When the top student-athletes at our nation’s HBCUs make it to professional sports leagues, the relationship does not end there. For successful football player George Nock, who unfortunately passed late last year, he never forgot his alma mater Morgan State University, and neither did his family! As a result, posthumously, Nock’s estate has established a fund at MSU in his honor! Read more Nock’s legacy and the new scholarship from The Philadelphia Tribune below.
Mary Nock, the widow of George Nock, who died on Nov. 22, 2020, has established the George V. Nock Endowed Scholarship Fund. A donation in memory of George Nock may be made to the Morgan State University Foundation to benefit the George V. Nock Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Nock was an All Public League football player at Ben Franklin High School and later starred for Morgan State and played in the AFL and NFL. Nock was 74 years old.
In 1963, he was one of the best players in the Public League. He attended Morgan State from 1964 to 1969 where he received a B.S. degree in psychology. Nock was a brilliant running back while at Morgan State earning All-American honorable mention, All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), All-State and All American-Black College honors. He was named captain of the team for two years.
As a freshman, in the 1965 Orange Blossom Classic, Nock returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown in a victory over Florida A&M for the mythical Black college national championship. As a senior, Nock ran for 87 yards to help Morgan State beat Grambling State, 9-7, i the first game played at Yankee Stadium between two Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Twice, he earned All-CIAA recognition and averaged six yards a carry.
Nock, a 16th round pick of the New York Jets in the 1969 NFL Draft, played three years there and one with The Washington Football Team. In Nock’s best year (1970) he rushed for 402 yards, caught 18 passes and scored six touchdowns. In a 20-10 upset of the Minnesota Vikings, he ran for 117 yards, the only player to gain at 100 yards that season against the NFL’s No. 1 ranked defense.
In 2017, Morgan State University unveiled its campus memorial to the institution’s athletic greats. The memorial, Legends Plaza, was designed and created by the artistic vision of Nock — a self-taught and celebrated artist. Legends Plaza, a nearly 2,000-square-foot enclosure on Morgan Commons between the front entrance of Hughes Stadium and the University Student Center, features six-foot bronze statues of legendary head coaches Edward P. “Eddie” Hurt and earl C. “Papa Bear” Banks.
You can go to http://www.givetomorgan.org, select the “George V. Nock Endowed Scholarship Fund” in the designation field. For gifts by mail, checks should be made payable to “Morgan State University Foundation” and include a note identifying the George V. Nock Endowed Scholarship Fund as the beneficiary. Gifts should be mailed to: Morgan State University Foundation, Inc, P.O. Box 64261, Baltimore, MD 21264-4261.
