Arlington Football Showdown highlights growth of HBCUs in North Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas - The city of Arlington will be the backdrop for a showdown of the Texas Southern University and Southern University football teams.
Alumni of the HBCU's will hold a number of events in and around North Texas.
"It's been a lot of excitement. We have a whole committee that has been working," said Correen Robertson the Vice President of the Southern University Tarrant County Alumni Association. "We have sold tickets to some of our alumni from California, Indianapolis, Atlanta, so we have Jaguars that are coming from all over the country to support this game.
The Texas-Louisiana matchup further expands the footprint of HBCU's in the DFW Metroplex; a path forged by the decades-running rivalry and State Fair Classic that features Prairieview A&M University and Grambling State University each year in Dallas.
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Now Arlington gets in on this new HBCU tradition.
"Many of us wouldn't be where we are today but for historically Black colleges," said Willie Gary, a Florida attorney who was the keynote speaker of the Arlington Showdown Scholarship Gala.
Gary hopes events like the game will bolster positive HBCU highlights, like when rap star Megan Thee Stallion recently graduated from TSU with a degree in Health Administration.
"Sometimes we let our heads get too large for our hat sizes, and we forget the bridge that brought us over. Black colleges were there when we had no place to go. You need to know that," he said.
Texas Southern University also has plans to permanently locate a satellite student success center at Arlington's Choctaw Stadium.
Those involved with the Arlington Football Showdown say for them, it is morethan just a game.
"It is all to support our scholarship efforts and send more students back to these universities," said Robertson.
Texas Southern University and Southern University kick off Saturday, Sept. 17 at 4 p.m. at Choctaw Stadium.