdur-Rahim’s bond together with her brother was built over basketball, a few of her favorite memories had nothing to do with sports and every little thing to do together with his actions as her older brother. When Abdur-Rahim was in middle school, at any time when her brother was on the town between practices, he would take her and Asha to get their nails done and take them out to eat.

“He just took the time to all the time tell us he loved us. He was with us, he frolicked with us,” said Abdur-Rahim.


The outpouring of affection and support for Amir Abdur-Rahim and his family from the school basketball community since his death has been overwhelming and overwhelming. Dedications and private stories flooded social media. Schools across the country observed a minute of silence in his memory.

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South Florida has modified the name of its student section Yuengling Center after Amir Abdur-Rahim and can leave an empty spot on the USF bench for the remaining of the season.

“Seeing it in person and seeing it constantly makes me feel better that his legacy will not be forgotten,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I also need to attempt to proceed his legacy.

“For me it just means being a great Muslim, a great person, a good friend, a good aunt, a good sister, a good mother, when that time comes, just being an overall good person.”

Every time Abdur-Rahim steps on the court for Texas A&M this season, she’s going to pay tribute to her late brother. His initials, two hearts on the perimeters and one in all his signature quotes – “love wins” – are written on the bottom of her right shoe.

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“I want this to stay with me,” Abdur-Rahim said. “No matter how many shoes I go through this season, I will still write it down so I know I can feel him with me every step, every play, every basket.”

Sean Hurd is a author for Andscape, primarily covering women’s basketball. The pinnacle of his athletic development got here on the age of 10, when he was voted camper of the week at Josh Childress’ basketball camp.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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