• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Friday, September 22, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

The Only One goes in search of Black college football fans

by Charles Hallman
September 7, 2017
10
SHARES
202
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

In this latest installment in our “Only One” series, we go in search of Black fans at college football games. This week the Only One takes the search to the U of M and Augsburg season openers.

The typical college football experience: Arrive early; eat outside the stadium like you’re breaking fast while wearing your school colors, then head inside for the game itself. But this experience is also segregated in the same way that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed of churches in America at 11 am on Sundays, only it’s Whites at their college games and Blacks at theirs.

Is this segregation by choice? Last weekend kicked off our month-long quest to seek answers to this question.

________________________________________________________________________________

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“You won’t see a lot of people who look like us in a setting like this.”

________________________________________________________________________________

One longtime football fan told me he’ll watch college games on television but won’t go in person because he “don’t feel welcome,” since he isn’t an alumnus and doesn’t have a connection of some kind with the school or schools.

Minnesota Athletics Director Mark Coyle said last week that based on fan feedback, “We made the changes you’ll see on game days” at Gopher home football games this season. The Only One last Thursday arrived at the stadium a couple of hours before kickoff to check out these new changes.

We found Nella’s Barbecue food truck parked outside the new “Gopher Garden” in front of Mariucci Arena. The truck, whose proprietor is Michael Esaw, a 1979 Minneapolis North graduate, is among the new food and beverage options offered outside and inside the school’s football stadium.

Michael Esaw beside his food truck (Charles Hallman/MSR News)

“We got a full-service kitchen and an 800-pound smoker. We got State-approved, and the Minneapolis [Health Department’s approval] right away,” explained Esaw as he handed me a sample of his barbecue jerk chicken. “It’s a great Golden Gopher atmosphere,” he said.

“These are small but very positive steps toward building a better fan experience,” said Coyle on the game-day changes.

But some things we’re afraid haven’t changed, such as finding Black fans. As we strolled through the tailgating area — an on-campus parking lot otherwise — the “Why are you here?” stares from some White fans came our way before we finally ran into Brenda Williams. She told us that a co-worker got her tickets.

“Today we’re having buffalo meat because they [Minnesota] are playing Buffalo,” noted Williams, an experienced tailgater, though not usually at college games. “I am a big football fan, but pro football,” she admitted. “Food tastes better when you’re tailgating.”

“You won’t see a lot of people who look like us in a setting like this,” reported LaTia James, whose son plays for the Gophers. “Our network is Gopher parents…that look like me.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -
LaTia James (Charles Hallman/MSR News)

Two days later, the Only One stood out like a sore thumb in the park across the street from Edor Nelson Field, the home of the Augsburg University Auggies. The mostly White gathering was there celebrating prior to the Northwestern-St. Paul contest.

Robert Harper (l) and Forrest Lloyd (Charles Hallman/MSR News)

Robert Harper, a 2016 Auggie graduate, told us that “a gap” exists between the school’s athletic events and most Black students and other students of color. They don’t attend, he noted.

“If there were a lot of people of color here,” they would be here due to a connection with the Black player or players, added Forrest Lloyd, who attended Augsburg 2009-13.  As a result, finding Black fans without such connections didn’t happen that night.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

One Saturday down, three to go as our search for Black college football fans continues.

 

Next week: The Only One travels eastward to St. Paul. For more tales of the Only One, go to MSR News Online.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

 

 

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Gophers’ opener was right choice

Next Post

The Only One catches up with Stephanie Samedy

Charles Hallman

Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

You Might Also Like

Biden administration to ban medical debt from Americans’ credit scores
National

Biden administration to ban medical debt from Americans’ credit scores

Hamline’s Jones claims season’s first individual MIAC award 
Sports

Hamline’s Jones claims season’s first individual MIAC award 

College hockey undergoing ‘significant transformation’
MN Wild/NHL

College hockey undergoing ‘significant transformation’

A child should be seen and heard
Bulletin

A child should be seen and heard

reparations x broken chains
Opinion

Call for Reparations

Stanley Nelson’s doc ‘Sound of the Police’ dissects police in Black communities
Arts & Culture

Stanley Nelson’s doc ‘Sound of the Police’ dissects police in Black communities

Next Post
The Only One catches up with Stephanie Samedy

The Only One catches up with Stephanie Samedy

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 22
September 22 @ 5:00 pm-September 23 @ 8:30 pm

9th Annual Lantern Lighting Celebration at Lakewood Cemetery

Sep 22
7:30 pm-9:00 pm Recurring

Michhil Amra | We Are The Procession

Sep 23
10:00 am-1:00 pm

Expanding Diversity Career Fair

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: