FAMU’s Rudy Hubbard is relieved after being inducted into the Black College Football HOF
After waiting nearly two decades, Rudy Hubbard is a Black College Football Hall of Famer.
“I lived to see it. It was great, man. It was special,” the Florida A&M head coach told the Tallahassee Democrat.
Advertisement
On June 6, Hubbard was inducted in Atlanta as part of the 17th class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame. His classmates are Nick Collins, Tyrone Poole, Eddie Robinson Jr., Jimmy Smith, and Steve Wyche.
Hubbard’s most notable accomplishment was leading FAMU to its first-ever NCAA Division I-AA national championship, defeating Massachusetts 35-28 in 1978. It was the first Florida school to win an NCAA championship in any sport and division.
FAMU remains the first and only Historically Black College and University to win a title in I-AA, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision. Hubbard had an 83-48-3 record at The Highest of Seven Hills from 1974 to 1985.
Fellow Black College Football Hall of Famer Greg Coleman, who played for Hubbard’s Rattlers as a punter in the 1970s, donned the coach’s black jacket for the ceremony. Another prominent Rattler playing coach and member of the Black College Hall of Fame, Nate Newton, FAMU representatives, and Hubbard’s family were in attendance.
FAMU Hall of Famers Rudy Hubbard (football coach) and Greg Coleman (punter) share a moment at the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, September 10, 2021.
“It was a relief,” Hubbard said last Friday. “It worried me from time to time. I had trained myself not to let it bother me too much. I felt worthy. But I was also happy because it was well attended and they did a great job of putting this issue together.”
Advertisement
Hubbard’s Black College nod joins his 1990 induction into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame and his 2021 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Hubbard saw his College Football Hall of Fame exhibit at the museum for the first time while spending the weekend in Atlanta.
He also has a street named after him near the FAMU campus in Tallahassee, where he still lives today at age 80, and received the key to the city from Mayor John Dailey in 2021.
That recognition prompted Hubbard to wonder what was the delay in joining the Black College Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 2010. It led him to express his discontent in society.
“I probably said things I didn’t need to say,” he explained.
Advertisement
The living legend said he took time to apologize to Co-Founder James ‘Shack’ Harris and other decision makers.
But it wasn’t just his induction that led him to do so.
It also saw yeoman service from the gridiron. The Black College Football Hall of Fame hosts the annual HBCU alumni event.
Former FAMU football coach Rudy Hubbard stands with his street sign with City Commissioner Curtis Richardson (left), Mayor John Dailey (right) and friends and family on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. The event also honored the late Carolyn Ryals and E. The late Lilyan Spencer on street signs and their legendary properties.
“I didn’t know all the good work they were doing,” Hubbard said. “So I’m going to be challenged, and I’m committed to being a part of helping them do whatever we’re going to do going forward.”
Florida A&M football program 2026
All times are Eastern
-
Saturday, August 29: vs. Albany State, 7 p.m., SWAC TV
-
Sunday, September 6: vs. South Carolina State, Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium, 3 p.m., ESPNU
-
Thursday, September 10: at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
-
Saturday, September 19: vs. Tennessee State, 7 p.m., HBCU GO
-
Saturday, September 26: vs. Alabama A&M (SWAC), 7 p.m., SWAC TV
-
Saturday, October 10: at Alabama State (SWAC), 3pm, HBCU GO
-
Saturday, October 17: at Jackson State (SWAC), 3 p.m., ESPN Network
-
Saturday, Oct. 24: vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC/Homecoming), 3pm, HBCU GO
-
Saturday, Oct. 31: vs. Southern (SWAC), 3pm, HBCU GO
-
Saturday, Nov. 14: vs. Mississippi Valley State (SWAC), 3 p.m., SWAC TV
-
Saturday, Nov. 21: vs. Bethune-Cookman (SWAC/Florida Classic), 3:30 p.m., ESPN+
Gerald Thomas, III, is a reporter who won multiple national awards for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers in the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning stories at RattlerNews.com and contact him by email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter. @3 it’s cool.
This article originally appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU football’s Rudy Hubbard shows off at BCFHOF induction ceremony
