Charles Davis: 'It's an Honor to Call an HBCU Game' and His Family's Legacy
Longtime NFL analyst Charles Davis will be in the broadcast booth on Sunday when the Grambling State Tigers match up against Tennessee State Tigers in the Black College Hall of Fame Classic.
"It's an honor to call an HBCU game. It's an honor to call a classic," said Davis. The veteran broadcaster will be with Andrew Siciliano calling the contest for the NFL Network.
Davis' connection with HBCUs is rooted with his father, who played quarterback for Bluefield State College. "The biggest tie here for me is with my family. My father was a quarterback in an HBCU back in the day called Bluefield State in West Virginia, which later dropped football and integrated in the 1970s."
Bluefield State has chosen to revive the football program and CBS FOX 59 reported the story.
Bluefield's head coach Tony Coaxum at the team's first press conference talked about the game and return of football to the area. "You love football, you want to play games, you know you are experiencing something not many people ever have, with this pandemic," Coaxum shared.
Tennessee State head coach John Merritt, left, smokes his cigar as he shared a moment with Grambling head coach Eddie Robinson before their game at Hale Stadium in Nashville Oct. 6, 1979. 79then10 017 Credit: © Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean, Nashville Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LL
Grambling State University and Tennessee State University have a rich history of competition between the two football programs. Amid the Civil Rights Movement, GSU and TSU squared off with two of the top quarterbacks in college football, James "Shack" Harris (GSU) and Elridge Dickey (TSU) - NFL teams drafted both. Harris went on to become what I label him as, "Mr. First." The first black quarterback to start, open a season as a starter, have a perfect passer rating, win MVP an NFC Pro Bowl, and lead a team to the playoffs.
Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Black College Football Hall of Fame landed Grambling State University and Tennessee State University for Labor Day weekend's 2021 Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic.
Grambling State and Tennessee State will battle on the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium field in a “Battle of the Tigers.” The game, scheduled to kick off at 3 PM CT and broadcast on NFL Network.
1995 Heisman Trophy recipient Eddie George will debut as the head coach for Tennessee State.
Grambling's Broderick Fobbs has been on the Tigers sidelines as head coach since Dec. 4, 2013.