The San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame’s 2024 class was honored Thursday night at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in front of the inductees’ friends and family.

AUSTIN, Texas The University of Texas at Austin announced sweeping changes on Monday to promote diversity, inclusion, equity and more fully support Black students on campus. Another key request student-athletes had was to discontinue the school song, The Eyes of Texas, which has ties to minstrel shows and was created during segregation. It will now be named in honor of Texas two Heisman trophy winners, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. The university will also erect a statue for San Antonio native Julius Whittier, the Longhorns first Black football letterman, at the stadium. RELATED: UT athletes want part of stadium renamed for San Antonio football legendAway from the field, Texas will permanently honor Heman M. Sweatt as the universitys first Black student.

The two-page, unsigned note posted on social media accounts of dozens of Longhorns athletes noted the schools motto of What starts here changes the world." I am always willing to have meaningful conversations regarding any concerns our student-athletes have, athletic director Chris Del Conte said. The letter also called for Texas to stop using its traditional song The Eyes of Texas, which has been criticized for its connection to minstrel shows with characters in blackface in the early 1900s. The song is regularly sung at nearly every organized campus event and players in all sports gather as a team to sing it after every game. Texas has previously attempted to address issues surrounding some of the Confederate figures and racist policies in its history.

SAN ANTONIO University of Texas Longhorns football players and other student athletes shared a statement on Friday requesting several changes geared toward supporting black students and one of the requests has a direct San Antonio connection. He was a San Antonio native and graduated from Highlands High School in 1969. He is considered to be one of the greatest football players ever from the San Antonio area. For those who do not know, Julius Whittier, the first black UT football letterman, is from @HighlandsOwls in San Antonio. Other calls to action include increasing outreach efforts to inner-city schools in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston.

The University of Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin. Brennan Eagles, a sophomore wide receiver for UT-Austin, posted the statement to his Twitter account, detailing a list of actions Longhorn athletes want the university's athletics department to take. These include donating 0.5% of the department's annual earnings to the Black Lives Matter movement and black organizations, establishing a permanent black athletic history exhibit in the Athletics Hall of Fame and renaming parts of the football stadium after Julius Whittier, the first black football player at UT-Austin. Other calls to action include requiring a module on the history of racism at UT and increasing outreach efforts to inner-city schools in Austin, Dallas and Houston. UT Athletics officials could not be reached immediately for comment.