Michael Hurd is a historian, author, and freelance writer who was born in Texarkana, Texas and grew up in Houston, where he graduated from Evan E. Worthing High School in 1967. He is managing editor for the Texas Black History Preservation Project which is documenting almost 500 years of African American presence in Texas as an online encyclopedia. However, his career includes an eight-year stint in the U.S. Air Force as a medic, serving one year (1971) at Phu Cat Air Base, Vietnam. He was honorably discharged in May 1976 with the Air Force Commendation Medal. He is a graduate in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and has worked as a sports writer at the Houston Post, the Austin American-Statesman, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports. He has authored two books, including “Black College Football, 1892-1992,” the only book that comprehensively documents the legacies of football programs at historically Black colleges. For more than a decade, he served as a member of the National Football Foundation’s Honors Court for Divisional Players, the group that selects small college players to the College Football Hall of Fame, and he currently serves on the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame. He recently began working on a book, “Thursday Night Lights,” for UT Press about the history of football programs at black high schools in Texas before integration, 1920-1970. In the fall of 2015, he became director for the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture at Prairie View A&M University, a historically black college northwest of Houston. The institute focuses on documenting the almost 500-year history of African American presence in Texas. Current second term expires December 31, 2021.