‘Historic moment.’ South Florida gets inaugural HBCU football event in Florida Beach Bowl

Two Historically Black Universities will clash in Fort Lauderdale for the inaugural Florida Beach Bowl.

The Fort Valley State University Wildcats (7-3) will battle the Johnson C. Smith University Golden Bulls (7-3) at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. A first-of-its kind matchup between two of the top HBCU programs in Division II, the game seeks to further expose South Florida to the wonders of Black college football.

“This is an epic and historic moment,” Florida Beach Bowl CEO Victor Robenson said in a statement. “We are thrilled to bring these top teams to South Florida, and to make waves and score big for the Fort Lauderdale area and all of the surrounding communities.”

Neither teams are the champions of the respective conferences. That honor belongs to the undefeated Benedict College in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, home to FVSU and Morehouse College, and the 10-1 Virginia Union in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, home to JCSU and Winston Salem State University. The ultimate goal, however, is to recruit the conference’s top teams in the coming years, according to Robenson, making the game more similar to the Celebration Bowl, or the Black college football national championship.

“With this being the first one, it was about us actually having a good bowl game, having the fan support behind it and putting two teams together that actually understand and believe in what we’re building,” said Robenson, adding that Virginia Union and Benedict already had previous commitments that would render their participation impossible.

JCSU is no stranger to firsts. The Golden Bulls were part of America’s inaugural HBCU football game when the school took on Livingston College in 1892.

“The passion and the legacy that you have at your institution is going to come to this community at the Florida Beach Bowl and really provide a postseason experience that will be a lifetime memory for our student-athletes, our alumni and our fans,” CIAA commissioner Jacquie McWilliams said in Thursday afternoon’s press conference.

With Florida being home to some of the top high school football talent in the country, the bowl will also serve as a major recruiting tool.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity because now, we get to show the people of South Florida what type of product both of our schools have,” FVSU Coach Shawn Gibbs said Thursday. “I think the CIAA and the SIAC has some really good football.”

Both FVSU and JCSU have been around since the 19th century. Founded in 1895, Fort Valley State University is located in Fort Valley, Ga. where it was most recently named the state’s top public HBCU, according to the U.S. News World Report’s 2024 annual college rankings. Its notable graduates include Mayor Howard Nathaniel Lee, the first Black person to hold such a position in a Southern, majority-white city, Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Rayfield White and Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, one of the orchestrators behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Located in Charlotte, North Carolina, JCSU was founded in 1867 and boasts a long list of famous alumni including Edward R. Dudley, the first Black U.S. ambassador, Hon. Richard C. Erwin, the first Black federal judge in North Carolina history, and Sayde Curry, the first Black woman to become a gastroenterologist in the United States.

The Florida Beach Bowl now gives South Florida its second HBCU football showcase. In 2021, the Orange Blossom Classic returned to Miami Gardens after a 43-year hiatus. And just like the OBC, there will be a host of events surrounding the big game including a celebrity golf tournament on Dec. 8, a 5K run on Dec. 9 and fan fest tailgate on Dec. 13.

At a time when the teaching of Black history is under attack in Florida and beyond, McWilliams called the matchup “more than a game.”

“It’s a voice in a political climate where our history as HBCUs will alwyas be at the forefront of this country, no matter where we are,” McWilliams said. “Since we’re in South Florida, we hope to be loud and clear that our presence and representation matters.”