"Black men made up 2.4% of the undergraduate population at Power Five schools but comprised 55% of their football teams and 56% of their men's basketball teams" (Brenneman, 2018, p. 1). Despite the greater participation rates for college student-athletes, Black male student-athlete degree attainment still lags behind their Black male student counterparts. Referring to a report on Black male student-athletes that researcher Shaun Harper did in 2012, Brenneman (2018) wrote, "The report shows that just over 55% of black male student-athletes graduated within six years, compared with 60% of all black undergraduate men, 69.3% of all student-athletes and 76.3% of all undergraduate students" (p. 1). This research study uses Harper's Anti-Deficit Achievement Framework to examine and understand the experiences of a group of five Black male former community college student-athletes and current student-athletes at Big State University, a deidentified Power Five institution. Through thematic narrative analysis, "essence of success" statements were created that encapsulate the successful journey through higher education of the participants. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]