Most people are unaware of Bethune-Cookman University’s humble beginnings. Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune, the founder, was the child of former slaves. Her life is a story of tenacity, vision, and phenomenon from beginning to end. Of her 16 siblings, she was the one destined for. Dr. Bethune was the absolute exception. Everything she’s accomplished can be attributed to her ability to overcome adversity against insurmountable odds.
For example, who has the audacity to create an entire school with $1.50? Who had the foresight to purchase the city landfill and convert it an institution? Who was able to establish connections with John D. Rockefeller and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt? Look no further than Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune.
That’s the Bandroom?
In 1997, I saw the Bethune Cookman Marching Wildcats for the first time. At that time, I was a freshman in the drumline at the legendary Jones High School in Orlando, Florida. We traveled up the road to Daytona for BCU’s homecoming. Now, up to this point I had only seen HBCU marching bands on TV, so this was my first time seeing and hearing one in person. They looked and sounded like nothing I’ve ever heard. That day ended up being a pivotal day in my life. But while we were there visiting the campus that day, it was hard to not notice some glaring inadequacies.
At the conclusion of the homecoming parade, we headed back to an open field that now houses the PAC. We were getting ready to head to the stadium for the game. As we made our way out onto Lincoln Street, someone pointed out this tiny oddly-shaped brick building and stated, “I think that’s band room right there”. “Yeah right”, I thought. There’s no way that this huge machine of a marching band could fit in this little edifice. My mind just wouldn’t accept it. As it turns out, they actually could. Amazingly, not only was this the band building, but this was also the building that housed the entire music department. It’s hard to explain what the old boardroom was like. You just had to be there.
The Concert Chorale, Jazz Combo, Steel Drum Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and every other musical ensembles made excellent use of this impressively small building. On any given school day, several groups may be practicing in the building at the same time. I’m still not quite sure how we did it though. The marching band had grown exponentially by the time I arrived in 2001. We couldn’t fit in the band room any longer. Imagine a 250-piece marching band crammed into what is now the Chorale room. Again, you had to be there.
Exceeding Expectations
I share this story to make an important point. We’ve always exceeded expectations, and we’ve always done so with fewer resources. There are some HBCUs that have it all, and then there’s Bethune-Cookman, a small private institution with a student body of around 1500. To put it in perspective, BCU isn’t even in the top 30 in enrollment, but honestly, B-CU hs always been able to use a slight-of-hand effect by appearing larger than we actually are. You could even say that B-CU has mastered the art of punching above it’s weight. Don’t believe me? Look no further than our athletic department.
Have you ever been to the Moore Gymnasium? What about the practice football field or the “track strip”? Our baseball, softball team, as well as our football team all practice and play in facilities we don’t even own. Look around the HBCU landscape and you’ll notice a significant difference between our resources and other peer institutions. But the lack of facilities is where the comparisons stop.
When it comes to football, outside of a couple of seasons that we will never speak of again, Bethune-Cookman has been a steady force in HBCU. While it may be hard to remember today, the football team was the king of black college football for a nearly a decade, just ask that school up north. The Fighting Wildcats won outright or a share of 5 straight MEAC titles. Remember, this is without a real practice field.
Although our men’s and women’s basketball teams haven’t historically seen the same success as the football program, they’ve had their moments to shine too. And considering they generally have even less to operate with than the football program, it’s amazing to watch them compete year in and out for conference titles.
B-CU Baseball and Softball may be the most underappreciated sports programs here at Bethune Cookman. The Softball team won back-to-back MEAC titles in 2017 and 2018. By the way, the softball team is still waiting on their 2019 championship rings — More on that later… In the meantime, did any of you see our prized baseball team make it to the SWAC championship earlier this summer? This is what we do. We compete. We may win, we may lose but one thing we won’t do is make an excuse.
Small But Mighty
The bottom line is, the people of this institution are by-products of it’s founder . Bethune Cookman University can proudly stand next to any of our peer institutions and while they may have more it certainly doesn’t feel like it. And quite frankly, it’s never stopped us from producing talent and results. We’ve got graduates that have climbed the ranks of Government, Hollywood, Tech, Healthcare, Sports and every other industry you can think of. Wildcats are everywhere doing incredible work while representing the institution and Dr. Bethune in ways that would make her proud.
So yeah, we’re a small but mighty institution. We know we don’t have it all but honestly, we’ve proven time and again that you don’t need it all. You just need a culture of people that are committed to being their very best and not settling for anything less. Furthermore, there’s just no time to make excuses for the things we either don’t have or things we can’t control.
We enter to learn and depart to serve full stop. Dr. Bethune didn’t have it all. In fact, she started with almost nothing and still found herself at the table amongst the best and the brightest. No wonder this institution continues to thrive and shine even in darkness. We’re overachievers born from the ultimate overachiever, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
All Hail to Thee.
