Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Morgan Price Proved HBCU Gymnastics Excellence Could Travel Anywhere

When Morgan Price chose Fisk University, she knew she was choosing more than a college gymnastics program.

At the time, she had already committed to the University of Arkansas. Instead of starting her college career in the SEC, Price took a different route: joining the first gymnastics team at an HBCU.

It was a risk, but Price saw it as a chance to be part of something only a small group of athletes could ever claim.

“I did not want to miss out on the opportunity,” Price said. “Being able to be part of the first ever HBCU gymnastics team is something that a lot of people can’t say. Only 16 girls can say that.”

Price is a Fall 2023 initiate of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in May 2026 after completing one of the most unique college gymnastics careers in recent memory, one that started with building history at Fisk and ended with making history at Arkansas.

Before SEC Newcomer of the Year and before the first perfect 10 in Razorback history, Price was helping build a program that had never existed before.

Fisk launched the first NCAA gymnastics team at an HBCU, creating a new option for Black gymnasts who wanted to compete at the college level. Price became one of the central figures in that story. In 2024, she became the first gymnast from an HBCU to win the USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate all-around national championship, then repeated as all-around champion in 2025.

But when Price looks back on her decision to attend Fisk, what stands out most is representation.

“One of the things that I fully understand now is definitely the importance of representation,” Price said. “One of the reasons why I chose to go to Fisk in the first place was just, one, to honor my ancestors who came before us, who fought so hard to be able to have the same opportunities to go to school with people, but also to represent Black gymnasts around the world.”

For Price, Fisk became more than a team. It became the place where she helped set a standard.

The team’s early practices and competitions quickly reached beyond campus. Price recalled how teammate Zyia Coleman posted a TikTok of the team’s first practice that went viral, eventually helping lead to the team’s appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”

That attention brought pressure, but Price said it also gave the team a sense of responsibility.

“We knew that little girls were looking up to us, so we always wanted to put our best foot forward and just compete to the best of our ability,” Price said.

Fisk’s support system became part of the foundation. Price said alumni and supporters showed up wherever the team competed, often hosting dinners before meets and reminding the gymnasts that they represented more than themselves.

“Every single competition that we went to, our Fisk family and Fisk alum, they always showed out for us,” Price said. “They just reminded us that we were representing our school, but also ourselves as well, and also our ancestors again, who came before us.”

That support mattered because the early years came with real challenges.

Price said the team practiced at 5 a.m. while balancing school, friendships, Greek life and the pressure of being first. Fisk did not have the facilities of a major SEC program, but Price said that reality shaped her.

“I want people to remember me as definitely a hard worker and definitely an athlete who never gives up,” Price said. “Being at Fisk, it is hard. Obviously, we didn’t have our own gym to train at, we didn’t have the nicest facilities and things like that. So just being able to be recognized as somebody who still made it work with what little we had is something that I would want to be known for.”

At Fisk, Price’s résumé became historic. Arkansas Athletics notes that she spent three seasons at Fisk as a founding member of the first HBCU gymnastics program, won six WCGNIC national titles, captured back-to-back all-around crowns in 2024 and 2025, swept the event titles at nationals in 2024 and became the first HBCU gymnast to score a perfect 10.

Still, after three years, Price felt she had completed what she came to Fisk to do.

“I feel like I accomplished everything that I wanted to at Fisk,” Price said. “I already laid the foundation and put a great blueprint of what it meant to be an HBCU gymnast, so I wanted to give myself a challenge for gymnastics my last year.”

That challenge brought her back to Arkansas, the school she originally committed to before choosing Fisk.

For Price, transferring was not about leaving Fisk behind. It was about proving that what she built there could translate anywhere.

At Arkansas, Price did not just adjust to the SEC. She made program history.

In February 2026, Price scored the first perfect 10 in University of Arkansas gymnastics history, earning the mark on vault. The score also helped her win the vault title and the all-around title that night with a 39.575.

For Price, the moment was both exciting and personal.

“I was like, wow,” Price said. “That was probably the first thing that came to my mind. The skill that I got it on is a skill that I’ve actually been working on throughout my whole collegiate career.”

Her success continued through the season. In March 2026, Price was named SEC Newcomer of the Year, becoming the first Arkansas gymnast to earn the honor.

Price said the award was something she wanted from the moment she chose Arkansas.

“As soon as I set foot on campus at the end of June, I knew the goals that I had in mind and what hard work it would take to get there,” Price said.

Competing in the SEC brought a new level of intensity. Price said people watching from the outside may not realize how difficult it is to compete every weekend in a conference filled with some of the best gymnasts in the world.

That environment taught her consistency.

“In college gymnastics, only six girls get to compete,” Price said. “Every single weekend you have a new chance to be able to compete in the top six of the lineup, so just having to work super hard day in and day out to try to make that top six lineup is something that challenged me.”

Price finished her Arkansas career at the NCAA Championships, where she earned three All-America honors on vault, bars and all-around.

For Price, that ending brought her journey full circle.

“I wanted to go to the University of Arkansas for gymnastics for my last year to challenge myself and to have a chance to compete at NCAA Nationals,” Price said. “Knowing that my last competition was one of my best ones, and I ended off being NCAA three-time All-American, is just something I’ll forever be proud of.”

Price’s career challenged a false divide: that HBCU excellence and Power Five excellence belong in separate conversations.

She said Fisk proved people wrong through its accomplishments, consistently sending gymnasts to nationals and producing All-Americans despite being new and underestimated.

“Being able to be a new program and have national All-Americans, and just being able to go to nationals and beat D1 teams, is something that I feel like a lot of people didn’t really expect from us,” Price said.

What she built at Fisk did not disappear when she transferred. It followed her to Arkansas.

She also carried the legacy of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

“Alpha Kappa Alpha women are the best of the best,” Price said. “We definitely carry ourselves with a lot of high standard and esteem. So just being able to represent my sorority while being a gymnast as well is something that I’m super proud of.”

Price is also a legacy member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She said service has always been part of her upbringing, including through Jack and Jill of America, and that serving through AKA is an honor.

For Price, sisterhood shows up most clearly when pressure is high.

“Sisterhood is definitely something that you can always lean on, no matter if it’s a high or if it’s a low,” Price said. “You always have sisters you can lean on.”

As she looks back on her career, Price defines legacy as impact not just being remembered, but leaving something behind the right way.

“Being able to make a big impact and just being a role model for both of those teams, and truly being a leader on both of those teams, is something that I would define as legacy for me,” Price said.

When asked what she hopes young Black gymnasts take from her journey, Price’s answer was direct.

“There’s always room for you,” Price said. “If you do have a dream or goal that you want to achieve, it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but if you just keep your head down and keep working towards that goal, you will be able to achieve it.”

She knows what it feels like to be underestimated.

“When I was first getting recruited, when I was in high school, there was somebody who told me that I could only reach out to D3 and maybe D2 teams,” Price said. “And now I’m an HBCU two-time national champion and SEC history maker. So, just doing things that people say that you can’t do, and just proving them wrong.”

Years from now, when people tell the story of Morgan Price, she hopes they remember more than the perfect 10s, titles and firsts.

She hopes they remember her energy.

“I hope they never leave out my positive energy and just encouraging words,” Price said. “I feel like that’s something that I do just all around to myself, but also my teammates and my coaches as well.”

Price’s career will be remembered for the scores, titles and history. But the larger story is what those moments made visible: that Black gymnasts belong at every level, that HBCU athletes can compete anywhere, and that legacy is built by making the path wider for whoever comes next.

This article was written for Watch The Yard by Nicklaus Utsey, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and a Fall 2022 initiate of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., by way of the Zeta Chi Chapter at UT Arlington. His work focuses on the intersection of sports, leadership, and the Black collegiate experience.

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