Black College Football; An athletic contest or a social event?
By Niqueta Williams 9/3/02

40,337 people paid to get in the Louisiana Superdome, Saturday, August 31. The occasion: the Big Easy Classic, between the Jaguars of Southern University and Tulane University’s Green Wave. The game turned into a classic example of a match-up between a Division 1A school and a D-1AA school, i.e. Southern lost.

As did two of the other SWAC schools who opened their season against non-conference and non-divisional opponents.

The reigning Black College Champions Grambling State University (0-1) were unable to overcome the powers of the Cowboys of McNeese State University (1-0) who defeated the Tigers 52-20, while Jackson State University (0-1) was literally annihilated by the University of Southern Mississippi (1-0) 55-7.

Sure, all three of these SWAC schools talked enough trash to cover the entire northern hemisphere about how badly we were going to beat up on our opponents, and they all stood a fighting chance, but some where in the back of each and every fan’s mind was the idea that we would lose and some of us would badly.

“I pretty much knew we were going to lose, but I still wanted us to go out and play a decent game, which we did,” said James Smith, cheerleading coach for the nationally ranked Southern University cheerleaders and graduate of Grambling State University.

So, that being said everyone can almost agree that most people were there for other reasons besides the game itself.

“Yes, I went to cheer for Grambling, but I also went to see how the band, dance team and cheerleaders look this year,” said Sandra Williams, a 1976-graduate of Grambling State University, who joined 15,000 + fans in traveling to Lake Charles.

Persons who do/did not attend a historically black colleges or universities tend to not understand the social aspects of Black College Football.

“I attended Louisiana Tech for my undergraduate studies so I got to attend a few black college games, such as Grambling’s homecoming and the Bayou Classic and it was always a wonderful and different experience,” said Jasmine Wilson, a 2000 graduate of Louisiana Tech, who is now seeking her masters degree at Southern University. “At Tech everyone wore Tech apparel but at a ‘black’ school it was more of an event, you dress the part of the successful alumnus or of a stylish student coming to cheer for your team, see the band and be seen.”

But, is this a downfall of our various conferences (SWAC, CIAA, MEAC, SIAC); are we too social? Do we not care enough about the team?

Some more questions; do we internally know that our football programs are inferior to those of Predominantly White Universities so we find other reasons to attend the games or are we just a proud group of people who constantly embrace our heritage and enjoy showing others how far we have come?

Should we conform to white America ideology of how we should behave at OUR athletic contests?

Many alumnus, students and fans of black colleges feel that we are entitled to behave anyway we please at OUR events.

“HBCUs exist only because the other schools did not want us,” said George Whitfield, professor of speech and drama at Southern University. “So we had to come up with our own traditions and behavioral standards … and the pageantry and showmanship of our bands, dance lines and cheerleaders are a part of who we are as a people.”