SIAC vs. CIAA Epps Memorial Scholarship Basketball Challenge to Benefit Clark Atlanta Student-Athletes
ATLANTA — The rosters are set for this year’s epic battle on the hardwood between two legendary HBCU athletic conferences at the L.S. Epps Memorial Scholarship Basketball Challenge. The SIAC will suit up against the CIAA in this two-day basketball showdown happening at Clark Atlanta University’s Epps Gymnasium Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. CAU is among four teams, including Albany State University, Shaw University and Livingstone College to compete in the challenge.
Off the court, proceeds from this historic event will support the Epps Memorial Scholarship fund for student-athletes at CAU like women’s basketball player Danielle Veney. The senior criminal justice major from Baltimore said the Epps grant helped her achieve educational goals without accumulating mountains of student loan debt.
Now Veney has her sights set on post-graduate studies to attain a master’s in forensic science.
“It really is an honor,” said Veney. “A lot of people don’t get this opportunity and I’m blessed to have received this scholarship named after a person like Coach Epps,” she continued. The Epps grants came at the right time for Veney, the only child to a single mother. “Without this scholarship it would definitely be a burden on my family. So, it will help my mom more than me because she won’t have to come out of pocket thanks to the blessing of the Epps Scholarship,” Veney explained.
CAU Athletics Director J. Lin Dawson hopes to extend this relief to more student-athletes with this year’s Challenge. “We’re inviting all friends of CAU and the Epps family to support this challenge and our students by giving the gift of education,” said Dawson.
The Basketball Challenge is named in honor of iconic former Clark College (which later became Clark Atlanta University) head basketball coach and athletics director Leonidas S. Epps. He came to Clark College athletics in 1949 and went on to earn the most wins of any active basketball coach in the NCAA Division III with a record of 424–264, according to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Extraordinary about this particular accomplishment is that for decades Epps and his players did not have a home gym to practice and play in.
Epps also served as head football coach at Clark College from 1951–1970. He occasionally coached golf, tennis and track, producing championships in each sport, the Hall of Fame said. Amazingly, on top of all his coaching duties, Epps simultaneously served as athletics director at Clark College.
