“Do you want to make history?” A very simple question with a very deep meaning if hammered right on the nail head. It took forty-one years after the very first NCAA gymnastics championship for an HBCU to build its own gymnastics program. And Fisk gymnastics head coach Corrine Tarver did not waste time as she approached her very first potential recruits for her team with that very question. From its first appearance in an NCAA tournament in 2023, the Bulldogs made sure they made an impact. And they did. Although Naimah Muhammad led the squad, becoming the first gymnast to compete for an HBCU program on a National level in NCAA, there was a freshman who stole the spotlight. Not once, not twice, but with every possible turn. Her name? Morgan Price. But Fisk and Tarver just might have missed her.

In 2022, the then 16-year-old five-star high school recruit made a big decision to decommit from the University of Arkansas, where she committed in November 2021 to join her sister Frankie, and instead represent a program she could truly believe in. When Tarver reached out to her, it was the same question again– “Do you want to make history?” Since then, the Coppell High School alum has done just that. In Fisk’s very first meet, she stood out with her Yurchenko full, landing the highest score, a 9.9, in the team’s first ever vault. Then, she told ESPN, “It feels really cool. We have a lot of eyes on us because we are the first and because we are making history, so it’s just so exciting to be a part of the first team ever.”

Fast forward to today, Price has shined the brightest for the Fisk Bulldogs and etched her name in the history books repeatedly. Her achievements become only more stellar after the fact that she competes in four different disciplines and manages to ace them all. Until this year, she had swept multiple major accolades. In her freshman year, she became the maiden all-around title winner from the college. Next year, she doubled down. Until her 2024 achievement of winning the USAG all-around national title, the first ever for HBCU. Now, on Feb 11, 2025 in a tri-meet at Temple University, Morgan Price scored a perfect 10 score on the uneven bars, another first-ever for HBCU. However, while Fisk is at an all-time-high with Price at the helm, the Razorbacks are left out but with Morgan opening up on her reasons as to why she chose the HBCU program instead.

After another historic run with HBCU in 2025, the junior spoke to Togethxr explaining her decision to de-commit to Arkansas. In the YouTube video aired by Togethxr on February 15, Morgan Price confessed, “To be an athlete at HBCU, it just means everything to me.” Talking more about her teammates, Price added, “I enjoy, just, like the connections that we have. Literally this morning, like one of my teammates did my hair for me even though like she didn’t even have to be up as early as me so I just feel like part of a team who we all just connect and share bonds. It’s super amazing!”

In Jan 2023, Price has echoed similar camaraderie for her teammates, proving that she felt at home from the very beginning. The official NCAA website mentions her saying, “Growing up in the sport of gymnastics, I’ve never been on a team where there’s even like more than five girls of color on the team. I have like 14 other girls who look like me who can help me with my hair, help me with my style and just different small little things like that. It really helps, even just in life outside of gymnastics.”

But simply moving on from the SEC powerhouse in Arkansas University was not a piece of cake. Hence, to date, the sophomore is explaiing her decision. She told Togethxr, “It feels absolutely amazing and honoring to be a part of the first-ever HBCU gymnastics team. I wanted to go to an HBCU all my life. Whenever I heard that it was going to be an HBCU, that was basically just right around my hometown, I was super-excited. It was just the perfect place for me and I can still do the sport I love.

“When I de-committed from the University of Arkansas and switched to Fisk University, which is the HBCU, a lot of people didn’t really understand why I switched.” Years after standing by her decision, the gymnast finally addressed the doubts that were previously raised against her. The decision that I made was bigger than just gymnastics and also just about like making history and like being an inspiration to the younger black girls, who want to become an HBCU gymnast as well. We’re representing our culture and, at the same time, doing gymnastics,” she confessed.

In fact, Price has also mentioned that her personal goal is to be a role model for other young black gymnasts, boys and girls, and show them how swimming against the tide can sometimes be the best decision you can make. Two years ago, she told Stan Becton of NCAA, “When I committed, some people were confused as to why I did join this program. But deep down in my heart, I knew the reasons why and how important it was to go to Fisk.”

Today, the stellar gymnast is not only the face of Fisk University but also for HBCU gymnastics, proving her potential every step of the way with one aim in her mind, “My personal goal as a gymnast is just to be a inspiration to younger black girls so they know that even if they have opportunities to go to a big-time SEC school, you can still go make history at a HBCU and you can be just as good. “

Per the reports, the Razorbacks would have provided a complete scholarship to the five-star recruit from Lebanon, TN. And although Morgan would have stood beside her older sister in Fayetteville, it would not have given her an opportunity to represent her culture and be a part of the team with 14 more gymnasts of color.

Surprisingly, this is not just her first time surrounded by athletes of color but also the head coach. She told Stan, “I’ve never had an African American coach, so just to know that she was also a big-time college gymnast as well really helps and motivates me. I know she went through the same struggles that I as a college gymnast now go through. She really cares about her athletes.”

Tarver herself is a celebrated gymnast and was the first black gymnast to punch her way through an NCAA All-Around title in 1989. But what really makes the Bulldogs stand out truly is holding each other accountable.

Price mentioned the same to ESPN, “We have a lot of eyes on us because we are the first and because we are making history, so it’s just so exciting to be a part of the first team ever.” Interestingly, it is important to note how the entire Bulldogs team is performing at a high level of excellency, resonating with the words that Morgan stated. All eyes are indeed on the Fisk gymnastics team.

But one thing is sure. She is genuinely the best thing that happened to HBCU’s gymnastics program. How else could they have imagined breaking a 200+ year’s record?

HBCU gymnastics star Morgan Price’s historic feat

In the tri-meet at Temple University on Saturday, Morgan Price achieved a monumental feat. The 19-year-old scored a perfect 10 score on the uneven bars, which became the first-ever for a Historically Black College or University in women’s NCAA gymnastics. Planet of Gymnastics, Morgan, and Fisk Gymnastics shared a carousel of videos on Instagram showing just how the biology major received a perfect score. The caption read, “MORGAN PRICE HISTORY-MAKING 10.00‼️ first perfect 10.00 for Fisk, first in HBCU history, and only the SECOND perfect score on bars in the nation this season.”

She performed the historic routine in the third rotation for the Bulldogs. Morgan showcased her skills on the bars and ended with a full-twisting double-back dismount. Just as she landed, she knew that she has broken her previous personal best record of 9.90 in the event. As she turned around kicking air with her hands, she saw the 10 highlighted. What was next? The entire team swarmed the junior, celebrating her moment in the most sportsmanlike manner possible.

But this was not all!

Morgan won in every event she participated in except for the beam. Nevertheless, her work in the rest of the events was enough to bring her the best all-around competition total that stood at 39.500. Interestingly, the junior managed to oust the runner up by an entire point, a significant margin in women’s gymnastics.

All through this time, Morgan continues to repeat the question that Tarver asked her in their very first meet as she told Stan, “What we’re doing now shows the younger African American girls growing up, especially in the sport of gymnastics, that they can be like me and my teammates one day. The fact that we’re paving a way for the younger African American girls is really honoring for me and my teammates. If they really dream it, put their mind to it and keep working hard, they will be making history like us one day.”

Naturally, this left the gymnastics fans in tears. What do you think? Let us know below!