Classic is just a huge homecoming'

By JOHN T. GRANT, (AS TOLD TO BILL BANKS) , Atlanta Journal Constitution

The Atlanta Football Classic, and all the events surrounding it, has profound relevance for me personally.

I grew up in a small town, Potecasi, N.C., and I went to North Carolina A&T State University. Like many who've attended historically black colleges and universities, I was the first person in my family to go to college.

This game started because 100 Black Men of Atlanta needed to raise more money for our (mentoring and tuition assistance program) Project Success, which was then in its second year.

That first game was at Bobby Dodd Stadium, and we drew 40-something thousand, which was crucial. If we had only drawn 20,000 or so, we would've been dead in the water. We never would've met expenses.

From there, the game has just grown into a Wednesday-through-Saturday festival. We have a big college fair with about 5,000 high school juniors and seniors who show up. We have a health fair, an intellectual debate, a concert, and our Georgia Power Parade of Excellence.

In other words, we use this game as a way to promote our mission, which is to provide support and improve the quality of life for African-American kids.

Further, I think that remains the mission of HBCUs. I think a lot of people in recent years have wondered if HBCUs have outlived their usefulness. But I believe they are needed today more than ever.

In the beginning, HBCUs were needed because of discrimination. Now the reasons are more economic.

We have had in the current generation, because of the policies of our country, a whole new cycle of poverty. As a result, you have children growing up today who don't know anything about the college experience.

It seems like everywhere I turn, I see kids who don't envision college as a part of their future.

They don't think of themselves in academic terms, and neither do their parents. So, I think, given those conditions, HBCUs are as vital today as they were 100 years ago.

And I think the same of HBCU football. There is a climate, an energy that is different from mainstream college football. HBCU football is more of a community and cultural experience.

There is something about our football that hearkens back to an earlier era, before big business and big media took over sports.

Our game reminds us of a more casual era when there was barely any separation between players and spectators, when we were all part of one large community.

Here's an interesting fact: 59 percent of those coming (to the Classic) are women, who in turn bring children. So we have more of a family atmosphere than your typical football game.

Many of the people, perhaps more than half of the 70,000 people who show up, aren't even alumni of the two schools.

This is just a huge homecoming and reunion for HBCU fans and graduates in general. We have people buying tickets who come from 33 states, plus Canada and the Virgin Islands.

Of course, there is one other major difference between black football and mainstream football.

At [mainstream] games, people rush to the concession stands at halftime. But at our games, people are rushing to their seats.

No one in their right mind would want to miss the battle of the bands.

— John T. Grant, 50, became CEO of 100 Black Men of Atlanta in November, 2001, but he joined the organization in 1988 and worked on the very first Atlanta Football Classic (then called "The Ebony Classic" ) in 1989. The Classic remains the largest fund-raiser for 100 Black Men of Atlanta.