The statue holds personal meaning for Smith, as he served as Sculptor Ed Hamilton’s model during its creation.

The statue itself, unveiled in October of 2000, was erected to honor a Louisville-raised athlete who changed the landscape of sports at UofL.

Lyles became the first Black athlete at the university in 1954 and started as a defensive back and running back for four years. Known at the time as the “fastest man in football,” he translated that speed to the track, where he set school records in the 100-yard dash and 220-yard dash – distances that have since been replaced with their metric counterparts.

In the first round of the 1958 NFL Draft, Lyles went to the Baltimore Colts, where, aside from a two-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers, he spent his 12-year career.

As a two-sport athlete, UofL Athletic Hall of Fame member and true trailblazer, Lyles was to be honored with a life-size bronze statue outside of the newly-constructed Cardinal Park. Ed Hamilton, an accomplished area artist, was commissioned to sculpt and cast the piece, but needed a model as he only had a front-facing photo to work with.

With a similar build to Lyles in his college days, Smith – then a sprinter for the track and field team – was selected as that model.

“For about a month to a month and a half, I would attend his studio downtown,” Smith said.

A few days a week, he would spend a few hours posing as Hamilton sculpted away. Each time he entered the studio, he saw the piece coming to life more and more, noting the subtle changes made as Hamilton worked using his photo reference.

“I didn’t really understand the gravity of it [at the time],” Smith said.

He researched Lyles and began to realize what he was a part of.  

“Seeing what Mr. Lyles did here and the impact he had here at the University of Louisville,” Smith said. “It’s a big deal because of the history – of him being an African American, him coming here and making the impact he did in his sports.”

Now, 21 years later, Smith still drives by the statue with his two daughters any time he has the chance.

“I wasn’t really the fastest guy, so this is really my claim to fame,” Smith said. “This is what I consider my legacy.”

When she was 10 years old, Proctor placed in the top six at the America’s Youth on Parade competition. That’s when she realized if she really pushed herself, baton could take her pretty far – and that’s exactly what has happened.

Proctor became the 2018 World Champion in the two-baton, the 2018 Twirling Unlimited World Majorette, 2017 Twirling Unlimited International two-baton and three-baton champion and represented Team USA in 2018 and 2019.

She watched her older sister, Miranda, head off to twirl for the University of South Carolina and knew she also wanted to end up at a Division I school. 

“There were a lot of schools I had my eyes on,” said Proctor, who wanted to find a university with a good nursing program.

When she had the opportunity to join UofL’s then-feature twirler, Steffany Lien, on the field for a football game in October of 2019, something clicked.

“When I walked onto the field, I knew it was my place and my home,” said Proctor. “I knew [UofL] was where I wanted to be.”

When Lien graduated and the feature twirler spot opened up, Proctor’s decision to audition was an easy one. The process didn’t come without some nerves, though. The mid-pandemic audition was shifted to Zoom, so the high school senior performed her 8-minute routine as her mom recorded in their busy gym. 

It paid off. After tryouts, Proctor was named the feature twirler for her freshman year at UofL, despite heavy competition from several acclaimed twirlers. 

“It’s really cool when people come up and say ‘I saw you at the football game’ or ‘I saw you at the Cardinal Kickoff’,” Proctor said. “People know my face and my name and it’s just because of baton.”

She has loved her experience so much, in fact, she spends extra time practicing on her own. 

“It’s just fun for me and it’s a good way to get my mind off of things sometimes,” Proctor said. “I love making new tricks and just taking time for myself.”

Just as she was quick to pick up a baton, the twirler was quick to find her home-away-from-home at UofL. She was immediately immersed in the work that is band camp and was increasingly surrounded by a sense of Cardinal pride.

“On gamedays everyone chants ‘Go Cards’ or they do the ‘C-A-R-D-S’ cheer and it’s just… that’s what I’m here for,” Proctor said. “It’s so incredible to see all of the red in the stadium and know that they’re watching the band. This is [the experience] I’ve wanted my whole life and I’m just so happy that I’m actually getting it.

During her time at UofL, Proctor is bound to have some unique experiences. Her debut as the feature twirler was at the Mercedes Benz Superdome, she’s quickly become a recognizable face at campus events and as the Cardinal Marching Band’s feature twirler, she will perform at the Kentucky Derby.

“[Being a Cardinal] is so special,” Proctor said. “It means to have a family. I love it.”

While that monetary accomplishment is astonishing in itself, it just scratches the surface of the organization’s lasting impact.

Emma Gabbard, a senior nursing student from Fishers, Indiana, has been involved in dance marathons like raiseRED since she was a freshman in high school. Like many involved in dance marathons, Gabbard was hooked in no time. She joined the committee her sophomore year and realized as a junior that she had found her path.

“I was super connected to the families that we were supporting through fundraising and heard the way they talked about their nurses and saw the bonds that the kids formed with their nurses,” Gabbard said. “That’s when I chose to do nursing.”

By the time she was a senior, Gabbard was the president of the Fishers High School Dance Marathon, but she knew she couldn’t leave such a big part of her life behind when she went off for college.

“When looking for colleges, I was super nerdy and looked for dance marathons before I even applied,” Gabbard said. “All six schools that I applied to had dance marathon programs.”

UofL stood out for Gabbard in part because of the nursing program and beautiful campus. Jordan Meddings, her campus tour guide, ultimately helped to sway her decision. At the time, he was applying to raiseRED’s executive board and could answer all of her dance marathon questions.

RaiseRED students’ campus experiences and lives are enriched by the memories they make and relationships they form. They get to see the direct impact the money they raise has on the community. That money funds patient needs, research at the UofL School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Hematology and Oncology and the new beneficiary, Norton Children’s Cancer Institute, which supports a clinical social worker, nurse and child life specialist.

Gabbard got a closer look at this impact over the summer, when she got a job at Norton through the Student Nurse Apprenticeship Program. The dream she had as a junior in high school was reaffirmed. Without a doubt, she wants to be a pediatric nurse.

“[At a meeting] we had to say what raiseRED meant to us in one word,” she said. “For me, that was ‘motivational.’ No matter what I do [to fundraise], it never feels like a job. Whether it’s a meeting or [breaking down] the volleyball courts for raiseRED money, it’s always something I get to do, not something I have to do.”

Every year, hundreds of students from across campus are motivated by a common goal – to improve the lives of strangers tackling the unimaginable. RaiseRED isn’t just about a fun-filled, 18-hour dance marathon. Last year made that very clear.

“In non-COVID years, we’d have an event every month,” Gabbard said. “Last year we couldn’t do that, so we started doing bedtime stories on Zoom. They kind of turned into a bi-weekly talent show and we were able to form more of an intimate connection with the kids.”

Instead of thinking about the next treatment or doctor’s appointment, kids had a chance to just be kids. For the students, it was incredibly fulfilling. The pandemic did not stop them from building relationships with the kids and their families, and although it was more challenging, it certainly did not stop them from fundraising.   

“At reveal last year, we raised half a million dollars during a pandemic,” Gabbard said. “It struck me that a group of people, no matter the size, no matter the circumstance, can come together for bigger causes to put aside our differences and change part of how we want to see the world.”

Last year’s total, although it didn’t break the organization’s record of $690,921.70, left many speechless. During a pandemic, 1,000 college students navigated unprecedented uncertainties – and changed the entire model of the signature event – to raise $507,203.37 for the kids. 

The money raised by this growing group of students is symbolic of a true community of care. It is symbolic of a year of passionate and determined hard work. And most importantly, it is symbolic of hope. Hope for a future, for better treatments or more time, and for a cure.

“My goal in my career is to make sure that all patients and families feel heard, seen and valued,” Gabbard said. “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life – make differences in people’s lives … My mission is to get kids a tomorrow.” 

From homesickness and difficult course loads to the added anxiety of the pandemic, college is full of stressors. That’s where K9 Hoss comes in. Unlike traditional police dogs, the 4-year-old Labrador’s duties involve less drugs and more hugs as the University of Louisville Police Department’s first therapy dog. 

“We believe that a primary mission of law enforcement is to provide service to [our community],” said Sergeant Diana Brian. “Having a support dog is an excellent example.”

In 2018, Brian began looking into the use of therapy dogs on college campuses and within police departments. Between the benefits to those experiencing emotional trauma and the ability to alleviate feelings of depression, anxiety, isolation and loneliness, the idea of a ULPD therapy dog was not far-fetched. 

It didn’t take much convincing before ULPD’s Chief Gary Lewis agreed, but plans were stifled when the university turned to remote work in early 2020. The pandemic brought a new set of challenges and stressors, highlighting the growing need to have a therapy dog program in place by the time students return to UofL this fall.

Sergeant Brian’s idea was going to become reality, but she still needed to find and train a dog. That’s when Hoss traded his days at home as the Brian family pet for a ULPD badge.

“One day at home [Hoss] was being really sweet and I thought ‘Why can’t I just use him?,’” said Brian.

Patient with children and gentle around the elderly, Hoss was already a great choice. He completed American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen training as a prerequisite to his upcoming therapy dog training, and started his on-campus duties in mid-July.

Since then, Hoss has hit the ground running – and sometimes laying. If Hoss can provide even a moment of comfort, support or happiness, he’s done his job.

In his short time on campus, he’s already made an impact. When Sergeant Brian took her most recent report from the UofL PEACC center, Hoss joined her to provide comfort in a time of trauma.

“[The student] pet Hoss while she was making the report and that was really helpful,” said Brian. “I hope to incorporate that a lot.”

In addition to helping community members through emotional trauma, one of ULPD’s goals for Hoss is to provide positive interactions between law enforcement and members of the campus community.

“[We want] to get away from the traditional visuals of a uniformed officer with a working dog and continue to reinvigorate our community relations amongst our students, faculty and staff,” said Chief Lewis.

It’s no secret why therapy dog programs are being adopted at police departments across the U.S. – when they aren’t comforting community members, they’re coming to the side of officers and dispatchers after stressful calls. While Hoss’ work is primarily focused on students, faculty and staff, his benefit to the department comes as an added bonus.

Campus has quickly become a second home for the four-legged officer. When he’s not roaming the halls of the station, he’s usually out patrolling campus or visiting various offices to bring a smile to the face of a few Cardinals.

When Hoss enters a room full of people, he can’t help but get excited. But before long, he’s usually settled in with his head on the lap of someone he’s decided needs a bit of added affection.  

“I call it the Labrador lean,” said Brian. 

If you see him on campus, badges and all, don’t hesitate to give him a hug. They’re always welcome.

A year later, VG began casually uploading videos to YouTube. His new hobby started with reviews of movies – he watched what he liked, filmed his reaction and posted the clips for the world to see. The new youtuber was getting a modest number of views, built a small fanbase and shifted the “” channel’s focus to cover another interest – video games. 

His YouTube page is more than just a hobby, however. It has also helped him build his English-speaking skills and improved his confidence.

VG is the only English-speaking person in his household and has noticed an improvement in his second language through creating content and interacting with his growing audience.

“I have to take care of everybody,” said VG. “I’ve got to be in charge of bills and other things. YouTube gives me an opportunity to communicate with other people and spread positive vibes.” 

VG uploaded a video titled “,” in October of 2018. The next day, he woke up to 4,000 views. The day after – 40,000. Suddenly, it skyrocketed. That video has now been viewed more than 4 million times and, as his most-watched video, it’s what VG credits as the catalyst to his channel’s success.

“I didn’t expect it to blow up,” said VG. “I was just playing games and having fun with my fans. [When the video blew up] I was so happy. I just do it for fun, but that was a crazy opportunity.”

Suddenly, VG’s hobby became something he could monetize. Over a short period of time, the YouTube creator has amassed 583,000 subscribers on his main channel “HelloItsVG”, and has set up a second “vlog” channel with 18,000 subscribers under the name “” for the content that doesn’t fit the niche of his main channel.

Though the hobby-turned-job can be quite time consuming, it hasn’t hindered the second-year public health student from studying or building friendships on UofL’s campus.

Learning those time-management skills should come in handy for VG to achieve his longer-term goals – expanding his audience, garnering more attention for the gaming industry in general and going to medical school. 

Through the pandemic, as people around the world searched for something to occupy time at home, the esports community has grown even faster. In 2020, more than 14 million college students played video games – whether casually, socially or competitively – averaging about 8.2 hours spent gaming each week. At UofL, nearly 200 students have found a home in the up-and-coming Louisville Esports Club.

“Some people watch movies, some people go to the gym and some people play games as their outlet and I think that’s true for many of our students,” said Louisville Esports staff advisor Matt Banker.

Though the club has been in existence for several years, it wasn’t until the current club president Braden Hensley’s freshman year that it really took off. 

As part of an assignment for an English class in the spring of 2018, Hensley had to write about something he enjoyed. Growing up playing video games with two older brothers, esports seemed like the simplest choice.

“Collegiate esports was kind of becoming a thing,” Hensley said. “I did a bunch of research on it and realized that this was going to be the real deal. I reached out [to the club at the time] and they said they were going to be closing down the club because of a lack of interest.”

However, Hensley saw the way esports was growing and knew that the club had potential. He knew how much he and his peers enjoyed playing video games, so how could there be a lack of interest?

His “simple choice” for a freshman English assignment morphed into a multi-year endeavor as he dove head first into the club and became its president. That summer, the Mechanical Engineering major reworked the club’s constitution and entered the fall semester with the goal of creating an inclusive gaming space for students at the university. 

Open to students with a variety of abilities, levels of experience and interest, the club quickly grew as its leaders focused on building community.

“In the last three years we’ve had a new wave of interest from students,” said Banker. “We’ve used that time as an incubation period to learn and develop our priorities. We have two prongs to this, the competitive side and the casual gaming side for those who want to get together for fun on a Friday night.”

Although the in-person game nights have ceased over the last year, students have been able to stay connected through the club. Meetings and competitions were hosted virtually and the club has amassed roughly 600 members on its , a group chatting app popular among the gaming community. 

“It’s nice to be able to have a place to go to chat and ask if anyone wants to play [a particular game],” said Hensley. “It’s nice for those of us who can’t get to campus but want to interact.”

While the club attracts gamers at any level, about 50 members are involved in year-round competition against club teams from other institutions. With competition ranging from dual meetings to highly visible tournament play, the Cardinals have found quite a bit of success.

In the fall of 2020, esports clubs from 15 ACC institutions worked to form a student-run Atlantic Coast Esports (ACE) league, which coordinated game play around the ACC football schedule.

“If [our football team] was playing Clemson on a Saturday, for example, we’d play their esports team on a Friday night,” said Banker.

The Cards can also boast last fall’s inaugural Esports Governor’s Cup win over the University of Kentucky.

“We played five games – League of Legends, Rocket League, Valorant, Madden and Minecraft – and won three,” said Hensley. “That was a big win for us and it bridges the gap between gamers and other college students because they understand the rivalry.”

The club also bridged that gap by hosting a collaborative Madden NFL 2021 event with Learfield, which has invested in esports nationally. The tournament brought UofL fans, alumni, students, faculty and staff together to apply their football fandom to competitive gaming.

“Lamar Jackson, who is on the cover of the game, was cool enough to tweet about the tournament,” said Banker. “Ironically, the championship game teams were the Green Bay Packers with [UofL alums] Jaire Alexander and the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar Jackson.”

Whether a student is interested in playing Madden NFL, Rocket League, or a classic like Mario Cart, the Louisville Esports Club has a home for them.

“It’s a community that anyone can be a part of,” said Hensley. “I encourage anyone that wants to get involved to get involved.”

The Louisville Esports Club is hosting the  on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30 for those who would like to participate or watch.

Growing up, Blocker loved to learn. She placed a high priority on education and academia, so when the Louisville native graduated from Seneca High School in 2000, as a surprise to many, she chose to join the United States Marine Corps. While at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Blocker became an Honor Graduate – a distinction awarded to the graduate who best exemplifies what it means to be a marine – while gaining knowledge of the world and learning from those with different lived experiences.

“I felt like I needed to get out of my bubble of Louisville to appreciate the world and learn about different people and cultures,” Blocker said. “I stayed stateside, but I met a lot of diverse, interesting people and learned a lot of life lessons from them.”

After spending more than two years in the Marine Corps, Blocker became a mom in 2004. Shortly after her son, Cameron, was born, he was diagnosed with autism and epilepsy, which inspired her to begin advocating for children and adults with autism and disabilities.

Blocker took on her next journey with a 12-year career with the United States Postal Service as a sales, service and distribution clerk. During that time, she married her husband, Shane, and became a stepmother to her Shanna and Raven.

While working for USPS, as the true lifelong learner she is, Blocker got to know and learn from people in the diverse communities she served.

Throughout the years, the goal of ultimately getting a college education remained in her mind. Blocker took classes here and there, sprinkling them in where she could, but it wasn’t until she got a job as a Program Assistant for Academic Services at UofL’s Thorntons Academic Center of Excellence that she really made it a top priority.

“I didn’t appreciate my journey at the time,” Blocker said. “I was going to work for a university and I didn’t have my degree but once I got [to UofL] I knew that this was where I was called to be.”

Blocker realized that she had the opportunity to take six credit hours per semester at no cost as a UofL employee, so in January of 2020, she set out to obtain her degree. She started building upon the courses she’d sporadically taken over the years to work toward a bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership. Full of ambition and a realization that she could meet her self-imposed deadline of earning a degree before 40, Blocker doubled and even tripled up on her course load.

With a busy schedule and lofty goals, online learning was just what the working mom needed.

“I’m an online learner all day long,” Blocker said. “I can rewind and hit pause when I need to take care of something else. I can work on it when my son is in therapy and I also feel like I retain so much more seeing things written down.”

In addition to her role as a program assistant, Blocker serves as a supervisor for the federal work study program, serves on the Strategically Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) committee, and serves as an advisor for international student athletes in the Louisville International Family Enrichment (LIFE) program.

“I want to show people that leadership can come from any level,” Blocker said. “It doesn’t matter if [we’re] in an entry-level job, we can make a change. If you help one person, that one person can help five people, and then 10 people.”

Though Blocker’s path to graduation has not been traditional, she wouldn’t have it any other way. The experiences and knowledge she gained from her time in the Marine Corps and with USPS gave her tools that she said she wouldn’t have had right out of high school.

Just 16 months after beginning her coursework, Blocker is set to become a first-generation graduate as a member of the Dean’s List.

“I have a very supportive family,” Blocker said. “My son thinks it’s so cool that mom goes to school and I feel like he gets inspiration seeing me do it.” 

Following graduation, Blocker hopes to pursue a master’s degree in Higher ����ֱ�� Administration. After that, her biggest goal is to apply her laundry list of passions – of which, there’s a common theme – empowering others.

“Passion fuels my purpose,” Blocker said. “I want to empower other people to be the best they can be – underrepresented communities, people with autism and disabilities and marginalized societies. If you listen, you learn so much. Even if [we’re] different, we can all grow together.”

When Rhonda Buchanan, a professor of Spanish and LALS director, and her husband Bob Buchanan, a professor of Chemistry and Arts and Sciences associate dean of Research, adopted Jake, they knew they wanted to bring him to campus as a therapy dog. He passed his final certification tests on June 28, 2019, and happily accepted the task at hand – to bring comfort to anyone he encounters. 

Before the university transitioned to remote and hybrid learning, Jake’s days were full of visits from students, faculty and staff. 

“I noticed when I got him and started bringing him to work with me, students came to see me much more often – and I know for a fact it was more to see him,” Rhonda Buchanan said. “I mean, how many times can they come to see me for advising, right?”

There was a steady stream of people coming in to the LALS resource center in Stevenson Hall where students had treats, coffee, tea and visits from Jake as they studied. His presence created an opening for students who may not have otherwise sought help to come in and ask questions. 

“Jake is one of my favorite parts of the program,” said Alarah Gillum, a third-year LALS major and LALS student assistant. “When I’ve had a stressful day or I’ve had a lot of work, it just brightens my day to see Dr. B and get some love from Jake.” 

The jingling of the tags on Jake’s collar as he trots through the halls of Stevenson is usually a clear indicator that someone’s day is about to get a little bit better.

“Jake brings such a sense of joy to students. [He’s] always happy to see you and always has a tail wag and lots of kisses,” said Jan Rayburn, an administrative specialist with Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. “The last year it’s been really lonely and I miss him a lot.” 

As a bit of a social butterfly, the past year has been hard on Jake, too. Just as students, faculty and staff benefit from Jake, he benefits from them. 

“I think [the pandemic] has really affected him because I was doing more remote teaching,” Buchanan said. “Recently, when things lifted up a little more I started bringing him back in. I think he notices the difference because he truly enjoys meeting new people when we walk across campus.”

When Buchanan is teaching in person, she often brings Jake along to greet her students for a few minutes before class, but even when a lesson is virtual or he isn’t able to make an in-person appearance, his photos are sprinkled throughout the professor’s slideshows.

On a typical day, Jake makes classroom appearances, joins Buchanan for office hours, checks in with friends like Alarah and Jan and relaxes in the LALS tranquility garden. One of the most exciting parts of the day, though, is walking to and from the car. That’s when he gets to do his favorite thing – meet new people. 

Needless to say, Jake is looking forward to seeing more students as they come back to campus. He welcomes everyone – not just members of the LALS program – so, if you see him walking around with his “pet me” harness, be sure to make his day and offer him some love.

She was dressed for a Division 1 football game – and she was the first woman to do so.

Her love for the game started at an early age. The Alton, Illinois, native recalled playing football in the front yard with her 12-year-old brother and his friends when she was just 6 years old.

“If I was going to hang with these boys six years older, I had to show them up,” vanTonder said during a recent interview. “It made me more competitive and I played sports my whole life.”

Throughout the years she played soccer, swam competitively and even turned heads at her high school’s powder puff football game when she made a 30-yard field goal. The players urged her to try out for the team, but she was reluctant – worried of what others might think of a girl on the high school’s football team. She also had her sights set on a collegiate soccer scholarship.   

She went on to play four years as a goalkeeper for the UofL women’s soccer team while studying engineering. During that time, she even spent a year on the women’s swim team when the program was at risk of being dropped. In the months that the seasons overlapped, she’d go straight from the pool to the soccer field, all, she said, for the love of the sport. But the immutable sense of regret from high school never left the back of her mind.

vanTonder’s collegiate soccer eligibility was over when she started working on her master’s degree at the Speed School of Engineering. With a final year of collegiate eligibility, and the encouragement from the women in the athletic administration, the Cardinal goalkeeper asked then head football coach, Ron Cooper, for a tryout in the spring of 1995.  

“He was a little taken back, like ‘Is she real? Is this just for attention?’” vanTonder said.

Still unsure of the eager prospective kicker, Cooper asked her to show him how she would approach a football if she were kicking a field goal – right there in his office. A few days later, vanTonder made 12 of 14 extra-point attempts in 30 mph winds to earn a spot on the roster.  

UofL football made national headlines because of vanTonder, who undoubtedly became a familiar face around Louisville.

“I would go to the gas station down by UofL and I remember the attendant saying ‘Aren’t you the kicker? Hey, go for it,’” vanTonder said. 

She was not dismissed, discouraged or disparaged. She was not told that she did not belong in that space. 

“I only received positive reinforcement from everyone that I met and ran into,” vanTonder said. “[I received] so many letters from fans cheering me on. I really did have so much support from the community and even within the school.”

That’s not to say it was all smooth sailing. The equipment didn’t fit well, so she made it work. There were no women’s locker rooms at the stadium, so she changed in an equipment shed. She had to complete a summer co-op for engineering, so she attended voluntary workouts at 6 a.m.

“I think that showed [the team] that I was serious,” vanTonder said.

They took her in and treated her as the teammate she was. They’d adjust her sleeves and shoulder pads to make her oversized uniform look tighter as they explained that she needed to show off “her guns.”

“I have to give credit to the team,” she said. “They treated me like I was their little sister. I just felt like they took me under their arm and under their wing and looked out for me.”

Senior day came and the kicker had yet to see the playing time she, and a supportive fanbase, longed for. In the final quarter, the old Cardinal Stadium crowd chanted her name – a moment that still makes her tear up 25 years later.

“My teammate came over to me and said ‘go stand by coach, I’m going to score a touchdown and I want you to score the extra point,’” vanTonder said.

Although that opportunity never came, the support of teammates meant the world to the kicker.

“I’ve always said it didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but the experience was still probably the best experience of my life,” she said, holding back tears.

Although she didn’t see it this way at the time, vanTonder broke down barriers for women in sports. Simply following her passion led her to becoming the first woman to make and dress for a Division 1 football team. That feat allowed more women, like Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller, the first woman to score in a Power 5 football game, to shatter ceilings of their own.

“[Initially] I just did it for the love of it,” vanTonder said. “You realize that it’s bigger and you can represent your gender at the time to give people more opportunities down the road. It’s about representing the future.”

As she stood in front of the National Pan-Hellenic Council plots outside of the admissions building during homecoming in October of 2020, Terina Matthews Davis was almost in tears. Her decades-old fight to empower Black Greek life on UofL’s campus was coming to fruition. 

The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) was established at Howard University in 1930 with the purpose to “foster cooperative actions of its members in dealing with matters of mutual concern.” In Davis’ words, “NPHC, to me, embodies the principles of Kwanzaa.”

Although NPHC did not have a presence on UofL’s campus until 1992, Black Greek life was at the core of the Belknap campus’ student life for several years prior.

“We were an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) within a PWI (Predominantly white institution),” said Dr. Beverly Dilworth Frye, a 1988 College of Arts and Sciences and 1995 School of Medicine graduate. “The Black community was very close knit. We were a huge commuter school – most students were gone at 5 p.m. and the only people left on campus were African American students.” 

There were only a handful of Black Greek members on campus when Frye was a freshman in 1985. While she was somewhat familiar with historically Black fraternities and sororities as the stepdaughter of a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, it wasn’t until a casual conversation in the lobby of Miller Hall that she decided to pursue membership in a Delta Sigma Theta.

Without an active chapter on UofL’s campus, there was work to be done. With the help of some like-minded women and a persuasive petition to area and regional alumnae, the Xi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta reactivated at UofL in 1988. The oldest collegiate chapter of any Black Greek organization in Kentucky, originally chartered in 1922 at Simmons College, welcomed Frye in a group of 10 women that spring. 

The sorority’s reactivation followed a group of men initiated to Omega Psi Phi just a week before and line of women initiated to Alpha Kappa Alpha the previous semester. Their chapters were joined by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and, in seemingly no time, there was an active Black Greek presence at the University of Louisville.

“It just seemed like this fire that was catching on, but we still didn’t have our own entity,” Frye explained.

By the time Davis, a 1993 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, set foot on campus, eight Black Greek organizations were active at the university.

“Because of [Dr. Frye], I’m a Delta,” Davis said. “If there hadn’t been those 30 women who wrote that letter, Xi wouldn’t be here.”

Although she says she’d advise against it, Davis was dead-set on attending a school with a Delta chapter. Without that petition in the 80s, Xi may not have existed at UofL when the soon-to-be-voice of the students’ fight for NPHC was choosing a university.

When Davis was initiated in 1990, Black Greek organizations were operating under the guidance of the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council (IFC).  Although Black Greek organizations were required to have representation at IFC and Panhellenic meetings, some chose not to attend. Davis noticed stacks of missed-meeting fines piling up in the fraternities’ mailboxes, which was a catalyst for change. Black Greek organizations needed guidance that truly represented them. They needed a place for themselves within UofL’s campus to do the work of Black Greeks and the Black community. They needed NPHC.

The road did not come without a few bumps along the way.

As the student government vice president at the time, Davis had a seat at the table to represent the Black Greek community – and she used it. She used it to represent students who historically did not have the choice to join a Greek organization, so they made their own. She used it to voice students’ desire for an organization that would foster the needs of the Black community and would allow students to thrive in a space that was uniquely their own.

Initially seen as a form of separation by administration, the request for NPHC was not immediately met. The students didn’t waver. Instead, they became more persistent. They took up camp in front of the administration building to ensure their collective voice was heard by Dr. Golden, then-vice president of Student Affairs. When they were brought inside, in an act that could only be described as “true grit” by Keira Martin, UofL’s Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life, they slept in front of his office.

“It wasn’t just the Black Greek community, [IFC and Panhellenic] had to support us,” Davis explained as she noted that the groups showed support by bringing food to the administration building. “At the end of the day, we knew that we all had to come together to make this a reality.”

Their efforts paid off in 1992 when Golden agreed to meet with then-National NPHC president, Daisy M. Wood, a Delta from the Louisville Alumnae chapter. Soon after, NPHC was brought to the University of Louisville which is now home to chapters of each of the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities.

After being founded in 1913, Delta’s first act of social activism was to participate in the women’s suffrage march. Frye noted that since the sorority was established, the active members and alumnae have continuously used their voices to say that Black people, Black women, matter.

“[Rosa Parks] didn’t know what that day would result in,” Davis noted. “I need Black students to understand – don’t give up the fight.”

Frye and Davis agree, the fight for social justice does not end after graduation. 

“At the end of the day, you take away Delta Sigma Theta, you take away Alpha Kappa Alpha, you take away Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, you remove Omega Psi Phi, Kappa, we’re still African American men and women who endure the same struggle,” said Frye. She tearfully continued, “The fight that Terina and the NPHC organization went through, it established a place that belongs to us on the University of Louisville’s campus.”