FAMU’s Kirk Dawkins is a viral track sensation and HBCU inspiration

As Florida A&M middle distance runner Kirk Dawkins walked into the school cafeteria recently, he was pulled aside by someone who thought he looked familiar.

“Are you the guy from the video?” Dawkins recalled being asked.

While later settling in at class, Dawkins was shocked when a professor referenced him going viral.

“Had a whole conversation about it,” Dawkins said.

You may not know Kirk Dawkins by name, but if you’ve been on social media recently, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the track-and-field star. A video of Dawkins’ quick glance toward fans — while passing an opponent he had just run down — has generated millions of views across social media platforms.

Many have drawn their own conclusions about that glance as Dawkins closed out a come-from-behind win in the SWAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. Some of the takes are comical, and many of them are sprinkled with references to race, because the runner he passes — Grambling State’s Skylar Hudnall — is white.

Dawkins, laughing as he recalls some of the memes he’s seen, wants to clear the air about that glance: The look had nothing to do with Black and white.

“I was sensing the vibe of the team getting a bit down because one of our runners had a bad start in a race,” Dawkins said. “When I looked over, I was just trying to give my teammates inspiration — trying to tell them, ‘We got this.’

“That’s all I did. Everything just blew up from there.”

Blew up, indeed. Blew up in a way that, because of the racial connotations, initially caused Florida A&M to be reluctant to make Dawkins available for this story.

Blew up in a way where Grambling didn’t respond to an Andscape request to interview Hudnall. Grambling track coach LaMonte Vaughn Jr. addressed the “controversy,” posting a lengthy message on social media about the viral posts.

The race in question was the 1-mile run at the 2026 SWAC indoor championships, held last month in Birmingham, Alabama. Dawkins was the reigning conference champion in the event, but it was Hudnall who created buzz a few weeks earlier by posting a 4:07:85 mile, more than 10 seconds faster than any other SWAC miler had run this season.

Hudnall transferred to Grambling this year from West Virginia State, where last March he won the mile at the HBCU National Championship (among Division II and NAIA schools).

“People were telling me before the race that I would get beat,” Dawkins said. “Even some of his teammates were talking to me, telling me [that Hudnall] was the favorite, and I wasn’t going to repeat.”

Dawkins’ doubters seemed prophetic for much of the race as Hudnall took a sizable lead into the final lap. But with about 200 meters left, Dawkins hit a new gear, accelerating quickly.

With about 40 meters remaining, he passed Hudnall. As he did, he took that quick glimpse at the crowd — a calm “I got this” glance — as Hudnall’s face showed signs of stress.

Running his opponent down, glancing at the crowd, and capturing a screen grab of the two runners at the precise time turned an HBCU race that few would have noticed into social media gold.

“It’s a great shot of me doing what I do,” Dawkins said. “He’s a newcomer to the SWAC, so I don’t think he was fully aware of what I’m capable of.”

There’s a moment after the race when Hudnall, who took first place in the 5,000-meter run in addition to his second-place finish in the mile, appeared upset as Dawkins celebrated with FAMU fans. Dawkins, who won the mile in a personal best time of 4:16:28, was unaware of what was happening behind him with Hundall, who finished in 4:17:07.

“I didn’t know there was a commotion until I saw the video,” Dawkins said. “I was just trying to celebrate with my teammates and get myself pumped up for the 800.”

Dawkins, named the male MVP of the meet, also won the 800 meters, defending both of his conference championships from last year. The Kingston, Jamaica, native has found success at FAMU after transferring from the University at Albany (N.Y.).

“His personality is electric, and the teams feeds off his energy,” said Garfield Ellenwood II, FAMU’s track coach. “He’s the epitome of a leader, and it’s been great to get him here and help build this program.”

During last May’s SWAC outdoor championships, Dawkins won the 800 meters and the 1,500 meters on the way to being named an MVP. Later in the month, he ran a personal best in the 800 meters to qualify for 2025 NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon, becoming the first Rattler to reach the NCAA outdoor championships since 2022.

“That was a dream come true for me, and it was nice to represent an HBCU at the nationals,” Dawkins said. “I’m hoping what I’m doing is helping shine some light on the program.”

That success, of course, caught the eyes of programs from major conferences. Iowa State announced in July that Dawkins was transferring to the Big 12 program. But Dawkins, a business administration major, changed his mind and returned to FAMU.

“Not a lot of athletes get the chance to run at a Power [Four] institution, so I was honored,” Dawkins said. “But I said to myself, ‘Do you want to be a number, or do you want to inspire individuals like myself at an HBCU and still get recognition on a national level?’ I decided the right thing for me was to stay.”

Back to that viral photo/video. Dawkins didn’t realize the moment had legs until two days after the meet, when his phone blew up with calls and text messages.

“I’m not really on social media like that,” said Dawkins, whose Instagram account only has two posts. “So I didn’t know what was happening. One night I went to bed and the video had 10,000 views, and the next morning it was at 100,000.”

The video and still photos went viral. On one TikTok account, the video has amassed 1.5 million views, 414,000 likes and 14,600 comments.

The image has been reproduced with commentary and made into caricatures.

“One of the comments said it was a Black History Month moment that could go in a museum,” Dawkins said. “One meme had the word ‘me’ on my picture and the word ‘distractions’ behind me. Me versus distractions. That’s my favorite.”

Not long after Dawkins ran passed Hundall to win the mile, the two posed for a photo with their medals (along with Jackson State’s Godfrey Kimutai, who finished third).

“I think in sports everybody experiences a moment of excitement, but by the time we took that photo everything was cool,” Dawkins said. “I’m just glad I was able to win [the 800 and the mile] at the meet and be an inspiration to my team. I’m looking forward to the outdoor season [which starts March 21].”

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