Nicholson, Robinson legacy lives on through classics

Historically Black College and Universities football classic games began in 1924, when Alabama State College and Tuskegee Institute met in the Turkey Day Classic in Montgomery, Alabama.
“Today, black college football classic games have become an integral part of the fall homecoming as the most well attended event on a school’s football schedule,” according to the managing editor for Onnidan’s Black College Sports Online.
There are three categories of classic games: rivalry games, games hosted by a university which play a different school each year, and games that two teams are invited to participate in.
The most popular of these classic rivalry games are: Southern University vs. Grambling State University’s Bayou Classic, Florida A& M University vs. Tennessee State University’s Atlanta Football Classic, Alcorn State University vs. Jackson State University’s Capitol City Classic, Southern University vs. Mississippi Valley State’s Chicago Football Classic, Winston – Salem University vs. Florida A&M University’s Circle City Classic, Florida A&M University vs. Bethune Cookman University’s Florida Classic and Alabama A&M University vs. Tennessee State University’s John Merritt Classic.
The 34th annual State Farm Bayou Classic, featuring Southern University and Grambling State University is one of the largest rivalry games in HBCU history. Each year the Classic generates around 30 million dollars to New Orleans economy.
State Farm has become a major contributor to the contest; this year will mark their 12th year as a major sponsor.
Collie Nicholson, a Grambling alumna, is credited with having much to do with the establishment and the attention that has been brought to HBCUs.
According to a 2006 Azeez Communications release, “Nicholson traveled the world while in the Marines in the 1940’s. From there he graduated from GSU and became the sports information director for the university.”
Nicholson began to cultivate relationships with corporate figures that proved to be forthcoming of the growth of black classic games.
In 1968, GSU played Morgan State at Yankee Stadium in New York. This game was the first nationally televised game in HBCU history.
He did not stop there; Nicholson went on to arrange a contest in Tokyo.
“Nicholson is considered the brainchild of the Bayou Classic. He also went on to create a GSU football highlight show that too received high prestige and gained national attention.”
The first Bayou Classic was played at Tulane University in New Orleans. There were 76,753 fans in attendance of the classic game. GSU went on the win the contest 21 – 0.
Now that the contest has grown in such proportion the game is housed in the New Orleans Superdome, a NFL stadium.
The growth of the Bayou Classic has allowed fans in every part of the nation the luxury of viewing the contest from their homes.
In 2005, the ESPN Game-day crew of Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, and Desmond Howard broadcasted the 32nd annual Bayou Classic from Reliant Stadium in Houston, marking the first HBCUs to be featured on the program.
Ralph Slaughter, Southern University’s System President, then University Classic Coordinator described the classic as ” a game that is one of the best sports experiences in America, not just black college sports. Dr. Angelia Weaver, Grambling’s Classic Coordinator, believes “it’s about the history, tradition, fierce competition and a fight for national bragging rights for the year, according to ESPN’s Nov. 21, 2005 release.
Today the game is larger than ever. There is an expected 200,000 expected fan participation in the XXIV Bayou Classic on Nov. 24, 2007. The contest will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports network at 1 p.m.
The weekend will begin with a coaches luncheon, the Super Job fair, State Farm’s College Fair, the quiz bowl, KaBOOM’s playground building and a McDonald’s/Alltel Wireless Battle of the Bands and Greek Show.
Although it is important to hold the title of the Bayou Classic champion it is more important to keep the tradition, passion and fierce competition circulating to generate more attention to the games and HBCUs as a whole.
Southern leads the Bayou Classic series 16-14, but Grambling holds the bragging rights from the pervious year. This game will be no different from the rest of the classic games; excitement until the very end!
To purchase tickets in Baton Rouge call (225) 359 – 9328, in Grambling call (318) 274 – 4795, or call Ticket Master at (800) 488 – 5252.