Nicholas Love:Former sports columnist for The Gramblinite Nicholas Love recently spoke to mass communication students, professors and faculty members to reflect on his experience here during his undergraduate years at Grambling State.
As a Grambling State undergraduate, Love majored in mass communication and was an avid member of campus organizations, including The National Association of Black Journalists and The Society of Professional Journalists.
The 2006 Belleville High School graduate received his Bachelor of Arts in mass communication and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Sports Administration also at Grambling State.
Ready to embark on new journeys in the corporate world, Love was determined to remain on his path toward success.
He was employed with ESPN in Bristol, Conn. as a talent/editor for two years and is currently the Director of Basketball Operations at Louisiana Tech University.
Looking back, Love feels a great sense of pride to be alumni of Grambling. He adds that it is a responsibility to help remold the perception that many have of the institution.
It is a place that holds a great amount of his success and Grambling will always be somewhere his heart will always remain.
While there are some alumni who left Grambling with regrets, Love says that he pursued all that was necessary and part of his plan at the time.
Reflecting on his fondest memory, he had so many but was able to narrow it down to one.
During his senior year, Love and fellow friends conducted a live show on the yard (similar to ESPN’s College Football Game Day Show).
“The Tiger Marching Band, cheerleaders and even Greek organizations were involved, and we were also able to receive donations from local businesses for trivia prizes . Members of the student body came out to participate and we all had a good time,” said Love.
When asked if he could offer advice to individuals that are close to graduating, Love expresses the importance of developing a plan that will put you in a position to be happy and successful.
He adds that there is a big difference between having a job and being in a profession.
A job is something you have to do to pay bills. A profession is something you love to do, that happens to pay the bills.
The Gramblinite congratulates Jerome Hubbard and Nicholas Love on their success and wishes them the best in their endeavors.
Jerome Hubbard:
As a freshman in the fall of 2007, I walked into The Gramblinite newsroom and saw a room full of upper classmen, busy as worker bees.
One person stood out to me. He was hunched over a table, on his cell phone discussing the school football team.
I was introduced to him. He seemed easy going and focused. Jerome Hubbard would be the first sports editor I worked for.
Always on the go with his infamous cell phone glued to his hand and pressed up against his ear, I watched him and tried to learn all that I could.
Jerome has since graduated and I am still learning from him. Since departing from Grambling State University, he has held myriad of internships that would make the average mass communication student pee their pants.
“To be honest since I graduated, I been traveling, basically experience,” he said.
His laundry list of internships includes a stint with the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports reporting intern and time with major sports teams like the St. Louis Rams and the Chicago White Sox.
“You know, I walked around after graduation asking Ms. Peters and Mrs. Ford, ‘What am I going to do?’ and they always told me that I would be OK.”
To say that Hubbard was OK would be an understatement, but it was not easy.
The transition from undergraduate life was one that he said can worry anyone, but it’s all in how you handle it.
Once he left Grambling, he began working for the San Francisco Chronicle, he saw so many lay-offs and buy-outs that he knew he needed to do something.
After having an internship with the Indianapolis Colts, the summer before, he pursued sports public relations.
Following his newspaper internship, he worked with the Rams, Chicago White Sox (Major League Baseball), and San Francisco 49ers.
One thing he said helped him with this series of decisions was his mentor.
His mentor told him to diversify his resume and gain work in various areas of sports media relations.
By doing this Hubbard would avoid being pigeonholed as just a one trick pony.
From his jobs, he obtained a full ride scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
“When I started I did not really like my baseball intern because I did not know much about baseball.
“But I think I learned a lot from it. But if I had to pick just one I couldn’t,” said Hubbard.
Many of his internships allowed him to stretch his legs and really learn the field. He was not an intern who fetched coffee and donuts.
Overall, the Grambling State University alumnus said that his experiences and ordeals at the university prepared him for what lay in waiting outside the sleepy little town.
“I would not trade my experience at Grambling for anything.
“If you can handle the adversity at Grambling, you can handle anything.
“Be serious and analyze the plan you have made for yourself.
“Take the necessary steps to accomplish your goals,” he echoes.
From an uncertain graduate to an up and coming name in the sports public relation industry, Jerome Hubbard is a testament to what hard work, preparation and opportunity can do for you.