NORFOLK, Va. – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tried to curtail the shine and swagger of one Alvin Bernard Wyatt Senior when it enshrined the Bethune-Cookman Athletics legend in its Hall of Fame Thursday morning.

As if it ever could.

Charley Neal, the MC and a broadcasting legend and Hall of Famer himself, joked that Wyatt had three outfits ready – one for the reception, another for his entrance and a third for the interview portion – and Neal wasn't that far off. FAMU quarterback legend and fellow enshrinee Quinn Gray commented that this day featured the same perk of that brief burp in the cosmic scheme the Rattlers controlled the series -- "being able to see what [Wyatt] was wearing."

Alas, similar to what the NFL does with its HoF enshrines with gold jackets, the MEAC does the same … with purple blazers. That's fine – Wyatt could still outprince Prince and outomega any Omega Psi Phi member in one of those things -- but something was still missing.

After retreating to his hotel room, Wyatt returned brandishing some gold chains in addition to the blazer. It may have been the first time the open collar look had been on showcase in the history of the ceremony, but Wyatt made it work.

The whole thing worked.

Though Neal futilely tried to maintain control of the proceedings, Wyatt's 14-minute enshrinement was a rollicking celebration whose energy and exuberance was so contagious that as the former Wildcat Head Football and Women's Head Basketball Coach stood up and began preaching, the house band accompanied him, adding to the joy felt in the Sheraton Waterside ballroom that day.

His mind is still a steel trap, recalling the 1996 North Carolina A&T game and that Aggies Head Coach Bill Hayes – in the crowd to support his two enshrinees,  Connell Maynor and Christopher McNeil – was still calling pass plays as the game descended into a 73-7 shellacking, or the final score of the 2000 and 2001 Florida Classics (31-28 and 31-21 FAMU) as Wyatt closed the gap between the programs leading to his 2002 victory that started a three-year run of his own and even correcting Neal that he didn't wear a mink coat in a game in Moore Gym, he wore it in the 1984 MEAC tournament women's basketball championship game in Philadelphia because BET was televising.

The style was on display, thanks to the highlight package compiled by former BCU staffer Darian McCaskill now at the league office. It included some of those sideline outfits that prompted ESPN's Tony Kornheiser to ask "where are his back-up singers?"

And his passion for coaching and his players? Well, all they had to do was give Wyatt the microphone:

*On how he got to Bethune-Cookman: William Rasberry, who scored the other two Bethune-Cookman points in the legendary 8-7 win over Florida A&M in 1952, was his high school coach and sent him to Cy McClairen, who scored the game-winning touchdown in 1952. "Nobody else wanted me because I broke my leg when I was 10 years old. Bethune-Cookman took me in and made me who I am today."

* On those sideline outfits: "Some people dress to impress. I dressed to EXPRESS."

* On the support of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lynn W. Thompson: "Every time I thought my way was dark and had trouble seeing, Lynn gave me the guidance so I could see the light again. I am eternally grateful."

* On his players (and this is the part he started preaching): "I would always tell my players 'Get Ready.'   

 "Get ready to believe in yourself like you have never believed in anything before in your life. Just like all of us.  No matter who you are, no matter what you think of yourself, no matter what your circumstance …an extraordinary new positive and confidence will take a hold of you with a strength and conviction you can't imagine and believe.

"It doesn't matter what you think of yourself … there's a champion in every one of you."  

Wyatt was enshrined by Thompson and his son, Alvin Wyatt, Jr., a member of the BCU Athletic Department staff.  He also received the Excellence in Leadership award presented by the United States Marines.

He joins Rosina Pearson, Lloyd "Tank" Johnson (deceased), McClairen, J.D. Hall (deceased), Amber Jackson, Rashean Mathis, Nick Collins and Thompson as BCU's representation in the MEAC Hall of Fame.