Tyler, Texas · Founded 1894 · Steers
“A 130-year-old CME church school in Tyler where ~600 students, purple-and-gold Steers, and one of the strongest gospel choirs in HBCU land carry a comeback story — from losing accreditation in the 90s to the first college ever reinstated to the UNCF.”
Dr. SherRhonda Gibbs takes office July 1, 2026 as the 24th president and the first woman to lead the college — the 'New Day at TC' moment.
CBS19 coverage of the choir's 2025 Sound Awards University Choir of the Year win — the school's biggest arts honor.
KETK/FOX51 recap of the September 2026 home opener at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium — recent Steers football on local TV.
KETK/FOX51 game recap from Rose Stadium — verified via the video's YouTube page metadata (title, description, and keywords naming Texas College Steers football).
Graduation footage from the Tyler campus — verified via the video's YouTube page title.
Tribute to the class of 1944 alumna — the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School — the most famous graduate in school history.
Full replay of the October 9, 2025 rivalry matchup at SaberCat Stadium, embedded in the North American University athletics recap. (Verification: embedded as the official game replay in the NAU athletics article; YouTube embed page did not render text.)
Game recap of the Lady Steers' 70–60 loss to LSU–Alexandria to close 2025, embedded in the LSU-Alexandria athletics recap. (Verification: embedded as the official recap in the LSUA athletics article; YouTube embed page did not render text.)
Class of 1944 — first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School (1951); first woman surgical intern at Boston City Hospital; first woman admitted to the Boston Surgical Society; later a founder and three-time president of the National Right to Life Committee.
Class of 1956 — acclaimed actress (Soul Food, The Ladykillers, for which she won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2004); NAACP Image Award winner; inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2005; co-founder of the Dallas Minority Repertory Theatre.
Class of 1954 — chemistry professor at Baylor University and member of the Texas House of Representatives, 1992–2006.
Class of 1957 — the first African American to serve in the New Mexico House of Representatives (1969–1979) and on the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners (1981–1989).
Alumna — educator and television host; wife of baseball legend Hank Aaron, whose fundraising help powered the college's 2000s comeback (per the Chronicle of Higher Education).
On January 9, 1894 (the school's own history says spring of 1894), a group of ministers affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — then known as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America — founded Texas College on roughly 25 acres near Tyler. It was the third all-black institution in the state of Texas, built for students shut out of the segregated university system. The founders planned a full co-educational college: theology, teacher training, music, commercial and industrial training, and agricultural and mechanical sciences — a whole curriculum for a people who had been given nothing.
Rev. O. T. Womack took the presidency in 1895 and held it through 1903, guiding the college through its first decade of existence. Those were raw years — a new school, little money, and a mission to educate East Texas's black youth with almost no institutional support. Womack set the pattern every successor followed: lean on the church, keep the doors open, teach everybody.
On July 1, 1907, Texas College received its formal charter, and the corporation's name was established as "Texas College." The charter put the institution under the supervision, care, and ownership of the CME Church in America. It spelled out the educational mission plainly: youths, male and female, educated in all branches of a literary, scientific, and classical education — theology, normal teacher training, music, commercial and industrial training, agricultural and mechanical sciences. Articles of incorporation would be amended and refined from 1909 through 1966.
On June 12, 1909, the college's name was changed from Texas College to Phillips University, honoring Bishop Henry Phillips for his leadership and educational work. The change did not sit well with the college's supporters — attachment to the Texas College name ran deep. By the Third Annual Conference of the church in 1910, moves for a name reversal were already underway, and in May 1912 the college was officially renamed Texas College. Three years of borrowed identity, then back to the name it has kept ever since.
Willette R. Banks served as president from 1915 to 1926, an eleven-year run that carried the college through World War I and the early 1920s. His tenure bridged the school's frontier years and its emergence as a credentialed institution. When he left in 1926, the college was positioned for the accreditation push that would define the next decade.
Texas College became a founding member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the 1920–21 athletic year, and would stay in the league for 41 years, through 1961–62. The Steers helped build the SWAC into the premier black-college football conference in America. That long membership means generations of Texas College alumni measure their school pride against Prairie View, Southern, Wiley, and Langston — the original SWAC bloodlines.
In 1924 Texas College earned accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a two-year facility, and in 1932 SACS authorized the school to award full baccalaureate degrees (the Texas Department of Education had accredited it the same year, 1932). In 1933 the college added a normal school to prepare teachers for state certification. Through student loans and work-study programs, the school deliberately reached poor East Texas youth who could never have afforded college otherwise — that access mission is still its backbone.
Dominion Robert Glass became president in 1931 and stayed until 1961 — thirty years, the longest presidency in school history. He steered Texas College through the Great Depression, World War II, and the postwar expansion, and the era produced the school's greatest football glory. In 1936 he married educator Willie Lee Glass, who founded the college's home economics department and later entered the Texas Women's Hall of Fame. Glass died in 1968, and the school's library — built in 1948 — carries his name.
Under Glass's presidency, the Steers built one of the great black-college football runs of the 1930s and 40s: SWAC football champions in 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1942, and a three-way championship with Wiley College and Langston University in 1944, finishing 8–1 overall and 5–1 in conference. The Pittsburgh Courier's Dickinson Rating System ranked Texas College No. 13 nationally among black colleges in 1946 and No. 16 in 1947, when Alexander Durley coached the Steers to a 5–2–3 mark in his sixth season. These are the championship banners the modern program still chases.
The President's House at Texas College was built in 1942, designed by McKissack & McKissack — one of the oldest black-founded and owned architecture firms in the country. The firm would also design the D.R. Glass Library six years later. The President's House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, anchoring a campus whose historic core was literally drawn by black architects at the height of segregation.
Mildred Fay Jefferson earned her bachelor's degree from Texas College in 1944, summa cum laude and in three years, at age eighteen. She went on to Tufts for a master's, then in 1951 became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School — and the first woman to graduate in surgery there, the first woman admitted to the Boston Surgical Society, and the first woman surgical intern at Boston City Hospital. In the same year she graduated, Texas College was one of the institutions that founded the United Negro College Fund in 1944, joining the collective that would keep private black colleges alive for generations.
The 1947 Steers closed a 5–2–3 season with a Thanksgiving-weekend trip to Wiley Field in Marshall, beating rival Wiley College 7–6 before more than 6,000 fans — the East Texas HBCU rivalry at full roar. That season's ledger tells the SWAC era in miniature: a 26–0 opening win over Jarvis at Steer Stadium, a 13–7 win over Samuel Huston at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, a 9–6 win over Prairie View at home, and a 7–0 shutout of Texas State in Houston. It was the last full decade of Texas College's first football golden age.
The Dominion Robert Glass Library was built in 1948 in the Classical Revival style, again designed by McKissack & McKissack. Named for the 30-year president, it became the academic heart of campus at 2404 North Grand Avenue. On March 7, 2007, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (reference 07000128), and it remains part of the HBCU Library Alliance. Few small colleges can claim a National Register library designed by a pioneering black firm — Texas College can.
When D. R. Glass retired in 1961, the college entered a choppy decade: R. L. Potts (1961–1963), B. W. Doyle (1963–1964), and H. C. Savage (1964–1967) each served brief terms. Texas College's 41-year run as a SWAC member ended after the 1961–62 athletic year — the league was moving toward the NCAA Division I future, and the small Tyler school stepped away from its founding conference. The Steers would spend decades rebuilding their athletic identity after that exit.
A. C. Hancock served as president from 1967 to 1980, the longest tenure between Glass and the modern era. His administration spanned the civil rights aftermath and the hard economics of the 1970s, when small private black colleges across the South were closing or merging. That Texas College survived those years intact — keeping its CME identity, its campus, and its independence — was itself the achievement.
The 1980s and 90s brought rapid leadership turnover — J. E. Clark, J. P. Jones, D. H. Johnson, M. S. Cherry, A. C. Mitchell Patton, interim Ronald McKinley Cunningham, and Haywood L. Strickland (1994–2000). Money ran thin and enrollment sagged. In 1996 the Southern Association revoked the college's accreditation over financial problems and declining enrollment — and under UNCF rules, Texas College immediately lost its membership in the Fund it had helped found in 1944. It was the lowest point in school history.
Billy C. Hawkins became president in 2000 and launched an aggressive fundraising campaign that included baseball legend Hank Aaron, whose wife Billye Aaron is a Texas College alumna. He built programs to attract students — including what was then the state's only program designed for single parents — and enrollment nearly tripled in seven years. Texas College regained its SACS accreditation in December 2001, and in 2002 the presidents of the 39 UNCF member institutions voted unanimously to reinstate it — the first college in history to be readmitted to the Fund. Hawkins called it 'a very significant hurdle,' and it was: proof the little school in Tyler would not die.
Football was revived as an official sport in 2004 after years away, and the reborn Steers competed in the Central States Football League — winning CSFL co-championships in 2005 and 2006, back-to-back titles in the program's first two seasons back. The revival restored Saturday football to a campus whose identity had been built on the gridiron in the 1930s and 40s. In 2018 the program took the next step up, joining the Sooner Athletic Conference as an associate member.
Dr. Dwight J. Fennell became the 23rd president in 2008 and stayed until June 2026 — an eighteen-year run. A Miami native who earned his bachelor's at Saint Augustine's College, a master's at Atlanta University, another at Florida International, and his doctorate at Florida State, he had taught at Morris Brown and served as vice president at Saint Augustine's before coming to Tyler. His tenure ended with SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation in June 2026, and the college publicly honored his legacy on June 29, 2026, as he concluded his presidency.
President Fennell hired Rodney Blackshear as acting head football coach in 2014 — a former Texas Tech receiver who led the team in receiving in 1990 and 1991, earned two All-Southwest Conference honors, and set the SWC and Texas Tech single-game record with 251 receiving yards on five catches against Houston. The hire signaled that Texas College intended its revived football program to be taken seriously, recruiting coaching talent with real playing pedigree.
The college opened the new Living and Learning Center residence hall in 2016 and completed a renovation of the Daniel and Maddie A. Fair Residence Hall the same year — the biggest residential-life investment in a generation. For a school whose enrollment had nearly tripled since the dark days of the 1990s, housing students properly was a statement that the comeback was real. The 2016 builds are the dorms today's Steers actually live in.
Texas College hired former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis as head football coach in 2020, a splashy hire for an NAIA program. But Texas College then became the first NAIA school to cancel its 2020 football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, choosing student safety over the schedule. Ellis used the lost year for virtual recruiting and program-building, telling the school he was 'ready for the challenge to be successful on and off the field.'
In March 2024, U.S. Representative Nathaniel Moran rose on the House floor to honor Texas College's 130th anniversary, praising a school that for generations had formed 'upright, intelligent citizens who honor God through their knowledge, work, and families.' On the field, the Steers delivered one of the wildest games in school history that October: a 40–34 overtime win at Louisiana Christian, ending LCU's 12-year streak without an overtime game and crashing the Wildcats' homecoming. At 4–2, the Steers were playing their best ball in years.
In March 2025 the Texas College Choir was named the Sound Awards' University Choir of the Year — the first time the school had won the prestigious honor, with CBS19 covering the celebration. Two months later the choir earned a Stellar Awards nomination for HBCU Choir of the Year. In February 2025 the Texas College band, directed by Thomas Williams-Gibson, was featured in a Super Bowl promo filmed at the FOX51 studio — the Marching Steers rehearsing on television ahead of the biggest football stage in America.
In April 2026 the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education reported that SherRhonda Gibbs would become Texas College's 24th president — and its first woman president since the 1894 founding. A Grambling State computer science graduate with an MBA from Winona State and a PhD in business administration from Jackson State, Gibbs came from Morehouse College, where she was dean of the division of business and economics. She took office July 1, 2026; that same month Bishop Denise Anders-Modest became board chair. October 2026 homecoming — the Steer Nation Parade and Trail Ride — ran under the banner 'IT'S A NEW DAY AT TC.'
The oldest and deepest rivalry: two CME-adjacent black colleges forty-five miles apart in East Texas, SWAC foes from the league's founding. The 1944 three-way SWAC football title was shared with Wiley and Langston. On Thanksgiving weekend 1947, Texas College won 7–6 at Wiley Field before 6,000+; in 1951 the teams tied 15–15 at Wiley Stadium. The rivalry cooled when Texas College left the SWAC after 1961–62 and Wiley eventually dropped football, but in East Texas the Steers–Wildcats history is still the measuring stick.
The modern football rivalry with teeth. In October 2023, #25 Louisiana Christian ruined Texas College's homecoming 52–7 at Mewbourne Field. A year later the Steers returned the favor in Pineville: a 40–34 overtime win that crashed LCU's homecoming and ended the Wildcats' 12-year run without an overtime game. LCU leads the recent series 4–1, but the 2024 overtime classic is the game Texas College fans will talk about for years.
A lopsided modern series: Texas Wesleyan has won seven of eight meetings since the Rams' football program returned in 2017 — but the one Texas College win was the inaugural meeting, 21–11 in 2017. The Rams' 70–7 win in 2024 was the largest margin in the series; the Steers are still chasing the program that keeps beating them.
A newer rivalry brand: NAU's athletics site bills the Stallions–Steers matchup as 'The NAIA Rodeo Shootout,' a Texas-sized showdown between the Stafford and Tyler programs. The October 9, 2025 edition at SaberCat Stadium carried the full rivalry treatment — 'every pass, every tackle, and every roar from the crowd carried history.'
SWAC founding-era foes. The Steers beat Prairie View 9–6 at Steer Stadium in 1947 during the championship era, and the schools' histories are braided through the league's first four decades. With Texas College out of the SWAC since 1962, the matchup is history now — but for alumni of the Glass era, Prairie View week was circled every year.
🥁 Marching Steers
The Texas College band marches as the Marching Steers — a college band directory cites its 'Field Show 2019.' Earlier directors could not be verified from published sources, so the director list starts with the confirmed current one. The band's biggest recent spotlight was the February 2025 Super Bowl promo with FOX51, and the school runs annual athletic, choir, and band camps each summer to feed the program. For a 600-student school, the band punches above its weight on television.
Directed the band in the February 2025 Super Bowl promo filmed at the FOX51 studio; pictured leading rehearsals on the school's own site.
Texas College has eight of the nine NPHC organizations on campus — every one of the Divine Nine except Iota Phi Theta. The Greek story runs deep: the school's first African-American Greek organization was Delta Sigma Theta's Zeta chapter, whose founding members included humanities division head Lena Beatrice Morton, the noted literary scholar and Piper Professor Award recipient. On a campus of only 644 students, the eight orgs are a visible backbone of homecoming, service, and step culture. Individual chapter names and charter dates beyond DST Zeta could not be verified from available sources.
Still digging this up — check back soon.
Built in 1942 and designed by McKissack & McKissack, one of the oldest black-founded architecture firms in America. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places — the historic core of campus was drawn by black architects during segregation.
Built in 1948 in the Classical Revival style, again by McKissack & McKissack, and named for the 30-year president. Added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 2007, and a member of the HBCU Library Alliance — the academic heart of campus at 2404 North Grand Avenue.
New residence hall opened in 2016 — the biggest residential investment in a generation, built for an enrollment that had nearly tripled since the 1990s crisis.
Renovated in 2016 alongside the new Living and Learning Center; the two projects together modernized campus housing for today's Steers.
The Steers' home football field in Tyler, named in recent game coverage as the site of Texas College home games.
KETK/FOX51 coverage shows recent Steers home games — including the September 2026 home opener against Arkansas Baptist — played at Rose Stadium, the big Tyler venue the school shares with the city's larger programs.
Houses the Division of Business and Social Sciences on its second floor, per the student handbook's campus directory.
Houses the Division of Education and the Division of General Studies and Humanities; named for the Texas Women's Hall of Fame educator who founded the college's home economics department.
Administration building — home to the president's office, academic affairs, business and finance, and the athletic director's office, per the campus directory.
Student-affairs hub — student affairs, career services, campus security, and the field house sit here, per the campus directory.
Texas College is a small operation — the whole school is about 600 students — so the leadership bench is thin and visible. The CME Church connection runs through everything: presidents, board chairs, and bishops are part of one continuous church family.
First woman president; former Morehouse business dean.
Led the Marching Steers in the February 2025 Super Bowl promo.
First season leading the Steers in 2026, per BOXTOROW's HBCU football coverage.
Ex-Dallas Cowboys defensive end hired in 2020; coached through the canceled COVID season.
Texas Tech receiving great (All-SWC 1990–91, 251-yard single-game record) turned coach.
Welcomed as board chair July 2026 alongside the new president — 'historic leadership marks a new chapter,' per the school.
Founded the home economics department, married President D.R. Glass in 1936, Texas Women's Hall of Fame inductee; a memorial scholarship at Texas College bears her name.
Literary scholar, author of Negro Poetry in America (1925), Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award recipient, founding member of the Zeta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.
Texas College is one of the smallest HBCUs in America, and it feels like it: roughly 600 students on a historic North Grand Avenue campus in Tyler, the Rose Capital of the world. Purple and gold everywhere, Steers branding, and a CME church identity woven into daily life — chapel, choir, and service aren't extras here, they're the culture. Students come largely from East Texas and the surrounding South, many first-generation, many drawn by the school's open-door access mission. It is not a big-school spectacle; it is a small, church-rooted family where the choir winning a national award makes the whole town notice.