Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Keeping step with the bands

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.

AT A GLANCE

Saturday: Sam Boyd Stadium (free); Pregame Tailgate Jam, 1 p.m., Sam Boyd Stadium (free); Neville Brothers Aggs & Jags After Party, 10:30 p.m., Stardust hotel-casino ($29).

There's no official betting line on the 2003 Las Vegas Football Classic presented by Lincoln Mercury at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday night. But from the sound of things, it might be a toss-up between Southern University and North Carolina A&T.

Southern always has a heck of a drumline, but I'm hearing the woodwinds and trombones at A&T are pretty tight.

The Battle of the Bands/Step Show, which is expected to attract more than 15,000 spectators to the Thomas & Mack Center tonight, is one of the marquee attractions of any Historically Black College (HBC) football weekend. Some believe it might even be bigger than the game itself.

In that my indoctrination to black college football was limited to Grambling football highlights, which as a kid I used to watch on Sunday nights on a Chicago UHF station, I'm hardly an expert on the subject. All I remember about those games is that Grambling had a quarterback named Matt Reed and these cool all-yellow uniforms with red trim and black helmets. And that my Mom really enjoyed the halftime show.

I have, however, seen two movies based on the HBC football experience. One starred Bruce Jenner as Grambling's first "White Tiger" and the other was "Drumline," a 2001 release centering on the marching show band at fictional Atlanta A&T. Based on his wooden performance alongside Harry Belafonte in "White Tiger," that must have been where Jenner majored in drama.

But I'd give "Drumline" two thumbs up. The guys in those bands have more moves than the Four Tops and Bobby Fischer combined.

It used to be the football teams they represented were just as talented. But integration during the 1970s, which provided opportunities for black players in the Southeast Conference and elsewhere, has resulted in a drop-off between the lines at HBC schools.

There are 16 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who starred at black college football programs. In 1975, five players from HBC schools, including the late, great Walter Payton, went in the first round of the NFL draft.

But in the 27 drafts since, only 19 players from traditional black college programs have been selected in the first round. Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, who elected to attend Alcorn State because schools such as Miami and Mississippi State wanted to convert him to a defensive back, was the third player picked in the 1995 draft, but he was one of last black college football products to make it big.

"I'll always be thankful for the people at Alcorn," McNair told the Nashville Tennessean. "They gave me the opportunity, and sometimes that's all somebody needs."

But with the black college teams having been dumped into Division I-AA with the Montanas and Youngstown States of the college football world, and schools such as Alabama and Ole Miss, among the last to recruit black athletes, now battling traditional powers such as Southern Cal and Notre Dame and Nebraska for the best ones, the Gramblings and Tennessee States and Southerns are now mostly competitive only among themselves.

"I think there has been a change in the respect that there are just a lot more doors open for guys now," Tennessee State coach James Reese said recently. "They also have a chance to play more places, to be on TV. So in that sense, it has taken away from the total list of players we may have recruited way back."

It has been 18 years since an HBC team beat a I-A school. The last to do it was Grambling, which stunned Oregon State in 1985. Before that, Florida A&M upset Howard Schnellenberger's Miami team in 1979.

There was hope among the black schools that Grambling, which is enjoying a football renaissance under one of its own, former Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams, might have enough firepower to knock off San Jose State in the nationally televised Literary Classic on the opening weekend of this season. Alas, the Spartans won 29-0.

"The SEC is getting all the (Southwest Athletic Conference) guys," Williams told CBSSportsLine.com before the San Jose game. "Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Florida are getting what Florida A&M, Southern and we would be getting."

Moreover, FAMU has embarked on a transitional season that will see it move up to Division I-A next year. If the Rattlers enjoy any kind of success, either on the field or financially, it could have serious ramifications on its HBCU brethren.

"I think that if or when we are a smashing success in I-A, I think the NCAA will be completely inundated with applications (from HBCs) who want to go to I-A," Florida A&M coach Billy Joe said.

Due to budget constraints, chances are if FAMU is admitted to say, the Sun Belt Conference, it will probably struggle to compete with even a lightly regarded outfit such as Middle Tennessee State. At least on the field.

The halftime show, on the other hand, will be no contest.

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