The truth is simple: we must create our own lane. Not wait for Wall Street to widen theirs. Not hope for VC crumbs to fall from Silicon Valley tables. Even if the lane we build starts smaller—$50 million instead of $1 billion—it can still carry us toward a new financial future.

Behind the Lacrosse Curtain

When people whisper about a “lacrosse mafia” on Wall Street, they’re not joking. Since the 1980s, former lacrosse players from Duke, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, UVA, and the Ivies have filled analyst classes at Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Blackstone, and countless hedge funds.

Bloomberg noted in 2012 how Duke’s entire 2006 graduating class funneled into finance jobs. By 2024, the trend was so ingrained that the Premier Lacrosse League was jokingly called a “Wall Street summer league,” with players working deals by day and hitting the field at night.

This wasn’t coincidence. It was curation. Alumni pulled alumni. Captains became mentors. Finance clubs and exclusive networks served as gates and guardrails, ensuring that even average players got placed while equally talented outsiders were left on the sidewalk.

Lacrosse proved something: a sport doesn’t just produce athletes—it can produce an enduring economic machine.

Strengths Without Systems

Now compare that to football and basketball. Black athletes dominate these sports at both college and professional levels. In Division I men’s basketball, Black athletes account for more than half of all players. In FBS football, it’s close to half.

And yet, where’s the system? Where’s the machine that takes the sophomore guard who doesn’t go pro or the backup safety who graduates with no draft stock and funnels him into banking, private equity, or venture capital?

The harsh truth: it doesn’t exist. At most, a few ad-hoc mentorship programs or career fairs sprinkle advice. But nothing with the permanence, persistence, or pipeline-building of lacrosse. And as a result, countless athletes—disciplined, coachable, competitive—are left underemployed, while others who never laced up cleats walk straight into six-figure analyst seats.

This is the gap. And this is where we must build.

Introducing BGHN: Building a Lane of Our Own

Enter BGHN — the Black Gridiron & Hardwood Network.

Not a “club,” not a “mentorship program,” but a permanent lane. An intentional structure designed by us, for us—where NFL, NBA, and college athletes (whether pro or not) connect with licensed advisors, seasoned bankers, and rising analysts to create jobs, deploy capital, and normalize Black faces in finance.

The Six Pillars of a New Lane

Pillar 1: Network Engine
Imagine alumni chapters in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Monthly “chalk talks” where athletes hear from MDs, traders, and PE partners. A living database of mentors, internships, and job leads—all accessible, all ours. This is not about exclusivity. This is about inclusion on our terms.

Pillar 2: Capital Engine
Collective athlete GP/LP funds that pool millions from contracts and endorsements. Focus on early-stage Black founders and overlooked opportunities. Build a fund-of-funds to back Black and diverse PE/VC managers, who still control only 1.4% of U.S. AUM. Even if our first fund is $25M, not $1B, it matters. Because the message is: we can do this on our own.

Pillar 3: Talent Engine
The BGHN Analyst Fellowship: technical bootcamp + Series 7/63/65 prep + mentorship + guaranteed interview pipelines. Placement agreements with banks, hedge funds, and PE shops—opening doors that lacrosse pipelines once monopolized. This is how you turn a wide receiver into a research analyst—or a point guard into a portfolio manager.

Pillar 4: Opportunity Engine
Invest in underfunded Black founders—who received only 0.4–0.48% of VC funding in 2024 (≈$730M out of nearly $170B). Back Series A/B rounds, not just seed checks, to scale ownership. Use athlete platforms to amplify portfolio companies: if you can sell sneakers, you can sell startups.

Pillar 5: Trust Engine
Independent administrators, audits, and advisory boards. No vanity projects, no quick-money traps. Professional structure, professional governance. Because trust is our currency. Without it, no lane can last.

Pillar 6: Narrative Engine
Tell the stories: the linebacker who became a leveraged finance VP, the WNBA guard who launched her own fund, the HBCU athlete who co-led a Series B. Normalize the arc. Document it. Broadcast it. Because visibility drives culture—and culture drives capital.

Proof That It Works

Kevin Durant’s 35V invested in more than 100 companies, from Coinbase to Postmates. Carmelo Anthony’s Melo7 Tech Partners built credibility in early-stage investing. Andre Iguodala co-founded the $200M VC firm F9 Strategies and became a respected Silicon Valley insider. The Players Impact organizes hundreds of athletes into structured investment syndicates.

If these athletes can succeed alone or in small groups, imagine what happens when we organize together.

Why the Time is Now

NIL money is already changing the landscape—athletes are engaging capital earlier than ever. Revenue-sharing models in college sports mean younger athletes will need financial literacy and pathways. Post-2020 reality: The spike in DEI funding has faded; Black founders’ share dropped back below 0.5%. Waiting for others hasn’t worked.

It’s time we stop waiting. Time we stop asking. Time we build.

Anticipating the Pushback

“Isn’t this just another boys’ club?”
No. Unlike lacrosse, this is porous. HBCUs, mid-majors, and state schools are all part of the build.

“It’s too small.”
Maybe now. But today’s $25M fund can be tomorrow’s $250M platform. The lane matters more than the market size.

“Athletes aren’t trained for finance.”
That’s why the Fellowship exists: to teach, certify, and place.

Closing the Gap, Creating the Lane

Lacrosse players proved what’s possible when you combine sport with strategy. But for us, it’s not about mimicry—it’s about sovereignty.

We don’t need to be invited into someone else’s club. We don’t need to beg for seats at someone else’s table. We can build our own arena, our own boardroom, our own lane.

And yes, it might start smaller. Maybe it’s $25M, not $1B. Maybe it’s 100 placements, not 1,000. But lanes widen when you drive them. And history shows: the first step is always the most powerful.

“Even if the lane is small today, the act of building it is the victory. We must create our own lane—because waiting for access has never been enough.”

The Numbers That Matter

Black-founded startups (2024): 0.4% of VC dollars (~$730M)
Diverse-owned managers: 1.4% of U.S. AUM
D-I Basketball: 56% Black athletes | FBS Football: ~47%

Because the lane won’t build itself. But together, we can.