CLEVELAND — Toni Pickens says Thursday’s Cleveland Cavaliers game meant more than the other games she’s attended.

What You Need To Know

The Cleveland Cavaliers held their 22nd annual Black Heritage Celebration on Thursday at Rocket Arena

Thursday’s game focused on honoring HBCUs and the Divine Nine Fraternities and Sororities

There was a special halftime step performance showcasing the legacy of the Divine Nine

“This is a celebration — it’s a celebration of our heritage,” said Pickens. “It’’s very important for an organization like the Cavaliers to give us a space to do this.”

Pickens is an alumna of one of the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities.

“The Divine Nine was basically created at a time where African Americans really had to fight for a place in higher education,” she said. “We weren’t welcomed everywhere. At that time, we formed these organizations to support each other.”

Cavaliers’ in-arena host and on-court emcee Ahmaad Crump is a graduate of Central State University, Ohio’s only public HBCU. He said recognizing excellence in Black education was the main focus of the night.

“What better way to do it than to have members here showing unity, showing love, showing support for each other,” Crump said. “In brotherhood, sisterhood and the community service aspect.” 

Brittany Long is the senior manager of Foundation Operations and Development for the Cleveland Cavaliers. She expressed that graduates of HBCUs and the Divine Nine greatly impact the community and deserve the spotlight. 

“In Cleveland, there’s so much history to be celebrated when it comes to the impact that folks in these organizations and institutions share,” Long stated. “The Cavs have an amazing platform to do that.”

The spotlight is exactly what they got.

Pickens and other Divine Nine alumni perfected a step routine that went from a practice court to center stage at halftime. 

“Rocket Arena seats 19,500 people,” said Pickens. “We get to have a huge audience to witness our heritage and our culture.”

Performers in Pickens’ group from Delta Theta Sigma ranged from age 24 to 62. She said the opportunity to perform at a Cavs game is a memory that will last a lifetime.

“The Cavs attract people from all walks of life,” said Pickens. “There are people of all ages here. We get to represent these organizations to a huge audience. We absolutely as Clevelanders love the Cavs. We’re honored to be here.”

Proceeds from the 50/50 raffle at the game benefited the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Greater Cleveland, an organization representing the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities known as the Divine Nine.