This qualitative study of 11 Black male students who entered a public historically Black college and university (HBCU) as academically under-prepared and persisted to graduation, provides insight into the ways in which family promotes academic success for Black male students at a public HBCU. The study's findings encourage practitioners at HBCUs to reassess the relationship between family involvement and academic success for Black male students. Further, the findings affirm the justification to revise Tinto's theory of student departure to account for relationships minority students have with support networks outside the campus milieu. (Contains 1 table.)