State Fair Classic

The State Fair Classic (known as the Southwest Airlines State Fair Classic for sponsorship purposes) is an annual college football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Prairie View A&M University Panthers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The game is played on a neutral site at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park, Dallas, Texas during the State Fair of Texas. The game often occurs the weekend before the OklahomaTexas Red River Showdown game; the Texas State Fair Football Showdown took place on the third weekends of the 2018 and 2019 fairs and featured SWAC competitors Southern and Texas Southern.[1]

State Fair Classic
Southwest Airlines State Fair Classic
StadiumCotton Bowl in Fair Park
LocationDallas, Texas
Operated1925–1970, 1972–present
Sponsors
Southwest Airlines (since 1995)
2019 matchup
Prairie View A&M Panthers 42,
Grambling State Tigers 36
2020 matchup
Grambling State Tigers vs. Prairie View A&M Panthers (February 27, 2021)
Locations of Grambling State and Prairie View A&M
In-game action during the 2019 State Fair Classic

State Fair Classic history

The State Fair Classic, held annually at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, began in 1925 featuring the Wiley College Wildcats and Langston University 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.[2] Both teams met four consecutive years in Dallas before Prairie View replaced Langston in 1929.[3] 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 wasn't 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.

After relocating to Dallas in 1961, Bishop College eventually took 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, East Texas State University (A&M–Commerce), Southern, 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 of Louisiana 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 matchup 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 four out of five contests between then and 2013.

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.[4]

The classic has an annual estimated economic impact of $8.5 million for the City of Dallas.[5] 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 Division I FCS football game in Texas.[6] Both schools have a significant portion of their alumni base in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

The contest was known as the State Fair Classic 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.[7]

Game results

Date Winning team Losing team Location
October 19, 1925 Langston0Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1926 Langston13Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1927 Langston27Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 15, 1928 Langston7Wiley7 Dallas, TX
October 21, 1929 Prairie View A&M0Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 20, 1930 Wiley17Prairie View A&M13 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1931 Prairie View A&M20Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1932 Wiley13Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 16, 1933 Wiley6Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 15, 1934 Prairie View A&M13Wiley12 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1935 Prairie View A&M0Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1936 Wiley7Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 18, 1937 Prairie View A&M13Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1938 Prairie View A&M6Wiley6 Dallas, TX
October 16, 1939 Wiley13Prairie View A&M6 Dallas, TX
October 14, 1940 Prairie View A&M18Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 13, 1941 Prairie View A&M32Wiley7 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1942 Prairie View A&M6Wiley0 Prairie View, TX
1943 Prairie View A&M0Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 14, 1944 Wiley28Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 15, 1945 Wiley35Prairie View A&M7 Marshall, TX
October 14, 1946 Wiley19Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 13, 1947 Prairie View A&M12Wiley6 Dallas, TX
October 18, 1948 Prairie View A&M19Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1949 Prairie View A&M27Wiley7 Dallas, TX
October 16, 1950 Prairie View A&M47Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 13, 1951 Prairie View A&M38Wiley0 Marshall, TX
October 13, 1952 Prairie View A&M53Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1953 Prairie View A&M32Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 18, 1954 Prairie View A&M19Wiley6 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1955 Prairie View A&M34Wiley7 Dallas, TX
October 15, 1956 Tennessee State45Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 14, 1957 Prairie View A&M7Texas Southern6 Dallas, TX
October 13, 1958 Prairie View A&M26Texas Southern19 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1959 Prairie View A&M34Texas Southern15 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1960 Prairie View A&M36Wiley15 Dallas, TX
October 16, 1961 Prairie View A&M48Wiley13 Dallas, TX
October 15, 1962 Prairie View A&M26Wiley17 Dallas, TX
October 14, 1963 Prairie View A&M27Wiley10 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1964 Prairie View A&M39Wiley13 Dallas, TX
October 18, 1965 Prairie View A&M16Wiley7 Dallas, TX
October 17, 1966 Prairie View A&M21Wiley0 Dallas, TX
October 16, 1967 Prairie View A&M31Bishop7 Dallas, TX
October 19, 1968 Bishop13Prairie View A&M10
October 18, 1969 Bishop36Prairie View A&M21 Dallas, TX
October 24, 1970 Prairie View A&M29Bishop26 Dallas, TX
October 21, 1972 Prairie View A&M14Bishop10 Prairie View, TX
October 20, 1973 Prairie View A&M25Bishop3 Dallas, TX
October 26, 1974 Bishop21Prairie View A&M14 Dallas, TX
October 25, 1975 Prairie View A&M14Bishop13 Dallas, TX
October 23, 1976 Prairie View A&M22Bishop14
September 10, 1977 East Texas State38Prairie View A&M10 Dallas, TX
October 21, 1978 Bishop35Prairie View A&M34 Dallas, TX
October 6, 1979 Bishop33Prairie View A&M16 Dallas, TX
October 11, 1980 Bishop12Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 10, 1981 Bishop40Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 9, 1982 Prairie View A&M24Bishop13 Prairie View, TX
October 8, 1983 Bishop32Prairie View A&M20 Prairie View, TX
October 6, 1984 Bishop34Prairie View A&M8 Dallas, TX
October 5, 1985 Grambling State27Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
October 4, 1986 Prairie View A&M24Grambling State19 Dallas, TX
October 3, 1987 Grambling State28Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
October 1, 1988 Grambling State40Prairie View A&M14 Dallas, TX
September 30, 1989 Grambling State49Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
September 29, 1990 Grambling State67Elizabeth City State3 Dallas, TX
September 28, 1991 North Carolina A&T28Grambling State12 Dallas, TX
October 3, 1992 Grambling State63Prairie View A&M3 Dallas, TX
October 2, 1993 Grambling State49Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
October 1, 1994 Grambling State66Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
September 30, 1995 Grambling State64Prairie View A&M0 Dallas, TX
September 28, 1996 Grambling State54Prairie View A&M12 Dallas, TX
October 4, 1997 Grambling State33Prairie View A&M6 Dallas, TX
October 3, 1998 Grambling State55Prairie View A&M40 Dallas, TX
October 2, 1999 Grambling State47Prairie View A&M19 Dallas, TX
September 30, 2000 Grambling State47Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
September 29, 2001 Grambling State40Prairie View A&M6 Dallas, TX
October 5, 2002 Grambling State35Prairie View A&M13 Dallas, TX
October 4, 2003 Grambling State65Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
October 2, 2004 Grambling State53Prairie View A&M32 Dallas, TX
October 1, 2005 Grambling State50Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
September 30, 2006 Grambling State53Prairie View A&M7 Dallas, TX
September 29, 2007 Grambling State17Prairie View A&M14 Dallas, TX
October 4, 2008 Grambling State40Prairie View A&M16 Dallas, TX
October 3, 2009 Prairie View A&M35Grambling State32 Dallas, TX
September 25, 2010 Grambling State34Prairie View A&M17 Dallas, TX
October 1, 2011 Prairie View A&M31Grambling State23 Dallas, TX
October 6, 2012 Prairie View A&M31Grambling State14 Dallas, TX
October 5, 2013 Prairie View A&M31Grambling State3 Dallas, TX
September 27, 2014 Grambling State26Prairie View A&M20 Dallas, TX
September 26, 2015 Grambling State70Prairie View A&M54 Dallas, TX
October 1, 2016 Grambling State36Prairie View A&M16 Dallas, TX
October 7, 2017 Grambling State34Prairie View A&M21 Dallas, TX
September 29, 2018 Prairie View A&M22Grambling State16 Dallas, TX
September 28, 2019 Prairie View A&M42Grambling State36 Dallas, TX

See also

References

  1. Luke Johnson (October 8, 2016). "'This is a major deal': Southern to play Texas Southern in 2018–19 Texas State Fair Football Showdown". theadvocate.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  2. The Chicago Defender "Wiley and Langston Battle Hard, But Neither Scores" 31 October 1925 page 9
  3. The Chicago Defender "Wiley and Prairie View Ready" 19 October 1929 page 9
  4. "Grambling State University Athletics - Football vs Prairie View A&M on 10/07/2017". GSUTigers.com. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  5. "Lipscomb's name dropped from game". amarillo.com. September 21, 2000. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
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