On March 23, Hawks Talon GC, the official NBA 2K League Affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks and Morris Brown University, hosted an open house at State Farm Arena for local high school and college students.
Esports have become a popular commodity, as gamers take their skills to the next level when performing professionally.
Dr. Kevin E. James, the president of Morris Brown University, spoke about the chance to expose kids to esports, as his university is home to the first esports program.
“I am so excited to partner with the Hawks Talon to do this for our community,” Dr. James said to rolling out. “We came together and had some discussions about what we can do to promote esports, and with Morris Brown having the first degree in the state of Georgia and the first HBCU with an esports degree, what better way for us to be involved?”
Gaming has come a long way, and now people are getting paid for a living to compete on a high level. Dr. James thinks the culture has shifted when talking about esports.
“The culture is completely shifted. Technology is taking over the world. You can do just about anything using your phone, computer, laptop or console. Esports is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s so many careers that you can get from learning. We’re excited to teach students about some of those career opportunities about a degree program, about business and casting, and all kinds of different fields of endeavor that you can learn.”
Leadership in esports is important when it comes to putting everything together, and seeing the percentage of Black people in those positions isn’t inspiring, but Dr. James wants to change that.
“When we were doing our research about esports, we found that only 2% of leadership in esports were people of color,” Dr. James said. “So Morris Brown is not only is the first to have this degree program, but our goal is to diversify that pipeline of future leaders in esports, not just in the city of Atlanta, not just in Georgia, but in the region and throughout this country.”
During the event, students were able to play with a few members of the Hawks Talon team to test their skills against professionals. Dr. James didn’t play, but if the Nintendo 64 was still out, he may have tried his luck.
“I’m old school. I don’t know anything about this new stuff. I go back to Tecmo Bowl, Cantra and Mike Tyson’s Punchout. If they bring Tecmo Bowl and put it on one of these new consoles, maybe I have to learn.”
