BOONE, N.C. — Pierre Banks excelled as a title-winning, All-America linebacker at App State while earning his undergraduate degree and then a master's degree from the university. Since making his full-time return to Boone in 2017, he has served as App State's Director of Student-Athlete Development.
Now, Banks has found yet another way to give back to his alma mater.
Recently, as part of A Mountaineer Impact, A Drive for Excellence, he established the Deloras and John A. Banks Sr. Opportunity Scholarship. Named in honor of his late mother and father, it is being created to help App State student-athletes of color who don't have full scholarships — meaning student-athletes with partial scholarships and walk-ons alike are eligible.
Banks plans to make an annual contribution to the Deloras and John A. Banks Sr. Opportunity Scholarship, but other App State supporters are also encouraged to help him in his efforts to make sure the student-athletes of this era have a college experience that resembles the rewarding one for which he remains thankful.
For those interested in teaming up with Banks to assist App State student-athletes, contact the Yosef Club at
yosefclub@appstate.edu or 828-262-3108.
Aside from the on-field success as a football player with three national title rings, Banks has become a staple in the High Country community through his work with student-athletes, including his direction of the BCNC Mountaineers RISE Program, as well as his roles on local radio, founding "Feel Good Radio" and serving as the color analyst for App State radio or ESPN+ broadcasts.
"All those jobs, I wouldn't have been able to get them without somebody from the Yosef Club funding my scholarship and without Coach (Jerry) Moore giving me an opportunity to come up here and play the game I love and get an education for free," Banks said. "I started thinking about that and just decided to try to help somebody else like me. There are a lot of people that have to pay their own ticket, and how can I help abate those challenges to make things a little easier for them to give them what I feel like is an invaluable experience?"
Before Banks arrived in Boone in 2004, played in an NCAA all-divisions record 62 games, participated in the historic upset of Michigan and won three straight FCS national titles from 2005-07, he was growing up in Durham with 16 siblings and two parents worthy of being role models.
His father worked as a long-distance truck driver, and his mother stressed the importance of a good education to her children.
"You'd come home from school and my mom would make us sit at the kitchen table as soon as we got off the bus, saying we couldn't get up until we finished our homework," Banks said. "I'm glad that she did that, though, because that was always instilled in me for the rest of my life."
Without any Division I-A scholarship offers as he was finishing up at Southern Durham High School, Banks attended the Air Force Academy Prep School with hopes of increasing his exposure during a post-graduate year of football, but he returned to North Carolina after a brief stay in Colorado and jumped at the opportunity to join the Mountaineers' program as members of App State's staff continued to express interest in him.
Including the national titles and signature wins, including a 2007 playoff victory in which he recovered a fumble at the 10-yard line right before James Madison could have kicked a short field goal to eliminate the Mountaineers in a first-round game on their home field, other memories come to mind immediately for Banks when he thinks back to his time as an App State student.
"The first thing I always think about when I think about my undergrad experience is my first time on campus," Banks recalled. "I was walking to my first class, and never in my life had I ever seen that many white people, having grown up where I did in Durham. One thing I always appreciated about living up here was it being different at the other end of the spectrum and being around so many different people.
"It gave me a better sense of how the world looks — I knew I was the minority, but I hadn't experienced it before. It gave me a better picture and helped me be able to communicate with different people. That's a valuable experience for any student of color to be able to get that sense so you're prepared for the world if or when you leave here. When I graduated, having most of my family sitting in the stands, taking up a whole section and then hanging out with them afterward, that's probably my fondest memory."
Banks has now made a commitment to create or enhance similar opportunities for current and future student-athletes.
They can use your help, as well.
A Mountaineer Impact, A Drive For Excellence is designed to impact every Mountaineer student-athlete and sports program. It will construct and enhance athletic facilities, provide critical scholarship support and affect the overall athletic experience for student-athletes and fans while strengthening the campus and community. To make a gift in support of A Mountaineer Impact today, contact the Yosef Club at yosefclub@appstate.edu or 828-262-3108.
