The State Fair Classic (formerly known as the
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...
State Fair Classic, for sponsorship purposes) is an annual
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
game between the
Grambling State University
Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African ...
Tigers and the
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...
Panthers of the
Southwestern Athletic Conference
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...
(SWAC). The game is played on a neutral site at the
Cotton Bowl in
Fair Park
Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of Downtown Dallas, downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the building ...
,
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
during the
State Fair of Texas. The game often occurs the weekend before the
Red River Showdown game; the
Heart of Dallas Classic took place on the first weekend of the 2013 fair, and the State Fair Football Showdown took place on the third weekends of the 2018 and 2019 fairs, featuring SWAC competitors
Southern and
Texas Southern.
History
Background
The State Fair Classic, held annually at the Cotton Bowl, began in 1925 featuring the
Wiley College
Wiley University (formerly Wiley College) is a private historically black college in Marshall, Texas. Founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and certified in 1882 by the Freedman's Aid Society, it is one of the ...
Wildcats and
Langston University
Langston University (LU) is a public land-grant historically black university in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state and the westernmost four-year public HBCU in the United States. The main campus in Lan ...
Lions. The first game was played on Monday, October 19, 1925 and resulted in a 0–0 tie with neither team scoring before a crowd of 5,000. Both teams met four consecutive years in Dallas before Prairie View replaced Langston in 1929. The contest always took place on "Negro Day" at the State Fair of Texas and would feature the city's black high school football championship in the afternoon followed by the much-anticipated college game at night. An early concept of "Monday Night Football" could also be attributed to the Texas State Fair Classic and
Louisiana's own State Fair Classic, as the contests took place on Monday nights from the 1920s into the 1960s.
Wiley was not the only college to play PVAMU in the State Fair Classic during that era, as the Panthers battled
Tennessee State in 1956 and then Texas Southern until 1959.
Bishop College relocated to Dallas in 1961, eventually taking Wiley's place in the annual contest, in the 43rd annual classic in 1967. From that point, Prairie View A&M maintained a presence in the Cotton Bowl with match-ups against Bishop and others over the years before moving its annual rivalry game against Grambling to the Cotton Bowl stadium in 1985 (the Panthers' series with Grambling had also previously been hosted by the
State Fair
A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in t ...
of
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
before returning to on-campus venues in 1962).
With the disbanding of the Prairie View football program in 1990, the State Fair Classic featured Grambling and
Elizabeth City State. Even though Prairie View brought football back in 1991, that year Grambling played
North Carolina A&T, so it was not until 1992 that the classic would see the PVAMU–GSU showdown once again. Since then, this has been the annual match-up held at the State Fair Classic. Upon the revival of this pairing, Grambling won every game until this changed with the 2009 edition—and the game subsequent to this has been very competitive, with Prairie View winning 9 out of 14 contests between then and 2022. At one point, it was even considered "likely" that Grambling would have to be replaced by Langston for the classic's 2015 edition.
Other events associated with the classic
The classic is accompanied by a pre-game concert featuring a celebrity artist, press conference/fellowship luncheon, pep rallies, alumni fundraising functions, golf tournament, jazz show, comedy show, tailgating, and two battles of the bands. The first battle features high school bands in the Dallas area and the last is between the "
World Famed Tiger Marching Band" of Grambling and the "Marching Storm" of Prairie View.
Economic impact
The classic has an annual estimated economic impact of $8.5 million for the City of Dallas. The official 2017 game attendance was 55,231 which solidified the event as one of the largest HBCU football classics in the nation and the largest
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...
game in Texas. Both schools have a significant portion of their alumni base in the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States, ...
.
Evolving name
Early contests appear to have been informally referred to as the Negro Day game to differentiate it from the state fair's other game, the Red River Showdown. Otherwise, the game is documented as having been called the "State Fair Classic" since at least 1945
and was known exclusively as such through the 1989 season. In 1990, it was renamed the
Al Lipscomb State Fair Classic after the former Dallas city councilman. After attracting a title sponsor for 1995, it was rechristened as the Southwest Airlines Al Lipscomb State Fair Classic. Starting with the 2000 season, Lipscomb's name was no longer associated with the game, because he had been convicted of 65 counts of conspiracy and bribery. Promotions with Southwest Airlines listed as the title sponsor ceased after the 2017 game.
Game results
See also
*
Labor Day Classic
The Labor Day Classic is an annual American football "classic" which features Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M University, two of Texas' largest historically black universities on Labor Day weekend. It is played at Shell Energ ...
*
Red River State Fair Classic
*
List of black college football classics
This is a list of ''recent'' black college football classics that have taken place between historically black colleges and universities that compete in college football in the United States. Unlike bowl games, classics take place during college fo ...
*
Sports in Dallas
References
External links
Official Site
{{Southwestern Athletic Conference football rivalry navbox
Grambling State Tigers football
Prairie View A&M Panthers football
American football in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
Black college football classics
State Fair of Texas