Denzel Washington gave $1m to Texas debate team; it later won national title

An American actor and producer, Denzel Washington, donated $1 million to a small Texas college to help bring back a debate programme that had been dormant for decades. Seven years later, a 23-member Wiley College team won the overall title at one of the country's biggest collegiate debate tournaments, competing against students from 80 colleges and universities.Washington donated the money to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, in 2007 to help re-establish its debate programme, which had a long history dating back to the 1920s but had been inactive since 1947.The revival was closely connected to “The Great Debaters”, the 2007 film Washington directed and starred in. The movie told the story of Wiley's historic debate team under the guidance of professor and poet Melvin B.