Price is right for HBCUs
Fred Jeter | 4/25/2024, 6 p.m.
Morgan Price has made gymnastics history – just like her coach did decades earlier.
A sophomore at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., Price on April 13 became the first HBCU athlete to win the USA Gymnastics All-Around title.
The Lebanon, Tenn., native prevailed with an overall score of 39.225 in West Chester, Pa. She scored 9.85 on the floor, 9.85 on the vault, 9.8 on bars and 9.75 on balance beam.
In 2023, Fisk (nickname the Bulldogs) became the first HBCU in the nation to sponsor a gymnastics team – known affectionately as the “Gym Dogs.”
Fisk’s coach is Corrinne Tarver, who in 1989 was the first Black woman to win the same all-around title while competing for the University of Georgia.
The Gym Dogs’ fame is spreading. Price, 18, was interviewed April 15 on CBS Mornings. Price told her TV audience that Tarver was her first Black coach since taking up the sport at age 2.
Price’s brother, Chris Price, played baseball in the Kansas City Royals’ farm system and her mother, Marsha, is a former Vanderbilt University cheerleader.
