An Impactful Hearse

Houston, Texas: Amid the second World War, Texas Southern University’s Dr. Jesse Hurst was

born on fertile land in the heart of Third Ward in Houston, Texas on July 2, 1941 where he would

soon become an artery of his community. Dr. Hurst was a man of many talents and ambitions

who was a friend to many, and a teacher to all. He took much pride in fitness and often preached

it’s an improvement to your overall health.

Jesse was a renowned athlete; he played baseball and football at Jack Yates high school and was

also the Senior Class President of his class in 1957. Due to his outstanding performance on both

fields and plethora of passions and activities, he earned his Eagle scout rank and was rewarded

scholarships to attend the Oklahoma State University and ultimately becoming a member of the

second class of African American recruits to attend OSU in 1958. He was also roommates with

Oklahoma State’s first black player after desegregation, Chester Pittman.

While attending OSU, Hurst joined the ROTC and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity

Incorporated. He graduated from OSU in 1963, with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology. After

receiving his draft notice, Hurst joined the Army Reserves and would go on to proudly serve ten

years of active duty; fulfilling two and a half tours in Vietnam.

He attended several programs and trainings by the U.S. Army such as the Air Assault School,

Jungle Training, Air Borne, and graduated from the U.S. Army’s War college. His honorary

awards while active in service were the Army Commendation Medal with one Oakleaf Cluster,

Republic of Vietnam Ranger Badge, Vietnamese Armed Forces Honor Medal 1 st Class, two

Bronze Service Stars for Vietnam Service and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm.

Hurst served in the U.S. Army reserve and in the end, he was awarded the title rank Lieutenant

Colonel before his retirement.

His attempt at conquering life did not stop there, Dr. Hurst was also a professor and a coach.

Jesse taught physical education and coached Prairie View A&M University for over ten years

and there is where he would go on to earn his Master’s degree in education. After he got his

Master’s, he would then oversee the academic program for athletes at the University of Houston

for seven years and teach elementary education at a variety of schools in the Houston

Independent School District.

Then, in 1984, Jesse Hurst obtained a Doctorate in Higher Education from the Texas Southern

University where he decided to join the football coaching staff as an Offensive Line Coach. Jesse

“bled” maroon and absolutely loved TSU football. Dr. Hurst was a devoted God-fearing man and

attended Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church for almost 57 years and was a very active volunteer

within his community.

To take things further, he was a member of the Houston Police Citizen Committee-Southeast,

served as a board member of the Central Care Integrated Health System, served on the Citizens’

Police Board and the Maroon and Grey Alumni Board. Dr. Hurst was a jack of all trades as he

was also a Master Certified Official for the discus throw, hammer throw, shot put, and javelin

throw. One of his favorite pastimes was serving an official for USA and AAU Track and Field.

Dr. Reynolds, who is a professor of Health, Kinesiology, and Sports Studies in the College of

Education at Texas Southern University and was close friends with Dr. Hurst. Dr. Reynolds

stated Hurst was “among the best and was respected by the best.” Jesse Hurst was a remarkable

all-around athlete and coach who played and competed in football, basketball, baseball, and track

and field.

It was not his natural God-gifted abilities that made him loved by all in his side of town, but

rather his heart-warming approach to life, the field, and his utmost respect for people around him

everywhere he went. “The difference between a good coach and a great coach is a good coach

and a practical man,” Dr. Renyolds states as he reflects on what made Dr. Hurst pure. His high

vibrational energy, effortless witty charisma, along with his million-dollar smile and “teaching

prowess” allowed many people he encountered to be enriched in mind by knowledge just off his

two cents no matter the subject matter.

Whether it was a class session and someone asking an unrelated question, working out and

seeing a newbie in need of help in the urec to helping athletes lifting heavy weight in need of a

spotter, or even crossing paths with a stranger and conversing on the sidewalk. If you were in his

presence, you couldn’t help but feel his “attitude for gratitude” and his pure warmth of a genuine

human being as he was the watering pot to many seeds he interacted with that are now

blossoming in his absence.

Before Dr. Jesse Hurst passed away, he mentioned the NYSP, or the National Youth Sports

Program. It was one of his favorite memories in his life time and it was a sports program

implemented by the NCAA for inner-city kids who lacked funding and resources to get into

athletics and encouraged the youth to stay on a right path and avoid becoming victim to the

streets and their environment.

Dr. Reynolds iterated that “black people don’t need a crutch, just need a hand up. An

opportunity,” and NYSP was just that. Even though the program was primarily athletict-based,

but it had academics incorporated and “education is opening job doors that colored people could

never open.”

Many young athletes came through the program and came out leaving a positive impact

wherever they went, with the biggest name being NFL quarterback and Heisman trophy winner,

Vince Young. The NYSP was an NCAA product that was funded by our federal government and

was around for 15 years before it was disbanded after president Bush cut funding to the program

after the tragedies of 9/11.

Fortunately, there was a breath of fresh air as there was an NYSP product on Texas Southern

University’s campus as Kevin Adams, the Dean of the School of Communication, entered the

program as a youth and was also coached by Dr. Reynolds in the sport of basketball. I asked

Dean Adams was are some benefits the youth would gain today if the NYSP program was still

here:

“I’m personally from Jackson, Mississippi and they had a program for all HBCU’s back then.

Jackson State had a program that I used to be apart of before I came and became a student here at

Texas Southern and worked in the program as a student athlete. These kids were given an

opportunity and benefitted to do something “constructive” during the summer times. To keep

them active, keep them out of trouble. Being at home every day unsupervised while parents were

at work can be an issue and that program offered structure. The program provided hot meals

including breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the program also brought in speakers to talk to the

students about various things in the community or developing them to be college students. It was

a college-based program and with it being on a college campus, you can tour the campus and see

what college is truly about. It was really a win-win situation. Kids are primarily from elementary

through high school and HBCUs are typically located in areas where there may be some

socioeconomic challenges and these kids may not be able to afford those opportunities to be on a

college campus or take visits to different places through the NYSP. There was always an athletic

component, but then they started stringing academics into it also. These courses or the classes

were taught by profound professors and doctor at the university where you normally wouldn’t

get that. So it was extremely benefiting.”

Dean Adams was delighted to hear questions regarding NYSP and also mentioned his favorite

experiences as a youth was “interacting with other people his age” as it’s not as common as it

was once was. He didn’t think of it at the time, but he said it really helped him develop some

networking skills and friendships. He also stated that the students of today they kind of missed

that mark of how to socialize with people:

“As a Dean, I can see that my role as a Dean here now, students have a very difficult time

expressing themselves and I think that has a lot to do with it.”

He also expressed how much working in the program meant to him and the community:

“Now tying it back to the NYSP program, It was great for me because I felt I was making a

difference in the community and helping these students. I’ll be honest with you, there were

several students in that program, they are doctors that are all grown up now. They got their

practices and everything. They were products of the NYSP program here at Texas Southern

University. Sometimes in my community or just Houston in general, I would meet someone and

they would be like “You don’t remember me, but I was a part of NYSP and you were one of the

instructors helping us do things.” So it was fascinating to see authentic connections being carried

out many years later and being held up due to a strong, genuine bond.”

Once Dean Adams found out it was being disbanded, he was vastly disappointed:

“That was a big blow to Texas Southern University, especially the education department, which

the program was based out of the department of kinesiology because not only did the grant (it’s

what it was), basically provide the students the opportunity, but also provided the faculty here to

do something different in the summer time. We had awards for different categories like “Best run

program” which we were recognized nationally for. So, I was very disappointed when they did

disband the program. It was just so many great people I can name that were a part of that team.

Of course, Coach Hurst was a part of it and Dr. Robbins was one of the head honchos in

organizing the program.”

As things began to wined down, Dean Adams reflected on his last thoughts about NYSP and

how it shaped his mentality and to everyone that has participated and gone through it:

“Even though we didn’t think of it at the time, but it was really a recruitment process. Those kids

who went through the program most of them ended up going to TSU and it really benefited the

university while it was here. Now we just have to modify, reimagine is the word that they use

now, to what we’re doing to attracting students from elementary to high school level to get them

involved in TSU or in sports. Sports is a powerful thing cause in sports you may not make the

NBA, or NFL, or MLB, the schooling part and relationships and learning how to be a student

athlete, it will take you anywhere in the world.”

Dean Adams interview

What are some benefits you think the youth would gain today if the NYSP program was

still here? “That’s an interesting question. For me personally, when I think back to those days, it

was a long time ago. It was 1990. The NYSP program was very beneficial for the community.

I’m personally from Jackson, Mississippi. They had a program for all the HBCU’s back then.

Jackson State had a program that I used to be apart of before I came and became a student here at

Texas Southern. It gave me an opportunity to be informed what the program was about and also

to be a member of the program it worked as a student athlete at the time. The benefits were

What were some of your favorite memories or experiences when you were in NYSP? As a

youth, it provided me the opportunity to no.1, interact with other students and other people my

age which, and I didn’t think of it like that at the time. You know every thing is on your

cellphone, like you don’t have that personal touch of “Hey how are you doing, I am Kevin

Adams. What’s your name?” You know, becoming friends and having a genuine interaction.

Now you just send them a text such as “Hey, I’m so and so”, and you don’t really have that

personal touchSo from being a part of that program that was one aspect. But then actually

working the program once I got to college, it was different for me since I came from the

program. Even though I was at another HBCU, to get here on this campus and work I already

knew what it was about. So you would see entire families bringing their kids their to be involved

with it.

How did you feel when you first found out about NYSP being disbanded? Moreso of giving

back. I don’t know what happened to the program from all the schools, but we had one of the top

programs.

Do you think there’s any way we can bring NYSP back? That’s a good question. I would say

yes, but it really depends on the federal programs. It was a federal funded program and so I don’t

know where we are in the nation as do they still do that? Of course you might have to write a

grant and my do some research on how do we conduct that again. Maybe there’s a different

funding source that can possibly be tapped in to bring it back. It may not be called NYSP but it

still has the same components as that program and always look at those drafts we’ve had

previously and see how much it costs to run that program and go out and look for different

grants, donors, or sponsors. That would be my thinking on it.

Do you think the generation today would benefit greater than the generations before them

if they had access to NYSP? Ab-so-lutely. The problem is what they’re inclined to take part of,

you see that’s the other part of it. Again, this generation is not teaching and come up to us all the

time, they’re missing social skills. They have zero social skills and you can always tell the ones

who come from environments where their parents had some guidance in learning how to be a

sociable person. That’s why we teach these business and communication courses here in the

school of communication is to try to get these students to learn how to talk and be able to get up

in front of people and express their ideas and be fluent on what they’re talking about. This

generation now, I would like to say yes, but I’m not really sure. They don’t know about being

outside or making up games to play and again, these phones are a gift and curse. Everything is at

their finger tips so why would they go outside and play flag football when they can just get on

their phone and play football digitally. There’s always ways to modify something and maybe

don’t use that same exact structure from back in the day, maybe use some components of it but

also has some type of virtual or digital component they could gravitate towards. 100% physical

activity was really what the program was designed for. I may not be able to say this now, but it

was good at fighting obesity among kids. You see now the obesity rate has increased over the

years whereas in the program, you’re getting active all around the clock. From 8 a.m. to 3:30,

every hour you’re doing something. We had a schedule, a typical day would be breakfast at 7:30

to 8, and from 9 to 10 we’re going to the track and doing track activities. Then from 10 to 11

we’re doing basketball, and 11 to 12 we’re going swimming. It was designed to have an activity

to do every hour and then we had an hour of what we call enrichment, it was like a classroom

time. You weren’t going to just be sitting on your butt having a good time on your phone, this is

activity based. So I think it definitely helped combat obesity.

Even though we didn’t think of it at the time, but it was really a recruitment process. Those kids

who went through the program most of them ended up going to TSU and it really benefited the

university while it was here. Now we just have to modify, reimagine is the word that they use

now to what we’re doing to attracting students from elementary to high school level to get them

involved in TSU or in sports. Sports is a powerful thing cause in sports you may not make the

NBA, or NFL, or MLB, the schooling part and relationships and learning how to be a student

athlete, it will take you anywhere in the world.

Written By : Julio Rivas