Clark Atlanta University football back in the spotlight for first time in nearly 50 years

ATLANTA — Over the course of his 98 years, Raymond “Tweet” Williams has accomplished a thing or two. “On the wall here are things I have done in my life,” Raymond said.

Which is almost everything. It started at the age of 11, at what was then known as Clark College in Southwest Atlanta.

“When they started to practice for football, I would go up there to watch them. So, they decided that since I was there every day, they made me into the water boy,” Raymond said. In the 1940′s he made the team, and decades later was named Athletic Director at what is now Clark Atlanta University.

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What a team the Panthers have this season. “This is one of the largest turnarounds in the NCAA,” Athletic Director Dr. Jerel Drew said. Drew is pleased to announce that for the first time in 47 years, the Panthers are headed to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. 0 and 10 last season, 7-2-1 this year under new Head Coach Teddy Keaton.

“There’s going to be a sea of red and black in Birmingham,” Dr. Drew said. This Saturday where the Panthers will take on Miles College. Raymond will not be able to travel for the game, but he is not about to miss it. “Is anything going to stop you from being in front of that TV?” Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen asked.

“Nothing! I will be right there watching them. This is a nation-wide thing here. That is what is so important about it and our kids deserve this,” Raymond said.

Raymond says he got the nickname “Tweet” back in the day as a student athlete. He says he had skinny bird legs, so teammates called him

“Tweet Tweet” and everybody calls him that to this day. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU Saturday at noon Eastern time.

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