If you've watched the world recently, there's been a lot of talk of equality.
 
People are searching for it.  People are protesting for it. 
 
But while others are looking for it in a spray paint can or on Twitter, others are becoming actual agents of change.
 
They know that spray painting statues doesn't make one a prophet, nor does Twitter make one right.
 
They know equality isn't found at all, rather, they know that equality is earned, sometimes over a long period of time.
 
Willie Lanier is one of those people.
 
In 1963, when Lanier was playing for Richmond's Maggie L. Walker High School, he first set foot in Hovey Field, the home of Virginia Union University's football team since 1907.
 
As he continued his career at Morgan State University, he would periodically return to Hovey Field.  He found the stadium much the same as he did when he was in high school.
 
Once Lanier went on to a Hall of Fame career in the National Football League, he never forgot the experience of playing for an HBCU (Historically Black College or University)
 
Virginia Union's Vice-President for Intercollegiate Athletics and Community Wellness, Joe Taylor, came to know Lanier over the years.
 
Both are members of the College Football Hall of Fame.  Both call Richmond, Va., their home.
 
Taylor approached Lanier about the possibility of replacing Hovey Field's aging grass gridiron. 
 
"After talking with Coach Taylor about an opportunity to convert the field at Hovey Field to a field that would have my name affixed to it because that's where I played high school ball here in Richmond, I told him that I would have to have a little discussion with me and thee to really grasp the magnitude of where we were going to discuss," said Lanier.  "So with that, there was an idea and a way forward to assess how we would obtain funding of this field from individuals and sponsors."
 
Lanier's efforts were motivated not by personal gain, but rather to provide the same quality for student-athletes of HBCUs that bigger schools can provide.  Lanier envisioned a bigger project, one that would close the gap between HBCUs and PWIs (Predominantly White Institutions).
 
"It would give the young men who are going to play on the field a way to understand that there's no "less equal" qualities at an historically black colleges than at any other college in this country," Lanier said.
 
So on June 24, 2020, 57 years after Lanier first set foot in the storied stadium, bulldozers began uprooting the grass which had covered the stadium's field for 113 years.
 
Squares of the original 113-year old grass field are being sold online.  The squares can be purchased by clicking here.
 
When Virginia Union University kicks off its 2020 home opener on October 3 against Shaw University, the players will be playing on a new $1.2 million FieldTurf surface named Willie Lanier Field at Hovey Stadium.
 
"That field shows something," Lanier said.  "It shows the ability of what it is to provide for those young individuals who can take confidence and pride in where they play and how they are able to perform."
 
It will also put Virginia Union on the same level as the other universities around the nation.
 
When all is said and done, it is the hope of Willie Lanier that the National Football League would support through funding his vision that all HBCUs have this opportunity.
 
Lanier has proven that equality doesn't come overnight, but that it's worth the effort.