LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
HBCU homecomings are often the most important date on the football schedule. When fans inquire about the upcoming football season, their first question is often, when is homecoming?
The question is not, when do we play our rivals, though that usually follows right behind.
But when is homecoming? That takes precedence.
That’s because HBCU homecomings are special and unique to the black experience.
Homecoming is a time to celebrate the institution that birthed and nurtured you into adulthood. It is an opportunity to recognize a place that helped make you the person you are today, helped you recognize and pursue your possibilities. The school helped you set priorities and goals and put in the work to achieve them.
Homecoming is a way to say, thank you.
My experience
I had the good fortune, I would say, of going to all-black schools as I was growing up in Danville, Virginia. John M. Langston was my high school. The experience attending that school was unbelievable.
The teachers and administrators – all HBCU graduates, every one of them – nurtured our growth and development. They sincerely set you on course to make a difference in the world. They instilled pride and confidence that you could tackle anything, overcome all odds, in a world (America) where the odds were stacked against you. It didn’t matter.
“Proudly we sing of halls where our swift feet have trod.
Singing to bring to life the wondrous gifts of God.
Where in thy chambers we have sought success to gain. Langston, dear Langston may the spirit ever reign.”
That was our alma mater.
Every two years we have a reunion that nearly 1,000 people attend. Graduates dating back to the first graduating classes from the 1950s are in attendance though they are increasingly becoming fewer. Even more flood back to attend the James. B. Dudley High School reunion in Greensboro, N. C. where I now live, that has a similar history.
They come back to thank the teachers and administrators, to recognize the important role the institution played in their young lives.
In the past and even today, HBCUs and their homecomings represent the next rung of that development and next level of celebration.
Interestingly, no such celebration takes place at the high school (or college for that matter) which exists or existed on the other side of town, if you know what I mean.
Perhaps for others, high schools and colleges don’t carry the same weight. There are a plethora of institutions, outside the educational environment, that facilitate their matriculation into society. It is perhaps part of that thing that is often called ‘privilege’ (def., n. – a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.)
Not so for us. We cherish the institutions and their spirit. In fact, in many ways, attending an HBCU is a spiritual (def., adj. – relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things) experience.
The homecoming atmosphere
HBCU homecomings are like a family reunion, sometime with and many times without the family or with a different family.
This is the one time of the year where former friends and classmates get to see each other, reminisce about the old times and talk about where they are in their lives. It’s a time to further cement the bonds of brotherhood, sisterhood and loyalty to the school that follows them throughout their lives.
Particularly for those who have to travel significant distances to attend games, homecomings are the one date they circle to make sure they are present.
Thus, for the school, it’s a great time for fundraising. Alumni associations from all over the country meet to turn in money, explore best practices and chart their futures.
Other than fierce backyard rivalries (like Clark Atlanta vs. Morehouse, NC A&T vs. NC Central, Southern vs. Grambling, etc.), homecoming is the best attended game of the season, most
times a guaranteed sellout for the home team, perhaps the only one of the season.
The week-long activities surrounding homecomings, both before and after the game, are numerous. There are parades, coronations of the homecoming courts, sorority and fraternity step shows and meet-ups, comedy shows, gospel concerts, new and old skool concerts, day and night parties, fanfests, class reunions, breakfast meetings and church services.
There’s tailgating before, after and during the game with a fashion show throughout. Alumni bands and cheerleaders get to perform and then there’s the dazzling halftime shows of the bands.
There is plenty to enjoy!
Oh yeah, the games
It’s funny, but fans don’t come to homecoming to see a competitive game. A blowout is preferred. It makes the revelry merrier. But don’t get it twisted, the revelry goes on win over lose.
What are likely to be the most competitive or compelling homecoming games this year?
1) Monmouth at North Carolina A&T homecoming (Oct. 30) – The Hawks are the two-time defending Big South champion while the Aggies, in their first year in the conference, are trying to end their reign and show they are the new power in the league. Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said he assigned someone to do special research on A&T’s GHOE (Greatest Homecoming on Earth) to prepare his team for the game.
2) Jackson State at Alabama A&M homecoming (Oct. 9) – In the spring, Connell
Maynor’s squad defeated Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ first team 52-43 en route to winning the SWAC East and later the SWAC title. Prime Time would like nothing better than to turn the tables.
3) Southern at Arkansas- Pine Bluff homecoming (Oct. 16) – First-year head coach Doc Gamble and UAPB beat the Jaguars in Baton Rouge in the spring 33- 30 to open the season en route to dethroning Southern as SWAC West champion. New Southern coach Jason Rollins will try to do the same at Pine Bluff.
4) Alabama State at Jackson State homecoming (Oct. 16) – Jackson State has likely not forgotten ASU head coach Donald Hill-Eley’s comment about a shoe lodged in the rear of (allegedly) a JSU fan after the Hornets defeated (kicked) the Tigers 35-28 in the spring.
What homecoming games are not expected to be competitive?
1) Texas Southern vs. North American (Oct. 2) – All you need to know is that NAU is a school started in 2007. Its first graduating class in 2013 had 12 students. It made its football debut in September of 2020.
2) Norfolk State vs. Virginia University-Lynchburg (Oct. 16) – The Spartans are the only HBCU to schedule VUL for homecoming this season. The Dragons, usually welcomed in for HBCU homecomings, have 10 away games on their 11-game schedule.
Find your team’s 2021 Homecomings listed alphabetically by school and dates elsewhere on this page.
And make your plans now. If tickets are on sale, they will go fast.