Football History

Born March 20, 1906, South Mill, Missouri, was the awesome halfback from Tuskegee University in Alabama, “Big” Ben Stevenson. According to the National Football Foundation Golden Tigers Head Coach Cleve Abbott heard about Stevenson and rushed to find him working on a farm in Kansas. After some convincing persuasion Abbott was able to convince Ben to join him at Tuskegee, however the youngster would have some educational catch up to do so they enrolled him as a prep-school student but this ended up giving Big Ben eight years of eligibility on the team. During those years of Stevenson as Golden Tiger, the team suffered only two defeats! He was named to numerous Negro all-time All-America teams and was voted as the game's greatest all-around player. The National Football Foundation did not deliberate long to select Ben Stevenson into their College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. During his studies it is interesting to mention that one of his faculty mentors was none other than George Washington Carver! Ben did well academically as well as he completed both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees before he went into coaching at various high schools and colleges.