Gabby Douglas coming to Spelman?
AP photo
Could Olympic golden girl Gabby Douglas come to Atlanta for college?
We’re working on finding out more after TMZ posted a short item saying Spelman College made sure Douglas received a bag of congratulatory gear from the school following her triumphs in London.
A number of celebrities, including some with Atlanta connections, are among the throngs offering their well wishes via Twitter.
“Dreams do come true, Gabby!!! Congrats ‘All Around’” tweeted actress Raven-Symone while actress Gabrielle Union, who will be spending time here working on a new BET show “Being Mary Jane” tweeted, “GOLDEN GIRL!!! I’m in awe.”
“Vampire Diaries” actress Nina Dobrev upped the ante, tweeting, “I hear you’ll be coming to Atlanta soon 
I promise to personally show you around the set if you show me your gold metal!”
Added her “Vampire Diaries” co-shar Ian Somerhalder: “We’d like to congratulate you and the U.S. Women’s team on your gold medal! Go Team USA! Love, Ian.”
She’s also gotten Twitter love from President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey.
The gymnastics star is having a big time at the 2012 Games.
“I met Kate, the duchess, that was a cool experience for me,” she said during a press conference, the AP reported. “I’ve always wanted to inspire people, and the thing about the Olympics, this quote ‘inspire a generation’ – so, you know, I can check that off my bucket list.”
And this AP story reported that she “is the most clicked-upon athlete on NBC’s Olympics website,” and noted that “through Sunday, her profile on the site had more than 18 million page views. That’s far above the second-ranked athlete, swimmer Michael Phelps, whose profile had just over 7 million page views.”
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202 comments Add your comment
Hmmmmmmm
August 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
Ranked #62 Liberal Arts college… Hmmmmmm Ok for some, but for someone who is academically inclined and not worried about being politically correct, then ranks right up there with West Georgia University… But hey, don’t let the facts get in anybody’s way…
j-dawg
August 9th, 2012
4:50 pm
If she can participate in gymnastics in college as an amateur, she should go to UGA. If she is already a pro and cannot participate, go to an Ivy League school or Stanford. This is a non-decision. Spelman? Puh-lease
Sayitaintso
August 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
@Who Cares, you’re the idiot. The NCAA will allow an athlete to be a pro in one sport and an amateur in another. Quincy signed a contract as a pro baseball player and that’s why he was allowed to play college football.
Deion did the same at Florida State, signed with the Yankees but played football on the college level. As a matter of fact, Deion wasn’t on scholarship at FSU, he paid his own way with earning from the Yankees.
Do a little more research before calling someone an idiot.
creative
August 9th, 2012
5:06 pm
anger and hatred, awesome. Gabby is a cool chick and she is a really good gymnast. Thanks.
rastus
August 9th, 2012
5:08 pm
Florida A&M be de place for her.
KGray
August 9th, 2012
5:08 pm
B, I think you should take your racist comment or your opinion to FoxNews where they are welcomed and I’m sure you didn’t attend anyone’s college or you would know or should have known that great women have attened Spelman College and it will be Gabby’s choice if she want to attend. Secondly, from you comments about hating liberals, I quite sure you sit in church every Sunday and profess and confess to your friends and neighbors what a good Christian that you are; however, you use the word HATE in such a mean spirited way. If the trustee board of Spelman felt she should go to Spelman and not spend any tax payers money to fund this trip to London,please tell me what business is it of yours. Continue to support the non-christian Romney and see how you like his Mormanism an occult religion.
BigT
August 9th, 2012
5:09 pm
I am a African American male with a daughter, I would not let her even consider going to Spelman!!!! With her talent and training why would you want her to take a step back, and go somewhere where the facilities are not even up to par, with some of the local high schools. This is just some way to give a fledgling school some PR. If Gabby had not of won, there would be no mention of offering her anything.
What can Spelman offer her, other than to say she went to a rundown HBCU. The only student athletes that go to these schools are the ones who were not talented enough to make D-1 schools, or they got kicked out of D-1 schools, for disciplinary or academic issues.
KGray
August 9th, 2012
5:25 pm
BigT, I disagree with you I attended Spelman and then I was accepted to Columbia University Law School. You sound ignorant and I hope you retract your Idiotic statement. I guess you fell that the only way for your child to succeed is to attend an all white university. It’ s not where you attend it’s how you apply what you have been taught. My grandfather was raised in a poor environment and attended Morehouse and meet my grandmother who attended Spelman and all of their children attened HSBC schools and all have done well in life and none have ever been convicted of a crime or been arrested. Therefore, you sound IGNORANT and playing into the hype that only white universities can offer a better education, which is not true. By the way what college or university did you attend?
Steve-O
August 9th, 2012
5:30 pm
Way to go Spelman!! FYI, she has an agent, so she cannot participate in college gymnastics. She will probably hire a personal coach to come out and train her in ATL (or where ever).
Charlotte, NC
August 9th, 2012
6:10 pm
@KGray. Don’t argue with BigT. He is just mad that some of us attended HBCU’s with full rides and are better off financially than the ones who went to a majority white school. You pay tithes, mortgage, car note versus him paying all the above plus thousands in student loans for a name. Come on, who is really winning here? lol. Countless studies prove that blacks fair better at HBCUs at the undergraduate level.
Gunluvr
August 9th, 2012
6:13 pm
My advice is to avoid that whole area(AU Center), it’s located in a depressing recidivist saturated neighborhood(Vine City). She can do much better at UGA, Auburn, etc. The air is fresh and she can walk at night without getting jumped and beaten up, which is a very common occurrence between there and GA Tech.
rattler
August 9th, 2012
6:15 pm
Spelman IS a prestigious college. As a matter of fact, Spelman is one of the best colleges in the country, period. I hope that Gabby will choose Spelman. Spelman graduates are very impressive and I’m confident that they will mold Gabby into an extraordinary woman. She won’t have any problems with locating a gym in Metro Atlanta where she can continue her gymnastics training. The bottom line here is that Gabby will get the best of both worlds at Spelman (Academics & Social Life).
rattler
August 9th, 2012
6:17 pm
@ rastus – Right on! If she doesn’t go to FAMU, then I hope she attends Spelman.
Gunluvr
August 9th, 2012
6:24 pm
If she wanted to she could milk them for about $1 million per year plus a degree at the end. That would be fair because there’s no real advantage to going to a school like Spelman or Morehouse except for kids who can’t function outside of a school catering mainly to blacks.
rattler
August 9th, 2012
6:24 pm
@ Big T – Your daughter wouldn’t stand a chance on an HBCU campus. With an ignorant, misinformed parent like you, she’s already behind the 8 ball. Please send her to an HWCU so that our HBCU campuses don’t have to deal with parents like you. The fact is, HBCUs are home to the best and brightest students. Life is good at HBCUs.
MeaneyMouse
August 9th, 2012
6:38 pm
USAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSUAUSUASUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSUSUAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSASAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSA
KimZ'sPackage
August 9th, 2012
6:38 pm
johnnywad
August 9th, 2012
4:40 pm
Gabby is over qualified to work the window at Chick Fil A
==============================================
She is 16 I don’t think she is qualified to work at any job.
Renee
August 9th, 2012
6:40 pm
I hope Gabby chooses where she wants to go, regardless of what others think. She is black, but also she is an American. I attended an all black college but I learned more about black history at Emory. Let Gabby be a person first. By the way, Gabby is a free spirit, why should she choose Spelman which is closed in by gates and fences, and in one of the worst neighborhoods in Georgia. Those colleges at the AU center focus on past achievements and not impacting the present, and not projecting into the future.
KimZ'sPackage
August 9th, 2012
6:47 pm
Gabby go to a college where Stomp’n the Yard is a sport and the Band is what you go to see at a football game. That will be the true college experience you need.
Annie
August 9th, 2012
7:15 pm
Gabby can continue to compete at a professional level, while attending college. She doesn’t have to compete on a college team.
Her coach actually said that given her physical frame, there’s a chance that she could compete in the 2016 Olympic Games. That will be hard to do, since the last three Olympic teams for the women have all been different, and it has been 50 years since a female All Around champion has one two Olympics in a row.
Annie
August 9th, 2012
7:26 pm
The funny thing about this article is that it’s jumping to a lot of conclusions. The people at Spelman sending Gabby a gift package doesn’t mean that she will attend the college. According to her page on they us gymnastics website, she’s not even a high school junior, yet.
Ron Hardin
August 9th, 2012
7:43 pm
Big T you make me SICK. By using the term D-1 and your focus on athletics, it is apparent that you believe that African Americans can only succeed through sports. I feel sorry for your kids. I played D-1 sports never made any $$$$$ but I do practice law with my wife also SPELMAN GRAD AND AWESOME ATTORNEY. Hating yourself my friend will not gain you any favor or points amongst the majority. AND THIS IS MY REAL NAME CHUMP. And I went to Georgia Tech 93-98 LOSER.
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
7:48 pm
Reading through this blog there are so many negative comments concerning Gabby attending Spelman College. Spelman is a wonderful school that would allow the young lady to continue to grow into the mature, well rounded, educated, gracefull woman she is destined to be. Any and every young lady should be so fortunate as to have the opportunity to allow Sister Spelman to mold and shape her. People need to realze that she is more that just an Olympic Gymnist. She is a tresaure. A treasure that Spelman College is more than capable of protecting and showcasing her brilliance.
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
7:53 pm
To Gunluvr: You are totally clueless when it comes to Morehouse and Spelman. All of the graduates from both schools have always produce productive members of society. What qualifies you exactly to make such a ignorant statement?
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
7:57 pm
Would everyone leave Big T alone. This man is full of self hatred. He doesn’t love himeself so we should not expect him to treasure our rich culture. Hate it for ya Bra.
KimZ'sPackage
August 9th, 2012
8:01 pm
Annie Shaun Johnson would have been on the team is she had not torn up her knee. She would have been 20 just like gabby will be in 2016.
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
8:15 pm
I keep hear people say that Spelman college has nothing to offer a World Class Athlete. I would disagree. Spelman College offers a World Class Education and Experience. This would be something you would know if you would do a little research and stop inbreeding.
BigT
August 9th, 2012
10:53 pm
You all are missing the point, the young lady is being courted by Spelman because of her athletic achievements not from academics. And if you all would take a moment to reflect, you all know that you don’t have the facilities, nor the coaches for a talent like Gabby Douglas or any other Olympic gymnast. If this were solely based on academics then my thoughts would be different, but her case is based on her athletic accomplishments. I wonder if they offered any of her white counterparts the same thing, that would be No!!!
And for my Haters, i went to school in dekalb county, played football earned a scholarship to NC State and received my Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I’m a successful business owner, and i employ some of your fellow HBCU alumni, along with people you have graduated from traditional universities. I’m just saying as far as athletics Spelman College should not be on her list, now if she wants to go because of Academics, that’s a entirely different argument.
BigT
August 9th, 2012
11:02 pm
Renee – “Those colleges at the AU center focus on past achievements and not impacting the present, and not projecting into the future.” – I totally agree…
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
11:46 pm
Big T…. You are missing the point. Spelman/Morehouse and the rest of the AUC schools are noted for the Acheivements of the Alumnae. Students don’t attend Spelman and Morehouse for athletics. They attend these schools for academic challenges and knowing that you are getting a World Class, World Recognized education. Do some research about these schools.
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 9th, 2012
11:48 pm
Big T…. Loud and Wrong again.Where did you martriculate? You certainly have opinions about the AUC. I want to know where you are coming from with these opinions.
KimZ'sPackage
August 10th, 2012
12:16 am
Morehouse man yo do read to well Big told you……
“And for my Haters, I went to school in dekalb county, played football earned a scholarship to NC State and received my Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I’m a successful business owner.”
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 10th, 2012
12:46 am
Would you define Successful? and answer my previous questions.
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 10th, 2012
12:49 am
I would stack a Morehouse/Spelman College degree up against you NC. State degree anytime. It’s too bad the NC State education didn’t help open your mind and broaden your view.
KimZ'sPackage
August 10th, 2012
12:50 am
Morehouse Man why don’t you define successful because I have a feeling you will not think he is successful no matter what he says or you will say he is lying.
KimZ'sPackage
August 10th, 2012
1:01 am
NCSU ranked 101 still don’t see Spelman or Morehouse on the rankings.
Dekou
August 10th, 2012
1:13 am
The Bourgeois would criticize her hair at Spelman if she attended. Word is out- she’s strongly considering the University of Phoenix!
MOREHOUSE MAN
August 10th, 2012
1:45 am
101 in what rankings. Where do I find it? Check the rankings in US News and World Reports on where Morehouse and Spelman rank. I unlike you would take him/her at his/her word until I findout otherwise. I do my due diligence.
Pete
August 10th, 2012
6:58 am
Is Spelman recruiting the other members of the US gynmastics team? Hmmm, no? Wonder why. Couldn’t be because they’re white, is it?
BigT
August 10th, 2012
7:45 am
Morehouse Man you prove my point, in your own words – “Big T…. You are missing the point. Spelman/Morehouse and the rest of the AUC schools are noted for the Acheivements of the Alumnae. Students don’t attend Spelman and Morehouse for athletics.” and i want you to understand & read very slowly. Why would Gabby Douglas choose to accept an Athletic scholarship from Spelman College. They are not offering her a Academic Scholarship!!! So you or anyone else as a parent, how in the world would you let your child who is an Olympic Gold Medalist attend a College that does not have the athletic facilities, coaches or staff, nor the level of competition she would need to push her, and keep her among the worlds best. By reading some of the other idiotic statements, some of you think she should go to Spelman and find a Gym and do her training outside of the school. That will never happen.
At the end of the day this about a young woman’s athletic accomplishments not her academic accomplishments!!!! Please direct me to any HBCU that can help maintain her gold medal winning standards.
Get a clue please
August 10th, 2012
9:26 am
Big T you need to do a little more research about what schools do. First, as many have already stated, Gabby is now considered a professional gymnast therefore cannot compete in gymnastics in NCAA gymnastics NO MATTER WHERE SHE GOES! And as an alumna I know athletic scholarships are not given at Spelman!
Second, I guarantee you have no idea what Spelman recruiters would have even said to her! Were you in London? No!!!! Are you in a position to give her guidance as far as what is in her best interest? NO!!!! I guarantee that no one who has left a comment could!
MorehouseBS'95,ColumbiaMBA'04,HarvardMPP'05
August 10th, 2012
9:28 am
@BigT, unless you earned an academic scholarship to attend NCState, there’s no way in the world you would have been ALLOWED to major in mechanical engineering and play football. You can sell that truckload of stuff to someone else who’s buying it.
Over the last 24 hours, I’ve sat and read these posting after a classmate forward them to me and it’s a sad commentary to state of black community. What is so sad is that some of you blacks are saying, “She should not attend Spelman bc of this or because of that”. How quickly we forget, all of us are standing on the shoulders of someone that attended an HBCU. BigT, who knows, you may be standing on several people shoulders if you’re big…
You speak of non-relevance and past accomplishments, well, there’s a Chinese proverb that reads, “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going”… Every other racial group understands the importance of preserving their heritage except us. Billy Holiday said it best, “Rich relations may give a crust or bread of such, you take some but don’t dare take too much, mama may have and papa may have but GOD bless the child that got his own.”
I have matriculated and GRADUATED from three of the best schools in this country and please find comfort in knowing, I outpaced and survived a lot longer than some of my fellow black classmates during graduate school that attended Yale, Brown, UNC and etc and it was because of the academic SEAL training, I received at the little school in the West End section of Atlanta called Morehouse College.
What too is ironic in the big scheme of things, you never hear Catholics put down or defame University of Notre Dame, St. John University or University of Villanova, you NEVER hear Mormons put down BYU or Jews put down Brandeis University only do you hear blacks putting down HBCU. (Go figure and everyone wonder why we’re in the condition we’re in today.)
At BigT since you’re stated you’re an accomplished business owner, you don’t support black schools but I’ll be my life you want customer to support black businesses. Go figure…
As for athletic abilities, let’s remember, every athletic (from Kobe to pop-warner) is only ONE play/ performance away from the end of their career. All it takes is one mis-step and your career is over, then what. You are a has-been and “the establishment” has no need for you any longer.
I invite you to read up Carter G. Woodson when he said, “You control a man’s mind, you don’t have to worry about his action, if there’s not a back door, he will cut one.” It’s clear BigT you like entering through the back door.
Morehouse'95,Columbia'04,Harvard'05
August 10th, 2012
9:29 am
@BigT, unless you earned an academic scholarship to attend NCState, there’s no way in the world you would have been ALLOWED to major in mechanical engineering and play football. You can sell that truckload of stuff to someone else who’s buying it.
Over the last 24 hours, I’ve sat and read these posting after a classmate forward them to me and it’s a sad commentary to state of black community. What is so sad is that some of you blacks are saying, “She should not attend Spelman bc of this or because of that”. How quickly we forget, all of us are standing on the shoulders of someone that attended an HBCU. BigT, who knows, you may be standing on several people shoulders if you’re big…
You speak of non-relevance and past accomplishments, well, there’s a Chinese proverb that reads, “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going”… Every other racial group understands the importance of preserving their heritage except us. Billy Holiday said it best, “Rich relations may give a crust or bread of such, you take some but don’t dare take too much, mama may have and papa may have but GOD bless the child that got his own”
I have matriculated and GRADUATED from three of the best schools in this country and please find comfort in knowing, I outpaced and survived a lot longer than some of my fellow black classmates during graduate school and it was because of the academic SEAL training, I received at the little school in the West End section of Atlanta called Morehouse College.
What too is ironic in the big scheme of things, you never hear Catholics put down or defame University of Notre Dame, St. John University or University of Villanova, you NEVER hear Mormons put down BYU or Jews put down Brandeis University only do you hear blacks putting down HBCU. (Go figure and everyone wonder why we’re in the condition we’re in today.)
At BigT since you’re stated you’re an accomplished business owner, you don’t support black schools but I’ll be my life you want customer to support black businesses. Go figure…
As for athletic abilities, let’s remember, every athletic (from Kobe to pop-warner) is only ONE play/ performance away from the end of their career. All it takes is one mis-step and your career is over, then what. You are a has-been and “the establishment” has no need for you any longer.
I invite you to read up Carter G. Woodson when he said, “You control a man’s mind, you don’t have to worry about his action, if there’s not a back door, he will cut one.” It’s clear BigT you like entering through the back door.
Morehouse'95,Columbia'04,Harvard'05
August 10th, 2012
10:36 am
@Big T & KimZ
Do you know what the following people have in common?
Michael Eric Dyson – Georgetown University Professor
Nikki Giovanni – Tenured Professor at Virginia Tech
Ruth J. Simmons – President of Brown University ( first black president of an Ivy School)
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.- Tenured Professor at Harvard University
Since you guys probably don’t know, they all work in the field of higher education and understand the importance of higher learning and they all have sent THEIR KIDS to those little schools in the west end section of Atlanta… All with the exception of Nikki’s son finished on THIS side of 2000… So that’s not long ago history BigT…
Bhamfornow
August 10th, 2012
11:02 am
Why would she want to go to a third rate school?
Bhamfornow
August 10th, 2012
11:06 am
She needs to go to college and become an Accountant to get her mother out of Bankruptcy.
BigT
August 10th, 2012
5:24 pm
Wow i seemed to have stirred a hornets nest. I just read that she indeed signed a professional contract, which would make her ineligible for an athletic scholarship. With that being said,
my argument is based totally on the state of athletics with HBCU’s, most of these schools don’t have proper facilities to help enhance their student athletes, compared to the HWU’s. If you all feel so strongly about HBCU’s why don’t you try and pool all of your money and resources, and try to at least make one your HBCU’s a legitimate D1 school, so that the top black athletes have a chance to get the so called “black experience”, that you feel they are missing out on. There are so many famous people that attended college at the AUC, but where are they??? Why is the area around the AUC so dilapidated, why don’t you have world class facilities? Why is the area so rampant with drugs, prostitution, and other crimes? What do you all do to stop it, nothing because you don’t care, you all get on here and cry foul when someone says something about HBCU’s. We all know that there is enough money from your alumni to accomplish these things, but the reason you don’t have it and never will, is because its not really on your agenda to fix. You all like to walk around and say i graduated from a HBCU, but what are you doing for your beloved schools after you have left. Hmmm….probably nothing i would guess!!!!!
The athletic department at most schools benefit everyone just not the athletes, the income that student athletes generate goes to helping most departments at various colleges. HWU’s get this and that is why they are able to invest and keep up their facilities or build new ones, whether it be academic or athletic related.
In response to this nonsense…..”At BigT since you’re stated you’re an accomplished business owner, you don’t support black schools but I’ll be my life you want customer to support black businesses. Go figure…” – I do very well and i don’t have to cater to a specific race of people, my product caters to everyone!!!!
Ivy
August 12th, 2012
1:45 am
Spelman is good. But, Gabby can do better. I have worked with several people who graduated from Spelman who were lost. I was not impressed. Gabby has many options and should consider them all. Then, she should pick the best for her.
Gunluvr
August 13th, 2012
8:50 am
Those schools in that area are only really interested in indoctrination, not education. I wouldn’t send my child there to be educated, they’re a waste of time and money; too much money. Ms. Douglass can do much better and not put her life in danger by avoiding the crime filled West End.
Thomas
August 13th, 2012
10:27 am
SHE WILL BE A UGA GYMDAWG.