Bobcats helping Bobcats: The legacy of the Blackburn-Spencer Fund

Forty years ago, two Bobcats had the idea to establish a tradition of giving — a tradition that would far exceed their expectations and establish a legacy of students helping one another.

“I think we craved stability at the time, in the political environment,” said Lt. Col. Bill “Clark” Kent, AB ’80, who was the president of OHIO’s Black Student Cultural Programming Board (BSCPB) during the politically tumultuous late-1970s. “We wanted something that would create a legacy and live in perpetuity. So, it was kind of our gift to the future. That’s how I saw it back then and how I look at it now. It was a sign of the times.”

This “gift to the future” became known as the Martha Jane Hunley Blackburn and Donald A. Spencer Fund, or the Blackburn-Spencer Fund.

Kent, along with BSCPB Vice President Andre Rudolph, BBA ’81, first took their idea of creating a legacy to William Smith, who was the executive director of affirmative action at OHIO in 1979. When the two approached Smith about the idea, he suggested they create a scholarship.

Bill “Clark” Kent, AB ’80, was a passionate student leader while at OHIO who served as president of BSCPB in 1979.

“We decided that the most lasting and important nomenclature to [use] … would be to honor the first black female graduate of Ohio University and the first black person to serve on the Board of Trustees,” Smith said. “This name covered the history for us in terms of the progress we’ve made and our future aspirations for black students at Ohio University.”

As a student group, BSCPB had and still has a responsibility to serve as a backbone of cultural programming at the University, while also educating the larger community on the culture and perspective of both black and other multicultural students.

“William Smith was the catalyst,” Rudolph said. “He was the one that showed us that we could do great things among ourselves. To this day, I didn’t think it would grow as much as it has. I didn’t even know if it’d be around at this point in time. But it’s still thriving.”

Before the fund’s establishment, BSCPB had always engaged in philanthropic efforts and put on an annual homecoming charity pageant. Pageant contestants would raise money, and the individual with the most funds raised was crowned queen and chose the charity to benefit.

With the official introduction of the Blackburn-Spencer Fund, this homecoming pageant became centered on raising scholarship and award money for students — a true testament to Bobcats helping Bobcats.

The fund eventually grew enough to award both a Blackburn-Spencer Scholarship, for students in need, and an achievement award for outstanding student leaders. Forty years later, the fund continues to grow and serve Bobcats.

Kent said the fund’s success is largely due to black sorority and fraternity life, notably what he calls the “blue and white family.” This family is composed of the then-Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and its sister sorority, Zeta Phi Beta.

Andre Rudolph, BBA ’81, served as vice president of BSCPB in 1979 and worked alongside Bill “Clark” Kent, AB ’80, to establish the Blackburn-Spencer Fund.

Terri Liggins, BBA ’81, was a member of Zeta Phi Beta at the time and connected with Kent and Rudolph through the blue and white family. Though Liggins was not involved in establishing the fund, she has directly experienced the legacy of giving it created.

Her daughter Skye Shepard, BFA ’13, competed in the Blackburn-Spencer Scholarship Pageant more than 30 years after the fund was established.

“She (Shepard) joined the same sorority I belonged to, so there was always that connection,” Liggins said. “But then when my daughter participated in the Blackburn-Spencer Scholarship pageant, she won.”

For the annual pageant, contestants are sponsored by a student organization that assists them in raising money. Rudolph said he recalls the group collaboration that is required by organizations who sponsor pageant contestants.

“Everybody pitched in,” Rudolph said. “The whole organization would give a donation for their contestant. It’s been generated a variety of ways, and it came through the person you were representing.”

Shepard was sponsored by the Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. fraternity and took to the classroom to raise money.

“I did reach out to family and friends, and they were a big help,” she said. “But I mainly targeted professors and explained it was a scholarship to help minorities to have funding to go to OU. They were jazzed about that and willing to donate.”

Today, the Blackburn-Spencer awards and scholarships are distributed at the Leadership Awards Gala, an annual spring event that recognizes outstanding student leadership. This past year, eight students were awarded either a scholarship or achievement award from the fund.

Winsome Chunnu-Brayda, the director of OHIO’s Multicultural Center, said these scholarships and awards are highly competitive and speak to an important value demonstrated by the student fundraisers.

“There are so many students in need of financial support, and to have a fundraiser for that is a great thing,” she said. “I think it shows how students recognize their peers are in need and they are willing to step up and help each other.”

Kent, Rudolph and Smith said they are inspired by how students have embraced the opportunity to uphold the Blackburn-Spencer Fund and assist minority students.

“It shows what students can do when they commit themselves to not only their personal gain, but the future of students to follow,” Smith said. “The vision and foresight of these young men, and others at the time, were things that we as black faculty and staff had to recognize. We had to challenge these young men to achieve in the present, but also to achieve for the future.”

Though these alumni are no longer participating in the pageants or walking the brick streets, they are a connected group that will reunite for the Black Alumni Reunion this September. Kent, Rudolph and Liggins are all planning to attend the event to celebrate their years at OHIO, the memories they created and the legacy established through this fund.

Smith said, in previous years, Kent and Rudolph are welcomed into his home when they return to Athens.

“We have a full house whenever they come to town for Black Alumni Reunion,” he said.

Photos courtesy of Terri Liggins, BBA ’81.