Black History Month Spotlight: Morehouse College Makes History By Becoming First HBCU With A Polo Team

#Roommates, Black History Month is still going strong and now there is another reason to celebrate! The iconic Morehouse College has just made history as the very first HBCU to have a polo team—if that’s not #BlackExcellence we don’t know what is.

Morehouse is known for making history in many ways and has produced some of the most legendary figures in the black community—and that tradition is likely to continue with this latest batch of news. @Blavity reports, Morehouse is now a member of the United States Polo Association, making it the very first polo team at an HBCU institution.

The Morehouse Polo Club was co-founded by Miguel Wilson in 2019, who also founded the non-profit organization Ride to the Olympics. Ride to the Olympics gives scholarships to students, while also providing horse riding lessons that allows them to compete throughout the U.S. and international. The members of the of polo team are current students, Rian Toussaint, Jayson Palmer, Justin Wynn and Caleb Cherry.

In a recent interview, Wilson explained his passion behind starting the organization, stating:

“Ride to the Olympics was a foundation my son and I started a few years ago because I grew up in Washington, D.C., in a very rough environment. Horses and that experience changed the course of my life and gave me a different opportunity that exposed me to people and situations that a lot of my friends never had.”

He continued, adding:

“Historically, there has never been a polo team at a [HBCU]. We wanted to give the younger kids, older kids to look up to at a college environment and to have them be mentors to these younger kids.”

In a letter to Morehouse, Amy Fraser, Director of Intercollegiate/Interscholastic Polo, sent an official welcome to the new team, saying “We would like to officially welcome Morehouse College to the family. Morehouse will be playing out of the Atlanta Regional Polo Center with Jolie Liston and Frankie Questel.”

Congrats to Morehouse on once again making major moves!

Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?