If the founding principle behind Hampton University's Athletics Hall of Fame is for it to be a “Hall of Distinction,” then recent inductee William “Meatboy” Hudgins is surely the embodiment of what a hall-of-famer should be like.
At 93-years-old, Hudgins is no ordinary man and he's not your run-of-the-mill college graduate. The successes of life weren't handed to him on a silver platter. He worked for it. He earned it. In the process, he has become a living legend.
One of five individuals enshrined into the HU Athletics Hall of Fame last month, it was obvious from the moment that he stepped to the microphone to accept his award that he wouldn't merely utter words – he would exude wisdom and knowledge and pride.
“I didn't know it (the inductions banquet) was going to turn out the way it did,” said Hudgins, who excelled as an end on the football team, center on the basketball team and pole vaulter on the track and field team while attending Hampton between 1936 and 1940. “It was a great honor. It was something remarkable. I was thoroughly elated. It means that people are showing respect for you and for your athletic talents.”
To fully appreciate the tenacity of Hudgins today, one must first appreciate the times in which he grew up. He was born in Matthews County, Virginia and grew up in Phoebus, the son of a fisherman. He entered college right after the Great Depression, right in the middle of the segregation era and just as the planet stood on the brink of a world war. No one from his family had ever attended college. Thus, upon his shoulders rested the dreams of generations of members of the Hudgins family.
“My first day at Hampton was not unexciting,” Hudgins vividly recalls. “When I arrived on campus, it marked the first time that I had ever been away from my home in Matthews County. Since I was the first person in my family to go to college, everybody was happy for me. My folks were proud of me. My neighbors and my preacher were proud of me. Coming to Hampton was the turning point in my life.”
Being a student-athlete at Hampton in the 1930s for Hudgins also meant carrying the pressures of excelling, of making it big. Failure for him would have meant failure for his family, for his neighbors and for his friends.
“If I had failed, I would have been a disgrace to my folks and all the people back home. I just couldn't fail,” said Hudgins.
“Everybody knew how hard it was for a black person to make it in this world back then,” added Hudgins. “There were very few role models, but my mother preached that you had to be very good to make it in his world because you were the last to be hired and the first to be fired. You had to be better in order to get a job. I knew that I couldn't just be good – I had to be 'real' good.”
That philosophy that he acquired from his mother has been his life's mantra, starting with his matriculation at Hampton.
Athletics scholarships, as today's student-athletes oftentimes take as a right rather than a privilege, were not pure scholarships. They were more-or-less work-study grants. Every student-athlete had to work for these “scholarships.” Hudgins and most of his teammates worked in the school's Boarding Department and they worked to be the best Boarding Department workers that they could be.
The football coaching staff consisted of just four individuals – and they had other duties on campus. The student body was small, but they were close knit. Despite the size of the coaching staff and the student body, however, Hudgins gave it his all every time he went into a classroom and every time he hit the football field or basketball court.
Hudgins, who was a first lieutenant PT with the legendary Tuskegee Airmen's 99th Fighter Squadron following college, also patterned his life after an uncle who was a grave-digger. From that, too, he acquired the tools to be successful.
“He (his uncle) was the best at what he did,” noted Hudgins. “He always strived to be better than the next person. He also stressed that you've got to be good – good on the athletics field and good in life.”
After his college playing days were over, Hudgins became a standout in his profession just as he had as a student-athlete. His life's resume' includes successful stints as a dean, professor and coach on the college and high school levels. He worked with the American Red Cross, where he instructed 3,000-plus students in water safety. He coached Little League and Babe Ruth League baseball for kids. He has been a liberal contributor to his alma mater's alumni association and since he became the first member of his family to attend college, a string of family members have not only attend college, but most have received degrees from Hampton.
If halls of fame are meant to pay homage to individuals for their prowess in the athletics arena, then William Hudgins has surely passed the test. He has inspired all of us to work to be better than good. He has also shown that age is nothing but a number and that even at 93, one can still positively affect and inspire the lives of others.
