Oakland Raiders guard Art Shell PHOTO COURTESY OF PROFOOTBALLHISTORY.COM VIA NFL PHOTO LIBRARY

Miami- Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their alumni including former NFL players around the country are playing a key role in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, pulling for Vice President Kamala Harris to make history twice.

If Harris beats former President Donald Trump in November, she will become not only the first woman U.S. president but the first president who graduated from a HBCU.

Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington D.C., and earned her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

A pack of former NFL players who graduated from HBCUs and some who broke the color barrier in the NFL have endorsed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

They hope their support will boost their campaign’s momentum after a group of Republicans announced they are backing the Harris-Walz ticket.

According to the Black College Football Hall of Fame, former football players and coaches, including 10 Pro Football Hall of Famers and Super Bowl MVPs, and former No. 1 overall draft picks have announced their endorsement of Harris.

The endorsement letter states: "Given [Vice President Harris’] integrity, values and demonstrated commitment to justice and equality of opportunity, we are confident that as President she will serve the best interests of all Americans."

The signatures on the letter include former Oakland Raiders guard Art Shell, who became the NFL’s first Black head coach in 1989; former Chicago Bear defensive back and former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frasier; James Harris, who was recognized as the NFL’s first Black starting quarterback; Greg Coleman, the NFL’s first Black punter; and Super Bowl XX MVP Chicago Bears defensive end and Hall of Famer Richard Dent, who graduated from Tennessee State University.

Other former and current Black athletes also endorsed Harris and Walz including six-time NBA champion Steph Curry, an all-star with the Golden State Warriors, and NBA Hall of Famer Ervin Magic Johnson.

The former Black athletes’ endorsement was part of National Black Voter Day, an initiative designed to register as many Blacks to vote in the November election.

The program is in partnership with the NAACP, National Urban League and Black Entertainment Television also known as BET as well as 30 other civic organizations backing Harris and Walz.

"As a proud graduate of Howard University, I know firsthand that our HBCUs are centers of academic excellence," Harris said in a White House statement. "For generations, these anchors of our communities have played a pivotal role in building and contributing to America’s leadership at home and abroad."

The endorsement of former Black athletes comes when a recent poll conducted by the NAACP discovered that roughly a quarter of Black men under 50 support Trump while about a half back Harris.

Harris has been criticized for not acknowledging her Caribbean roots; her father was born in Jamaica and her mother came to the U.S. from India.

According to a CNN poll, some Black men are not fond of Harris.

She responded during an appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia last week.

"I think it’s very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody’s pocket," Harris said. "I’m working to earn the vote, not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black."

Both Harris and Trump are counting on HBCUs, especially in the swing states and touted how much they have invested in the African American colleges.

Last week, the Biden-Harris administration announced $1.3 billion in federal funding to HBCUs, bringing its total support of these institutions to more than $17 billion since 2021.

After the announcement, Trump told supporters he invested a series of funding for HBCUs when he was president, and said he saved them by signing the Future Act, which renewed $85 million in federal dollars annually to the colleges without Congress approval.

The two presidential candidates may get another shot at each other as Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN to debate Trump on Oct. 23, but Trump said it was too late for another face off because Americans have begun casting their votes during early voting in some states.

According to polls conducted by CNN, Harris has 50 percent support and Trump has 47 percent.

It seems more white Americans, Republican and Democrats, increasingly are backing Harris’ campaign including White Dudes for Harris, a group of voters nationwide.

According to CNN, the group has purchased TV ads to be aired in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, the three states that could decide the presidential race.

The ad makes a direct appeal to disaffected male voters who often may hear online that “we’re the problem.”

“And yeah, some white dudes are,” a narrator states. “Trump and all his MAGA buddies around him are making it worse, shouting nonsense in their stupid red hats.”