As Florida A&M University’s incoming athletics director John Davis wraps up his time as the current secretary of the Florida Lottery, he’s highlighting a major dollar footprint that benefits students of FAMU – and Bethune-Cookman University.
During halftime at the Florida Classic on Nov. 22, where rivals FAMU and B-CU played their annual football game that led to B-CU’s 38-34 victory, representatives from the Florida Lottery participated in an on-field check presentation to highlight its $76 million support of both HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) to date. The funding goes towards the institutions’ students who are enrolled through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program – a merit-based opportunity funded by the state that awards Florida high school graduates based on their academic achievements.
The co-marketing move comes as Davis, who has been serving as secretary of the Florida Lottery since October 2020 as a Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee, will soon be leaving the position to start his new post as FAMU’s AD on Jan. 5. Although some have hailed Davis’s work at the Lottery, many individuals in the FAMU alumni community questioned his hiring at the university as another executive linked to the DeSantis administration, saying that he lacks experience in athletics administration and at HBCUs.
“We are honored to stand alongside institutions like FAMU and B-CU, and we remain proud to contribute to education across the entire state of Florida,” Davis said in a Nov. 24 Florida Lottery release. “The Florida Classic is more than a game, it’s a celebration of community, culture, and opportunity.”
As FAMU’s new AD, Davis will replace now-former FAMU AD Angela Suggs, who has been named special assistant to FAMU President Marva Johnson and advisor for Intercollegiate Athletics. Her recent appointment comes after she was on paid administrative leave since June after being arrested on fraud and theft charges stemming from her former job, the Florida Sports Foundation.
A Pahokee native, Davis is a 1994 FSU alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in political science and was on the Seminoles football team from 1989 to 1992, playing with FAMU’s current head basketball coach Charlie Ward during their years as student athletes. He is also a former executive vice president of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce and a former president of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.
On top of the financial contribution to students’ education in the state, the Florida Lottery also provided scholarship opportunities while sponsoring Ward’s fourth annual Father’s Day Leadership Basketball Clinic earlier this year in June at the Lawson Center on FAMU’s campus, which took place through the Charlie and Tonja Ward Family Foundation.
While the Lottery has contributed more than $76 million to FAMU and B-CU through educational funding supporting students enrolled through Bright Futures, it is unclear how many current students at the universities are Bright Futures recipients. But according to FAMU’s Office of Institutional Research & Analytics, 659 students were recipients of the scholarship program in 2022-2023, which is the most recent data available on the office’s website.
As the Florida Lottery continues to support HBCUs like FAMU and B-CU, the percentage of Hispanic students who are Bright Futures recipients has tripled since the scholarship program started while the percentage of Black students in the program has remained stagnant over the years and hasn’t exceeded more than 7% in the past three decades, according to a 2024 10 Tampa Bay report. Overall, the Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $49 billion to help over 1 million students go to college through the Bright Futures scholarship, and most of the funding for the program comes from the government agency.
As Davis awaits the upcoming transition of becoming FAMU’s AD, his contributions to the Florida Lottery’s financial support toward the education of college students across the state will change to focusing on fundraising efforts for FAMU athletics as part of his new job.
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.