By Jessie Vanderson
TUCSON - If not for racism and segregation in America, Black college football would have not existed.
Black college football does though, and for that reason Saturday night's historic meeting between the football teams from the University of Arizona and South Carolina State University at Arizona Stadium on the campus of the UA has meaning way above and beyond being just contest being just an encounter between two schools that have never played each other before in football.
The University of Arizona Wildcats, once a segregated team, will host South Carolina State University, a college founded for the education of Negros in 1896 in Orangeburg, SC., in the first meeting of a historic Black school and a football team from the state of Arizona. Kick off is at 7:30 p.m. A large crowd, many of whom will be African Americans that attended a historic Black university or college, is expected to attend the game.
"This will be a very good opportunity for us and them (South Carolina State) to play a game like this," said Jonathan McKnight, a starting cornerback for the UA. "This will be a great atmosphere for football."
McKnight, a native of Kenner, LA., and the brother former University of Southern California standout and current New York Jets' running back Joe McKnight, will be a player to watch in Saturday night's game. He returned an interception 48 yards for the first touchdown of his collegiate career last Saturday night in the Wildcats' 59-38 upset of No. 18 ranked Oklahoma State in a non-conference game played at Arizona Stadium.
McKnight could have played for an historically Black school if he wanted to. Louisiana is the home of legendary historically Black colleges Grambling State University and Louisiana Southern University. Both schools are recognized powers in Black college football, and annual showcase Black college football to the national audience every Thanksgiving weekend when they play in the famed Bayou Classic in New Orleans.
According to McKnight, he does not root for either team when the game is played.
"I did not favor either school. For me, the game was a really good game for the fans," said McKnight, who returned to action this year after missing all of the 2011 season while recovering from a knee injury.
Many of the parents of the players that will participate in this weekend's game were not born when large section of college football was denied to Negros because of race.
That not the case when it comes to David Hill, the father of Wildcat wide receiver Austin Hill. David Hill was born in San Antonio, Texas., in 1954. Back then college football in the Lone Star state was segregated, and Negros could not play for any of the state's collegiate football powers at the time as the University of Texas, Texas A&M (where David Hill grew up to play collegiate football as a star tight end before enjoying a 12 year career in the NFL-playing for the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams), Southern Methodist or Texas Christian University. These schools did not start recruiting Black players until the early 1970s. Until then, if you were a Black athlete that wanted to extend your football career to the collegiate level, and you lived in states as Texas, Louisiana or South Carolina, a historically Black college or university was your only option.
If David Hill would have been born 10 years early, and he late wanted to play college football in his home state of Texas, his choices would have been basically limited at that time to playing for historically Black schools Texas Southern University in Houston, or Prairie View College in the east Texas town of Prairie View.
"I think Black college football is a great thing. These schools played football just as good as anywhere," said Austin Hill.
Hill, who played his high school football in California, had a night against the Cowboys that most certainly make his dad proud. He caught five passes from Wildcat quarterback Matt Scott for a team-high 124 yards receiving.
"South Carolina State is really talented. I actually looked up their roster with my dad, and looked at a couple of their players," said Hill. "We have a lot of talent as well. I think it is going to be a fun, and interesting game."
Scott is certainly one UA player the young men headed to Tucson from the Palmetto state this weekend must have taken a long look at this week. Scott burned the Cowboys from Stillwater, OK., for 320 yards passing and two TDs. He had a hot all night, connecting on 28 of 41 throws.
