With football and fun, HBCUs take a classic approach to recruitment and fund raising efforts

SAN DIEGO
"Hey Frat," was only one of the few endearing phrases heard on this special day. Elderly gentlemen sported their fraternity baseball caps. Wide-eyed young people wore glowing smiles. And sophisticated, elegant women donned their sorority sweat-shirts. All contributed to the big wave of excitement that was in the air here on Nov. 14, at the Second Annual Gold Coast Classic.

Although this is a familiar historically Black college scene played out in arenas throughout the South, it is a rare sight on the West Coast. The crowd of 20,000 witnessed the Grambling State Tigers defeat the Winston-Salem State Rams, 35-28, at Qualcomm Stadium, where there was as much electricity among the fans in the seats as there was with the players and coaches on the field.

"It feels good to play in an NFL stadium," said Grambling State wide receiver Scotty Anderson. "The people here in San Diego have been real good to us."

Although the football game was the main focal point, the impact of the three days of Gold Coast Classic events will continue to ripple throughout this community for months to come.

"I think it is a monumental event for us culturally starved African Americans in San Diego," said local resident Leilah Townsend.

"The Gold Coast Classic is part of the explosion of Classic games played by Black colleges in the past five years," said Lonza Hardy Jr., associate commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. "These classics are the Black college version of the Sugar Bowl or the Rose Bowl."

While many Black colleges have hosted such perennial favorites as the Bayou Classic, featuring Grambling and Southern universities, other colleges are seeking to duplicate their success by hosting their own bowl games. Hardy said that more colleges are beginning to recognize that the games raise the visibility of their schools and bring in revenue. For instance, Hardy estimates that the Bayou Classic will bring in an estimated $1 million in revenue from the 66,000 fans expected to attend the game and the NBC contract to televise it nationally.