By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. | For The Birmingham Times
J’Maureai “Jay” Raby didn’t see it coming. In no way would he have had winning the 2025 Mr. Samford Contest on his scorecard, even if he’d had a scorecard.
The senior health science major at Samford University figured the winner would be the Crowd Favorite who won the talent contest. Or maybe the guy who raised the most money in the Think Pink Breast Cancer Initiative.
But there was Raby, a transfer from the now-closed Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), standing near the end of the March 2025 competition on the stage of Samford’s Wright Center holding hands with the other finalist.
“Then they called my name, and I was like, ‘What?’ It was crazy. I was shocked,” recalled Raby. “I definitely did not think I was gonna win.”
Raby spent the first three years of his collegiate career across town at BSC, but the institution that he loved from his first visit didn’t survive its money woes. After growing up in the Jefferson County, Alabama, cities of Bessemer and Hueytown and graduating from John Carroll Catholic High School, he figured his next graduation would be from BSC. But it wasn’t meant to be.
On Friday, May 2, Raby will walk across the stage at the Pete Hanna Center on the Samford University campus with fellow graduates to receive their degrees. He and the other former BSC students will wear a BSC stole. And about a week before graduation, they were given special permission to meet on the BSC campus for photos at the bell tower in the academic quad of the west side college.
“BSC is always going to have a special place in my heart,” he said. “I got to attend the last BSC graduation [in 2024]. I had a lot of friends graduating and, at that moment, all I could think was that I wouldn’t get that feeling, that sense of belonging.
“In a sense, with [BSC] being gone and the fact that they’re having a stole made for us, it really just means a lot,” Raby continued. “It feels like I have a piece of what I won’t get, if that makes sense.”
Spring Break to Heartbreak
In 2024, BSC’s board of trustees announced that the private liberal arts school in the Bush Hills community on the west side of Birmingham would close for good, turning students’ spring break into heartbreak.
“We went on spring break, and we knew that the future of the college was up in the air,” Raby recalled. “I believe it was the middle of spring break when we received the email saying they voted to close the school. It was a shock. It was eerie when we got back to school, … just different.”
After three years at BSC, the health science major would need to find a new home to complete his bachelor’s degree.
“Samford, specifically, had a transfer deal for us where they would match the tuition we paid at BSC and they would waive and accept a lot of the courses they wouldn’t normally accept if you were transferring under other circumstances,” said Raby, who also considered the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Troy University.
Samford proved more comfortable for Raby, a member of the Tau Iota chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, which was established at Samford and BSC. The open feel of Samford helped him feel at home, he said.
“We have cadres, … BSC student-only cadres,” said Raby. “There’s over 60 BSC seniors here currently. Samford went out of their way to set up things like that to make sure we succeeded in a new community, a new environment.”
But Raby wasn’t content to simply be at Samford. He wanted to be involved.
“In my time being here, transferring as a senior, there wasn’t a lot that I could get involved in. It was kind of hard. It was rough because I was involved in so much at [BSC],” said Raby, who had been a resident advisor and a member of the Black Student Union at BSC.
“I told my fraternity brother, ‘I haven’t had the chance to be involved in anything and really leave my mark on Samford,’” he said. “[I wanted to] do just one thing and make someone smile and leave Samford with something like it gave me.”
Went to BSC, Samford Grad
Mr. Samford, a spring fundraiser of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, provided that stage and Raby took advantage. The competition included lip-synch performances, a talent show, and an interview question.
“The lip sync was fun,” said Raby. “All 18 guys had one minute to perform a lip-synch of their choice and in character as well.”
The transfer student chose to do “Single Ladies” by R&B megastar Beyoncé, which he did during freshman orientation at BSC.
“I got to compete in that competition and ultimately ended up winning it with that song,” he said. “So, why not?”
For his talent, Raby recreated the “Carlton Dance,” made famous by actor Alfonso Ribeiro on the television show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” It was a daring move, considering he did it while wearing an oversized cutout mask of Samford President Beck Taylor, who helped judge the competition.
The school president enjoyed the performance so much that he shared it on his Instagram account, jokingly posting, “While I didn’t win Mr. Samford today, I left it all out there on the stage!”
Raby’s interview question likely also scored points. “He was able to kind of share his heart behind coming to Samford as a senior and how that can kind of be hard as well,” said Abbey Duke, vice president of philanthropy for the sponsoring sorority. “He was just outstanding. The judges definitely saw that and saw his charisma on stage. He was OK with looking a little bit silly to show that he was into it and having a good time. I think that made everyone else have a good time, too.”
Mr. Samford 2025 is already planning his response to an expected question.
“Whenever people ask me where I graduated from, where I got my undergrad [degree], I’ll say I went to [BSC], but I graduated from Samford. That’s my answer,” said Raby.
