Football Classic to Showcase Black Colleges and the County

Bowie State University will host St. Paul's College in the fourth annual Prince George's Classic football game Sept. 29, event organizers announced Tuesday.

The game "is a great opportunity to celebrate and showcase the black college experience, as well as highlight the outstanding attributes, amenities and institutions of Prince George's County," said Hubert "Petey" Green, co-founder of the event and president of the Prince George's Black Chamber of Commerce.

Organizers have planned four days of activities. They begin begins with a golf game Sept. 27 at Enterprise Golf Course in Mitchellville and end with church services Sept. 30 at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington.

Charlie Neal, a longtime play-by-play announcer who attended the news conference at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover to announce the event, said the Prince George's Classic is "more than just a football game." In a way, he said, the football game has become secondary to the battle of the bands.

The Prince George's Classic Battle of the Bands will feature high school marching bands from Prince George's, Baltimore and the District. It will take place at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center on Sept. 28.

"This is a must-see event," Green said. "It's been a sellout in the past."

A fashion show and luncheon, featuring local and national designers, will be at the Greenbelt Marriott from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 29, before kickoff. The game starts at 2 p.m. At 8 p.m., members of the "Divine Nine" historically black sororities and fraternities will be featured in a step dance show at Prince George's Community College.

The county started the Prince George's Classic in 2004, modeling it after the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis and the Bayou Classic in New Orleans, which feature historically black college teams and week-long schedules of activities.

Mike Little, an event co-sponsor, said that after seeing what other classics brought to their cities, he wanted to shine a spotlight on the nation's wealthiest majority-black county.

But it has gotten off to a rocky start.

The event was at FedEx Field in Landover the first two years, and both times it rained heavily. Last year, organizers moved the game to Bowie State's Bulldog Stadium and drew a crowd of 10,000.

"We need to get well," said Green of the decision to go to Bowie. "We had some disasters."

Mickey L. Burnim, president of Bowie State University, said he appreciates the exposure the game will bring to the college. "People will come for the first time," Burnim said. "And whenever I see visitors, I see potential students."