In honor of Black History Month, The Hawk is highlighting some of the most iconic Black athletes who played a sport here on Hawk Hill.
Through their legendary collegiate or professional careers, the records they’ve broken and the impacts they each had throughout their respective sport, these athletes have forever inserted their names into the hollows of St. Joe’s sports history.
Chazz Witherspoon ’05 – Boxing
During his sophomore year at St. Joe’s, Chazz Witherspoon began his amatuer career as a boxer. A year later, he went on to win the Pennsylvania State Golden Gloves title, an annual amatuer boxing competition attended by some of the best young boxers in the nation.
Just a mere eight months later, Witherspoon won the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, which qualified him for the 2004 USA Boxing National Championships, and in the process he was awarded the title of Most Outstanding Boxer.
A second place finish at the USA Championship qualified Witherspoon for the 2004 Olympic trials, where he made the official U.S. boxing team as an alternate in Athens, Greece. Upon going pro in the sport that same year, Witherspoon remained undefeated for his first 23 fights, winning 15 by way of knock-out.
In 2008, Witherspoon defeated Adam Richards in an eight-round total knock-out which received Ring Magazine’s HeavyWeight Fight of the Year award. In 2018, Witherspoon was selected as Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Despite this, he has remained out of the sport since his last fight in Oct. 2019.
Witherspoon forged an illustrious professional boxing career, managing 38 wins across 42 matchups. His last victory was in 2019 in a fight against Santander Silgado.
Natasha Cloud ’15 – Women’s Basketball
After initially selecting to attend the University of Maryland to play college basketball, Natasha Cloud made a transfer back to her home state of Pennsylvania to attend St. Joe’s in 2011 as a sophomore. While she missed the 2011-12 season, forced to sit out due to the NCAA’s transfer policies, Cloud started her St. Joe’s career off with a bang, earning most outstanding player honors at the 2013 Atlantic-10 (A-10) Championship, A-10 All-Defensive team recognition and leading the Hawks in both assists, with 142, and steals, with 57, in the 2012-13 season. 
For the 2013-14 season, Cloud was selected as the A-10 defensive player of the year. She also made the A-10 All-Conference team and was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List for the top point guard in the nation. Cloud ultimately brought the Hawks to the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.
During the 2014-15 season, Cloud’s last year on Hawk Hill, she garnered an A-10 All-Conference first team selection, was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List and was nominated to the Naismith Trophy Watch List.
Cloud remains No. 3 all-time at St. Joe’s for assists, with 563, No. 9 all-time in steals, with 171, and No. 21 in points, with 1,022.
Following her standout college career, Cloud was selected by the Washington Mystics with pick number 15 in the second round of the 2015 WNBA draft, and in 2019 she helped lead the team to its first WNBA Championship in franchise history, earning 2019 All-Defensive Second Team Honors.
After the teams’ 2019 championship, Cloud chose to opt out of the 2020 WNBA season, citing a desire to be on the front lines fighting for social reform and against racial injustice.
In June, the 28 year old signed an apparel sponsorship deal with Converse, becoming the first women’s basketball player to ever sign a deal with the shoe brand. In the wake of Cloud’s outspoken activism, Converse decided to cover her entire salary for the 2020 season.
Cloud continues to fight for both social injustice and gender equality, particularly in the city of Philadelphia and in the nation’s capital, where the Mystics play. In December 2020, she was named to Forbes 30 under 30 Class of 2021 in sport for her activism.
Steve Ave ’89 – Men’s Track and Field
Steve Ave ’89 was an All-American distance runner on St. Joe’s track and field team from 1985-89. Ave holds numerous accolades and records at St. Joe’s, including the Hawks 5,000 meter record. He also was a member of the St. Joe’s medley relay team that holds the school record and qualified for the 1985 NCAA’s Indoor Championship.
He competed in the 1,000 and 1,500 meter events at the 1986 NCAA Indoor Championship, and managed to post a No. 10 place finish in the 1,500 meter race, which granted him his All-American honors following the 1985-86 season.
Ave’s successes were not just limited to the clay, as he was also a captain of the cross country team and was an important part of the 1985 St. Joe’s squad, helping the Hawks run away with a Big 5 Championship.
After graduating from the university in 1989, Ave went on to represent the U.S. on an international level on four different occasions, leaving his mark on a number of historic international track and field competitions.
In 2011, Ave was inducted into the St. Joe’s Athletics Hall of Fame for his various records and, while he has long since retired from running track professionally, Ave continues to have an impact on the sport, having worked as a footwear designer and performance running specialist for some major footwear and apparel brands including, but not limited to, Nike, Reebok and Adidas.
Donna (Crumety) Stewart ’93 – Women’s Track and Field
An excellent triple and long jumper, and perhaps one of the most underappreciated athletes to have stepped foot on this campus, Crumety placed No. 5 at the NCAA indoor Championship and No. 2 at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in 1990, both for the triple jump event.
Crumety returned the following season and qualified for the 1991 NCAA Outdoor Championship. This time, she placed first in the triple jump, with a distance of 13.41 meters, and secured her place as the only individual NCAA champion athlete in Hawks history.
Under the tutelage of legendary St. Joe’s track and field coach Kevin Quinn, Crumety went on to win four Eastern College
Athletic Conference titles in the triple jump and a No. 4 place finish in the long jump while etching her name into the St. Joe’s record books by setting the mark for both of those events, records that still remain today.
In 1993, she helped St. Joe’s to capture the A-10 title in both the long and triple jump at the conference’s inaugural track and field meet. Crumety was inducted into the St. Joe’s athletics Hall of Fame in 1999, as well as the alumni association’s Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Mike Bantom ’73 – Men’s Basketball
A two-time All-Big 5 selection and three-time All-MAC selection, Bantom is one of the most dynamic basketball players Hawk Hill has ever seen. He currently sits second all-time in rebounds for the Hawks and sixth all-time in points scored, averaging a double-double per game across three straight seasons at St. Joe’s. In his college career, Bantom went on to score over 1,600 points and secure more than 1,100 rebounds on the court.
As a junior, Bantom averaged 21.8 points per game and 14.8 rebounds, leading St. Joe’s in both of those statistical categories across his sophomore and junior seasons.
Prior to his senior season, Bantom was named an All-American selection and was called in to play for the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball team in Munich, Germany before the national federation allowed for professional players to participate. The U.S. went on to earn a silver medal, losing in the finals to the Soviet Union 51-50.
In the 1973 NBA Draft, Bantom was selected eighth overall by the Phoenix Suns and obtained NBA All-Rookie first team honors following the 1973-74 season. Throughout his nine year NBA career, Bantom played for the Suns, Seattle SuperSonics, New York Nets, Indiana Pacers and finally the Philadelphia 76ers before trying his hand in the Italian Basketball league.
Bantom currently sits as the executive vice president of referee operations for the NBA, a position he took after 13 years as the league’s senior vice president for player development. In 2000, he was inducted into the St. Joe’s athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2013 the A-10 honored Bantom by selecting him to their 2013 Atlantic-10 Legends Class.
