The AAUL’s mission is to provide African Americans and underserved communities with tools to help build a foundation for economic and social equity and equality.
AAUL President and CEO Quincy Dunlap said the HBCU basketball invitational event is an investment in historically Black colleges and universities, starting with Huston-Tillotson University, located in Austin. The event is intended to create opportunities and generate exposure for HBCU students.
“If we can help increase enrollment and visibility to the nine [HBCU] institutions [in Texas], we can strengthen the HBCU network here in the state of Texas,” Dunlap said. “But we’re starting with HT—HT is our focal point, because we're from Austin.”
Other featured HBCU basketball invitational participants include Wiley College, Talladega College and Langston University. The four teams will compete in a two-day tournament for the AAUL HBCU basketball invitational championship crown.
As HBCU graduates, Dunlap and AAUL Special Initiatives Coordinator Mario Davis partnered to plan the inaugural event. In addition to the tournament, AAUL will host a college fair and career expo along with other development initiatives.
“It’s not just about basketball, but it’s about life skills. ... Basketball is a vehicle that we go use to get these young students to attend,” Davis said. “But they're going to leave there with some knowledge about financial literacy [and] about decision making, and stuff like that can carry on well on and off the court.”
The college fair and career expo will be Nov. 23 from 4-7 p.m. The tournament will be Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 at 5:30 p.m., and doors will open at 4 p.m.
“Let's get people into the HBCUs,” Dunlap said. “Yeah, we want them to come to the game, but the bigger picture is ... this great HBCU experience should lead to a greater HBCU experience on campus.”
Visit www.aaul.org for more information on the AAUL HBCU basketball invitational.
