Last year, Tennessee State made history when it announced it was launching the first ice hockey team in HBCU sports history. This past week, Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover and Director of Athletics Dr. Mikki Allen made history again when they hired Duanté Abercrombie as the first head ice hockey coach in HBCU sports history.
Duanté Abercrombie (@blkhky) Named FIRST Head Coach in @TSUedu Hockey History.
— Tennessee State Hockey (@TSUTigersHockey) April 18, 2024
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“I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Abercrombie. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”
Abercrombie’s hiring adds a major piece to the Tennessee St. hockey program puzzle that began in the spring of 2021 when Allen began discussing the idea with Nashville Predators President and CEO, Sean Henry.
“We have tremendous partnerships with the NHL and Sean Henry and the Predators behind us 110%,” said Allen to the Tennessean when the announcement was first made in February 2022. “Now we are assembling a TSU Friends of Hockey Fundraising Team. We are looking for other corporations. It could be a private gift out there or a public gift that could really help ignite this and propel us to where this becomes a reality.“
Two years later, the Tigers have their leader.
According to William Douglas of The Color of Hockey, Abercrombie began playing hockey at the age of six with Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club. The organization, founded in 1978 by Neal Henderson, the first Black inductee of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, is “an affiliate of the NHL’s Hockey Is For Everyone initiative and the oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program in North America.”
Abercrombie then attended Hampton University, where he was a track and field athlete. After leaving the university, he played in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) and the Federal Hockey League (FHL) in the U.S.
He then moved into coaching at the college level in 2019 at Stevenson University, an NCAA DIII program. Over the next few years, he became recognized for his work in the sport, including being named to The Athletic’s 40-Under-40 hockey list as an individual shaping the game’s future.
The Tigers’ new head coach has also contributed to the sport’s diversity efforts.
