Dr. Robert Screen

A member of the inaugural Posthumous Class of 2025, Dr. Screen totaled 1,068 career victories over a 40-year career coaching the men’s program at Hampton. Screen, who graduated from what was then the Hampton Institute in 1953, led Hampton to Division II national championships in 1976 and 1989, becoming the first African-American coach to win an NCAA tennis title. He coached the women’s program as well after it was founded in 1996. Screen’s teams also won a pair of HBCU national championships and three Virginia Collegiate Championships. After joining the MEAC conference, the Pirates won 11 league titles (seven men’s and four women’s). Prior to joining the MEAC, Screen’s teams captured 22 straight Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles. During his career, his teams won 37 conference championships, with both the men’s and women’s teams making NCAA Division I championships appearances once Hampton joined the MEAC in 1996. When he wasn’t coaching, Screen served as chair of Hampton’s Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders — a job he held for 50 years. In addition to all of his coaching duties, Screen was the founding Chair of the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, creating the first degree-granting program in Speech Pathology at an HBCU. His first novel, We Can’t Run Away from Here, was published in 1958, and his last, The Ride to Nashville, came out in 2006. Screen passed away in 2015.