The Denzel Washington Wiley debate team story is getting fresh attention, nearly 20 years after the actor made his promise. A new look at the program, reported by EURweb from a PEOPLE feature, shows how his $1 million commitment helped bring a dormant debate squad back to life at Wiley University in Marshall, Texas. No new gift has been announced. This is a look at what the money built.
The History Behind The Great Debaters
Melvin B. Tolson started the Wiley debate team in the 1920s, and the squad became a powerhouse. From about 1929 to 1939, it debated 75 times and lost once, according to the Associated Press. In 1935, Wiley beat the University of Southern California, the reigning national champion. The film “The Great Debaters” swapped in Harvard as the opponent, but the real foe was USC.
Wiley couldn’t officially claim the title, though. The national debate society hadn’t admitted Black members, a barrier that stood until after World War II. Tolson left Wiley in 1947, and the team disbanded. Debate stayed gone for roughly 60 years.
What $1 Million Did for the Denzel Washington Wiley Debate Team
Washington directed and starred in “The Great Debaters,” which opened Dec. 25, 2007. Days earlier, on Dec. 19, he announced a $1 million donation so Wiley could re-establish its team.
The revival moved quickly once the money landed. Debate coach Shannon LaBove joined in 2008, and the new squad staged an exhibition at Oklahoma City University to commemorate a 1931 meeting between the two schools, believed to be the first interracial debate in the South, per the AP. Wiley had about 967 students at the time, and enrollment was climbing.
His family foundation paid the money in $100,000 installments, Black Enterprise reported when it covered the fourth one. The team now carries both men’s names as the Melvin B. Tolson/Denzel Washington Forensics Society.
Results came faster than most people expected. The revived team cracked the top 10 at the 2011 Pi Kappa Delta national tournament, HBCU Buzz reported in a piece on Wiley’s rematch with USC. By 2012-13, it ranked fourth in the nation, according to the Congressional Record. Then, in March 2014, 23 first- and second-year students won the Pi Kappa Delta Comprehensive National Tournament against debaters from 80 colleges, per Texas House Resolution 1609. Wiley finished first with 60 awards.
EURweb, citing DebateUS, says Wiley won the Pi Kappa Delta crown twice, in 2014 and 2016. Last year, the team finished in the top three at HBCU Nationals and took runner-up in individual competition.
The Scholarship Side
Trophies aren’t the whole point. The foundation’s support helps pay dues for students who represent the team. Jaylon Bolden came to Wiley expecting to play football, and he left with five years of debate experience and $80,000 in scholarship aid linked to Washington’s backing.
Bolden called joining the Tolson/Washington Forensics Society “divine intervention,” he told KETK. He said he felt part of a legacy much bigger than he could have imagined.
Why Wiley Leans on It
University president Dr. Herman J. Felton sees the program as a recruiting tool. Being home to The Great Debaters, he told KETK, makes Wiley “a very attractive option” for students who excel at debate. Washington has framed it as an opportunity story. Supporting these students, he said, will “open so many doors of opportunity” during college and beyond.
HBCU Buzz covered an earlier milestone when the foundation made that fourth $100,000 installment. Washington last visited campus in 2018 for a debate competition, and Wiley honored him at the first HBCU Debate Awards that year.
A Texas Southern Connection
Wiley isn’t the only HBCU debate story in the movie’s orbit. To prepare his cast, Washington sent the actors to Texas Southern University for a mini debate camp with its accomplished team and founding coach Thomas Freeman. It’s a reminder that HBCU debate has deep roots beyond one campus.
What to Watch
Two details deserve a second look. EURweb says the foundation still sends yearly gifts, but earlier coverage described installments spread over many years, so the exact schedule isn’t clear. And Wiley is now Wiley University, after operating as Wiley College from 1929 to 2023, per its Wikipedia entry. Everything else is the story that made Wiley College famous: students who kept winning when the odds said they couldn’t. That’s why the Denzel Washington Wiley debate team still draws attention almost two decades after one promise.
