For Grambling State defensive linemen Lane Lewis and Wesley Green, this Saturday at the State Fair of Texas will be a homecoming.
Lewis (Allen) and Green (DeSoto) attended the fair growing up in the Dallas area. Now, they suit up for Grambling, which plays Prairie View A&M at the Cotton Bowl in the annual State Fair Classic football game.
The game, which had taken place from 1925-1970 before picking up again in 1972, will feature a clash between two historically Black university programs packed with players from the D-FW area. Including junior Lewis and senior Green, 25 D-FW players are on Grambling’s and Prairie View’s rosters. And to think, neither Lewis nor Green had considered Grambling until late in their high school football careers.
HBCU football programs are still in need of the exposure that games like the State Fair Classic provide to college prospects.
Last season, 26,198 fans attended the State Fair Classic in a year when ticket sales were lower due to the pandemic. But the 2019 game drew a crowd of 52,315. At its first home game this season against Northwestern State, Grambling drew 12,951 fans. The team averaged 18,614 per home game in 2021.
Playing in the middle of the fair, which welcomed 2.2 million people in 2021, is everything.
“We’re playing on a big stage in front of everybody that comes to the fair,” Lewis said. “People come to the fair to have a good time with their family and stuff, but who doesn’t love football? You get to have a funnel cake and a turkey leg and go watch football at the same time.”
Lewis said he previously didn’t know anything about HBCUs. It wasn’t until his friend’s father, a Grambling alumnus, brought Lewis along for a visit to the campus in Grambling, La., that he considered going there to experience the energy of the school for himself.
Grambling was the only school that seriously recruited Green, and he similarly enjoyed his visit to the campus. Green also had the opportunity to attend the State Fair Classic during his senior year at DeSoto. That was his first introduction to an HBCU game.
Green said he loved the atmosphere and was amazed by how many fans showed up despite both schools being nearly four hours away. Playing in Dallas each season for the State Fair Classic has accented Green’s and Lewis’ experiences because they get to compete in front of friends and family who live in the area.
But that was just one component that made Grambling appealing.
“You’re playing for your own people,” Green said. “When you get here, the vibe is more catered to that person. … The coaches care more about you.’'
When Green played at DeSoto during head coach Claude Mathis’ first stint, he said it was important for him to have a Black coach. Mathis, Green said, prepared himself and his mostly Black teammates for life. It was also easier to bond with Mathis and the other players because of their shared experiences.
Green and Lewis didn’t know much about HBCUs when they were in high school, but things have shifted in the sports landscape in the aftermath of 2020′s racial reckoning. Across several sports, more Black recruits than ever are choosing to attend HBCUs rather than Power Five programs with more resources. And Deion Sanders has brought even more attention to HBCUs with his success as the head football coach at Jackson State.
Makur Maker, a five-star basketball recruit in the Class of 2020, chose to play basketball at Howard University despite receiving offers from UCLA, Kentucky and Memphis. Duncan Powell, a DeSoto alumnus and a top-100 basketball recruit for the Class of 2021, became North Carolina A&T’s highest-rated recruit in school history.
In 2021, five-star cornerback Travis Hunter decommitted from Florida State to play at Jackson State, becoming the highest-rated recruit to sign with an HBCU or FCS program.
Lewis and Green said they think what Sanders has done is amazing in changing the narrative surrounding HBCUs, but increased interest in the institutions is deeper than NFL legends or football games in the middle of the State Fair.
“I think that coming to an HBCU helps build Black men and helps them stay on the right path at the same time instead of … people looking at you different because of the skin color that you are, or where you come from or just how you act,” Lewis said.
2022 State Fair Classic
Matchup: Prairie View A&M (2–2) vs. Grambling State (1–3)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cotton Bowl Stadium
Tickets: Find tickets online at Ticketmaster.com or at the select Dallas locations: All Williams Chicken’s Locations, Catfish Floyds, Friendship West Baptist Church, St Johns Baptist Church (Southlake & Grand Prairie locations), PVU & GSU Alumni, Smokey John’s Bar-B-Q
Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
