Correction: Feb. 22, 2024
A previous version of this article stated that there were zero Black athletes and coaches on the men’s baseball team and the cross country team. This is incorrect, as the head coach of the cross country team is Black and there are three players on the baseball team who identify as Black. It was also said that there is a lack of diversity amongst several Sacramento State athletics programs, which is also incorrect. The lack of Black student-athletes and coaches does not fully equate to a lack of diversity. There are 275 student-athletes at Sac State who identify as non-white, which is 54.5 percent of the total student-athlete population (Information provided by Brian Berger, assistant athletic director for communications at Sacramento State).
Sacramento State is home to a diverse, multicultural student population that trickles down to the Sac State athletics program. In honor of Black History Month, this article showcases 10 of Sac State’s outstanding Black student-athletes in no particular order.
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Verified on Instagram, racking up over one million followers on TikTok and forty thousand on YouTube, Jared Gipson brings a lot of buzz to the Sac State football team. Gipson creates content that encapsulates his student-athlete lifestyle at the collegiate level. Exciting to watch on and off the field, Gipson was second in receptions for Sac State with 38 receptions for 657 yards and four touchdowns.
Although he’s typically seen wearing number four embroidered on a Sac State green or white jersey, Bailey also reps his own clothing brand Ascend Reality. Last season, Bailey was named first-team All-Big Sky for the second consecutive season and led the team in tackles with 97.
In her second season with the Hornets, Big Sky Champion Solape Amusan has continued to be a well-known leader on the women’s basketball team. In the 2023 season, she finished with double-digit points five times and dropped 19 points versus Montana marking her season high.
Starting all 34 matches this past season and playing in 129 of 130 sets, Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin was voted unanimously as a first-team all-Big Sky Conference selection. Kamba-Griffin was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week three times in 2023.
Coming from the Middle East island country of Bahrain, Zee Hamoda has displayed his talents in The Nest and the International Basketball Federation Asia Cup. Earlier in his career, Hamoda was ranked the top recruit in the state of Maine, during his year of prep school at Bridgton Academy. As a Hornet, he dropped 21 points against the Stanford Cardinal for his 2023 season high and knocked down five three-pointers in the same game.
A former state champion at Riverside Junior College, Zoe Ewell has made a strong debut at Sac State running a 24.96 in the 200 at the Don Kirby Invitational. She also ran a 7.64 in the 100, setting her indoor career bests and has placed in the top ten as a sprints runner.
Women’s softball team captain Lewa Day was a unanimous first team all-Big Sky Conference selection. She started all 47 games this season and became one of eight Hornets in program history to register 40 RBIs in a season. Day also played for the NorCal Firecrackers organization helping them get to the 2018 Premier Girls Fastpitch national championship with fellow Hornet, Kennedy Echols.
Proud JUCO product from Miami, Florida, Carlos Hill led Sac State with 51 receptions, 692 receiving yards and five touchdowns in his senior season. Hill shines not just from his vibrant gold grills that he sports every game, but also from the irreplaceable energy he brings to the wideout group, known as the Deep End.
Kennedy Echols played in 34 games in the 2023 season, including four starts. Coming from Cosumnes Oaks high school as a four-year varsity player, Echols was the leadoff batter for the 2017 Premier Girls Fastpitch national championship winning team and a recipient of the academic achievement award all four years in high school.
Named a four-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer and former member of the LAFC U-17 Academy team, Robert Willcot made his collegiate debut with the Hornets appearing in eight matches as a reserve. He also has an older brother, Jhared Wilcot, who is a junior forward for the Hornets. The two are the first black brothers to play for the Sac State men’s Division 1 soccer team and in December 2023 debuted “The Willcot Brothers Documentary” at the last J Street Film Festival.
