Good Morning Obots!
I’m bringing back a favorite ‘theme’ week – HBCU football classics! Each year this time, there are Saturday’s filled with parades, pageantry, rivalries and of course………THE BANDS. This week we look at some of the well known and lesser known traditional football classics!
40th Annual NYUL Football Classic
The First NYUL Football Classic in 1971
The New York Urban League proudly celebrates the 40th Anniversary of its Annual Football Classic. In 1971 the first Classic, then known as the Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Football Classic, named after the National Urban League’s Executive Director, was between Morgan State University and Grambling State University at Yankee Stadium. It was the first all Black Football game to be aired on national television.
Yankee Stadium was the site for some of the Classic’s most memorable match-ups. Its beginning was a defensive stand-off between Morgan State University and Grambling State University, which delivered a 9-7 outcome in favor of the Bears (Morgan State) to more than 64,000 fans in Yankee Stadium. The Classic was known as the “largest interracially sponsored Black athletic event in the United States”.
The Classic continued to make history in 1987, thru the relationship of Yankee’s Owner the late George Steinbrenner and the late Coach Eddie Robinson. This Year the Football Classic will continue its rich tradition as it makes history again, as the 1st College Classic played in the New Meadowlands Stadium.
A little taste of the bands!
Howard University
Morgan State University
