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Gophers Participate in BigLife Series From Selma to Montgomery
7/21/2025 11:57:00 AM | Baseball, Athletics, Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field, Volleyball, Student-Athlete Development, M Club
The Golden Gophers had five representatives participate in the Big Life Series trip, July 18-July 20 to Selma, Tuskegee, and Montgomery, Ala. Participating in the event was track and field's Delia Johnson, Dyandra Gray and Jordan Dunigan, baseball's Charlie Sutherland, volleyball's Calissa Minatee, director of student-athlete development Jen Callinan and men's basketball alum and Big Ten Commission representative Quincy Lewis. Now in its fourth year, the 2025 event had over 150 participants from all 18 Big Ten schools and 25 different varsity sports.
The fourth edition provided student-athletes with transformational experiences to assist in preparing them to impact the world beyond their athletic careers. The "Big Life Series" is a cornerstone initiative led by the Big Ten's Community & Impact team and highlights the conference's ongoing commitment to create world class educational experiences for our student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. This year's event will also feature participants from the following Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU): Alabama State University, Florida A&M, Howard University and North Carolina A&T University.
Programming for the Big Life Series started Friday with attendees visiting the Tuskegee Airmen Historic Site at Moten Field. This site played a pivotal role in the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces and commemorates the contributions of African American airmen in World War II.
Saturday's events began with the celebration of the grand re-opening of the Ronnie Sharpe Park Basketball Court, a newly renovated public space made possible in partnership with the Big Ten and the City of Selma Parks & Recreation Department. Student-athletes also assembled 300 knapsacks filled with basketball gear provided by the Big Ten, Franklin Sports, Hypte Branded Solutions, and TIAA, to distribute to local children.
Following the grand re-opening of Ronnie Sharpe Park, the group visited First Baptist Church and marched across the historic Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma. Now a National Historic Landmark, on March 9, 1965, the bridge was the site of the Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights. The televised attacks were seen all over the nation, prompting public support for the civil rights activists in Selma and for the voting rights campaign.
Saturday afternoon in Montgomery the assembly heard from educational speakers Sheyann Webb-Christburg and Doris Crenshaw at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the nation's first state-funded historical agency, established to collect and preserve the historical materials of the people of Alabama. They also visited the Civil Rights Memorial Center, honoring the martyrs of the movement and inspiring visitors to continue the march for racial equity and social justice. The participants also saw the award-winning Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum, where visitors can travel through 400 years of American history – from enslavement to racial terrorism, to codified segregation, to mass incarceration.
The fourth edition provided student-athletes with transformational experiences to assist in preparing them to impact the world beyond their athletic careers. The "Big Life Series" is a cornerstone initiative led by the Big Ten's Community & Impact team and highlights the conference's ongoing commitment to create world class educational experiences for our student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. This year's event will also feature participants from the following Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU): Alabama State University, Florida A&M, Howard University and North Carolina A&T University.Programming for the Big Life Series started Friday with attendees visiting the Tuskegee Airmen Historic Site at Moten Field. This site played a pivotal role in the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces and commemorates the contributions of African American airmen in World War II.
Saturday's events began with the celebration of the grand re-opening of the Ronnie Sharpe Park Basketball Court, a newly renovated public space made possible in partnership with the Big Ten and the City of Selma Parks & Recreation Department. Student-athletes also assembled 300 knapsacks filled with basketball gear provided by the Big Ten, Franklin Sports, Hypte Branded Solutions, and TIAA, to distribute to local children.
Following the grand re-opening of Ronnie Sharpe Park, the group visited First Baptist Church and marched across the historic Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma. Now a National Historic Landmark, on March 9, 1965, the bridge was the site of the Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights. The televised attacks were seen all over the nation, prompting public support for the civil rights activists in Selma and for the voting rights campaign.
Saturday afternoon in Montgomery the assembly heard from educational speakers Sheyann Webb-Christburg and Doris Crenshaw at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the nation's first state-funded historical agency, established to collect and preserve the historical materials of the people of Alabama. They also visited the Civil Rights Memorial Center, honoring the martyrs of the movement and inspiring visitors to continue the march for racial equity and social justice. The participants also saw the award-winning Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum, where visitors can travel through 400 years of American history – from enslavement to racial terrorism, to codified segregation, to mass incarceration.2025 Sophomore Summits
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