North Carolina State University Athletics
Andre Brown: My Last College Practice
12/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Today was a pretty serious day. This morning, the whole team went to the Civil Rights Institute. It was so eye opening to see the struggles that blacks went through, especially in places here like Birmingham.
The exhibits went into so much detail about Martin Luther King’s time here and about Reverend Shuttlesworth from Birmingham. I didn’t realize the impact he had on the movement trying to enroll his kids in school here and that his church was burned down and he continued to fight.
It was also interesting to see that Willie Mays won his first championship with a team here when he was only 16 years old.
As an African American with so many opportunities, it was so important to really see what they went through. I’m not sure I would have been able to survive back then. Would I have been patient or aggressive?
I thought the whole team, guys from all races, were impacted by it. Me, Russell [Wilson], Daniel [Evans], Andrew [Evans] and Coach Bible went through together.
Then this afternoon was my last college practice. I tried not to think about it, but Coach Swep [running backs coach Jason Swepson] kept saying, “This is it, bro.” I’ve just been thinking about my very first practice. I was buried on the depth chart, I had a fumbling problem. I even thought about transferring my freshman year. But now, all these games later, here I am about to play my last game.
I’m glad tonight’s activity is a comedy club, because I need to laugh!
We had dinner at the Stardome Comedy Club, and then a comedian came on. He made fun of Cam Hardesty and Grant Pearce, and it was pretty funny. We had some free time afterwards, too, so I bought some last minute Christmas gifts (I know, really last minute) at the mall.
Tomorrow we have visits to local hospitals and our walkthrough at the stadium and a parade. Two more days of my college career!
