The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum was the place to be for sports excitement as over 50 Grambling State University and Southern University fans gathered for the Bayou Classic Roadshow, Sunday, October 22.
The Bayou Classic is an annual football game played over Thanksgiving between Grambling State University and Baton Rouge’s Southern University for bragging rights. Over the years, it has grown into much more than a football game. There is everything from job fairs to parades, Greek step shows, concerts, and Battles of the Bands. The Bayou Classic is now a weeklong family reunion and celebration of HBCU culture.
The Roadshow is a bus adorned with each school’s logo and the Bayou Classic logo. It is sponsored by the State office of Tourism and several businesses. The local stop was sponsored by the Natchitoches chapters of the Grambling and Southern alumni associations as well as the Ben D. Johnson Educational Center. The bus makes the rounds of major Louisiana cities as well as Dallas each year. This year marks its first stop in Natchitoches. At each stop, that city’s mayor signs a ceremonial 50th Anniversary game ball that will ultimately be on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Natchitoches Mayor Ronnie Williams was joined by members of the GSU and SU alumni associations as he affixed his signature to the soon to be historic item.
