THIRD RICHARD ALLEN CLASSIC
MOVES TO ATLANTA
After two years in Philadelphia , the Richard Allen Football Classic
has packed up and moved further south to Atlanta. This year, the regularly
scheduled game between Alvin Wyatt's Bethune Cookman Wildcats and the
Wolverines of Morris Brown College will be played at state-of- the-art
Herndon Stadium on MBC's campus.
The classic is actually an old idea hatched some years ago by the
late Lambert Reed, a former player and head coach at MBC who unfortunately
passed away before the concept ever blossomed. But thanks to people
he put in place to help him, including native Atlantan and former teammate
Virgil Hodges who is President of the Classic Corporation and MBC national
alumni President Ruth Glover, the idea began taking root. Then, in stepped
another Atlanta product, business and political mover and shaker Ernest
"Broadway" Oglesby (Fort Valley ) who suggested the Classic be domiciled
in Philadelphia and used his own past political and business experiences
there to get great l support for the game.
Unfortunately support from "names" don't sell tickets and that became
the achilles heel for the first two years of the contest. That may have
well been because the connection between the City of Brotherly Love
and the black college is not as strong as it is in other cities like
Atlanta which routinely hosts such contests.
BCC and Morris Brown have a history of competition that dates back
many years when both teams were members of the SIAC so that eliminates
the need to 'recreate the wheel". The other factor hopefully will not
escape the attention of these promoters is that their pairings represent
black colleges in their truest sense both these private Division I schools
were founded by African- Americans.
Oglesby, the game's CEO, spun some more of his organizational magic
and managed to lure Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and 6th Episcopal
Bishop Frank Cummings as honorary co-chairs and former Atlanta Life
Insurance Company President Jesse Hill as part of their steering committee.
Can the game enjoy enjoy a better turnout of ticket-buying fans in
Atlanta? Given the rivalry and the familiarity of both clubs to Atlanta
and if the teams help out by bringing winning records into the game,
which will be third of the season for both, achieving capacity at Herndon
Stadium (15,000) is apt to be much more achievable and frankly realistic
that trying to fill the 65,178 seats at Philly's Veteran Stadium. By
the way, all the proceeds for the game will go to Morris Brown College
and it is no small secret the school could use the influx of capitol.
- For the first time in its history, CAU football will have its entire
home football schedule televised. Through what is being described as
a "business partnership", CAU has leased four hours of prime time Saturday
afternoon on Cable Channel 33 of metro Atlanta which is owned and operated
by the city's cable franchise AT&T -Broadband. The arrangement allows
the Panthers to call all the shots, makes them responsible for securing
advertising support but also editorial control of all content.
CAU Sports Information Director Charles Ward and sidekick Mark Lassiter
who team up for CAU football on the school's WCLK-FM radio station will
do play by play/ color respectively, CAU Athletic Director Brenda Edmond
is confident the school can lure the sponsorship needed to pull off
the 7 game broadcast schedule.
The school opens its 2002 contest and its TV slate August 31 hosting
Rick Comegy and the defending SIAC Champ Tuskegee Tigers. The school
is also debuting new head coach Tracy Ham who rose to national prominence
as the franchise back of the 1980s at Georgia Southern University helping
lead them to a Division 1AA national title.
Those CAU fans living outside metro Atlanta will also be able to access
the radio broadcast via the station's website (wclk.com) and video streaming
at cau.edu. (Note: This writer has obtained a copy of the sponsorship
proposal and for the dough they ask, it's a serious bang for the buck.
For details, call Ward at 404-880-6685)
- Morris Brown head football coach Solomon Brannen is grinning like
a mule eating briars these days. Twenty five of his gridders made the
dean's list and not by the skin of their transcripts.
"We had one starter returning who has a GPA of 3.8," said Brannen who
says his principal recruiting tool for parents is an ironclad promise
that he will do everything to see their child gets a great education.
"I have a slip that I send out to the teachers and I want to know
if my athletes are missing class or late. If they commit the first infraction,
they have to run up and down the steps of the stadium carrying a 50
pound weight (Herndon Stadium has a LOTTA steps). The second violation
is suspension and the third earns the kid a one-way bus ticket home...permanently."
Brannen says since taking over two seasons ago, he has had only one
athlete ruled academically ineligible.
- Congrats to the Morris Brown cheerleading squad that won the 2002
National Black College Cheerleading championships earlier in the year.
Head Coach Mike Johnson said his 24 member squad of 12 men and 12 women
practice as much as 4 times weekly during football and basketball season
and no less than three during the spring and summer months. He opened
this scribe's eyes to how competitive cheerleading has become.
High school cheerleaders with a modecum of expertise can now rah-rah
their way through college on scholarship. "I have lost a lot of potential
great cheerleaders to major Division I schools which actively seek the
best and brightest.". He also tells INSIDE that Morris Brown is featured
in the July-August edition of American Cheerleader Magazine with an
international subscriber base of two million. Johnson said the two page
spread is the second largest amount of space devoted by the mag to an
historically black college.
- Former Fort Valley defensive coordinator and Atlanta Falcon Lee Calland
was recently inducted in Louisville Kentucky's Central high School Hall
of Fame. Calland, who arrived here in town with the first Falcon team
in 1966, graduated from Central in 1959 and is a close friend and classmate
to Muhammed Ali who he says had the nickname "Gi-Gi when they grew up.
Calland, who was caught in downsizing and lost his most recent post
as defensive secondary coach at Morris Brown College, is looking to
latch on to a college program. Give him a buzz if your defense needs
a booster shot at 770-542-5186.
Got an item or comment?
Contact Hal at lamar95@bellsouth.net
