Michael Hurd is an author and historian who recently retired as director of the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture at Prairie View A&M University. He serves on the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame and helped curate the exhibit area on Black college football for the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. He covered the SWAC for the Houston Post for nearly 20 years. His first book, Black College Football, 1892-1992 is the only book that comprehensively documents the legacies of football programs at historically Black colleges. He also wrote Thursday Night Lights: The Story of Black High School Football in Texas, which details the history of football programs at Texas' all-Black high schools during segregation as part of the Prairie View Interscholastic League. The Texas Observer magazine named Thursday Night Lights one of "The 30 Best Texas Books of the 2010-2019 Decade", and the Houston Chronicle included the book on its list of “The 30 most essential books about Texas.”
