Gayle King, CBS Mornings interview Fisk gymnast Morgan Price

By Stephen J. Gaither

Fisk University sophomore Morgan Price made history on Friday and made the media rounds on Monday as she sat down with Gayle King and Company.

Price was an in-studio guest on CBS Mornings on Monday after winning the national “All-Around” title on Friday. Her win made her the first athlete from an HBCU to claim a national title in gymnastics.

She was asked by Gayle King why she chose to come to Fisk University when she had an offer from Arkansas, she didn’t hesitate to answer.

I’ve always wanted to go to an HBCU because I know that back then, African-Americans weren’t even allowed to go to the same schools as white people,” Price said matter-of-factly in her Fisk University sweatshirt.  “So I just feel like it’s an honor and kind of living out my legacy and being able to show able to show my talents and do it at an HBCU is so honoring to me.”

Yes, but why not go to a more established program, Gayle King asked?

“I knew I would also be making history,” she said. “I was like well — might as well just make history no matter what happens.”

Despite her amazing recent achievement, Price spent most of her time on national TV talking about others.

Price acknowledged she came from an athletic family. Her late father, Chris, was a baseball player with the Kansas City Royals. Her mother, Marsha, was a cheerleader at Vanderbilt.

“She is a widow and she had to raise all three girls by herself — and my brother,” Morgan said, with her mother beaming from the side of the stage. “So just to see her…she’s a very hard-working mom. She has taught me everything that I know today, so I’m just thankful for her.”

She also spoke about how it felt to have a head coach in Corrine Tarver who was the first black woman to win a national title in the “all-around” event she won last week.

“I thought it was honoring also just to have an African-American coach,” Price said. “Because I’ve never had an African-American coach ever and I’ve done the sport since I was two years old.”

Not only did Morgan Price experience a lack of black coaches as a young gymnast — she also lacked black teammates outside her sisters. Now, Price says, she has a team full of young ladies whom she can connect with on a more intimate level.

“Now it’s like I have a team full of African-American and Latina girls so it’s like I can always call on someone to do either my hair, my toes, my lashes — literally anything,” Price said. “I know my teammates can do it for me.”

Price revealed that her ultimate goal isn’t to compete for the Olympics.

“My ultimate goal is to win another title — and to be an HBCU gymnastics coach,” Price said.