St. Augustine's alums revel in hosting first game

RALEIGH -- Eric Nelms would not have traveled from his Atlanta home to his alma mater, St. Augustine's College, and its annual homecoming this year if it weren't for the college's first home football game.

Since graduating in 1988, Nelms had come back to homecomings in the dead of winter that revolved around a basketball game, and then to others that included a football game, but at another field in Raleigh. This year, as he stood in the corner of a standing-room-only set of bleachers, he watched the home team take an early lead on a new artificial turf field with a blue and white falcon emblazoned at the 50-yard line.

"This, to me, is a brand new experience, being able to come with my fellow alumni and see football," Nelms said. "This is a homecoming."

Ten years in the making and at a $10 million tab, the 144-year-old, historically black college was finally able to host a home game. Even more importantly to alumni and college officials, the stadium makes a statement that St. Aug's is growing as a cultural and academic institution.

"It represents for the institution a real sign that it is a growing institution that is stable and moving toward a vision," said college President Dianne Boardley Suber.

That vision largely belongs to Suber, who became president 12 years ago. Her experiences going to homecoming football games at Hampton University, where she received her bachelor's degree and later returned as an administrator, and at Florida A&M University, told her how important the sport was to give alumni something to rally around.

The George Williams Athletic Complex, named after the college's legendary track and field coach, includes a nine-lane track sanctioned for international events. It is just part of a broader vision for the college of 1,500 students that includes a field house and master's degree programs.

Saturday's game will be the only home game for the team this season. Officials say the temporary bleachers will be replaced with permanent seating in time for next season.

The temporary seats held 2,500 fans, but at least a few hundred more attended the game, many watching from a knoll overlooking the south end zone. Hundreds more stayed in the tailgating area, where the tennis and basketball courts sit just outside the stadium, enjoying yet another benefit of home-field advantage.

Seventies- and '80s-era R&B blasted from speakers as fans sampled fried chicken, bratwursts, rice and beans and other comfort foods.

The Charleston, S.C., chapter of the college's alumni association set up shop at one of more than two dozen tents, serving up the local cuisine of red rice, frogmore stew and fried seafood.

This was the first time the chapter could cook the food on site. Chapter member Montina Lee, class of 1980, said the chapter saw the historic event as an opportunity to attract more members and draw more people to Charleston.

"There's a lot more camaraderie this year," she said, "and a lot more people."

Saturday's homecoming events kicked off in the morning of a perfect fall day with a parade that stretched several blocks and ran for more than two hours.

Alumni and other parade viewers stood several deep in some parts along the route to watch a steady stream of marching bands, blue-and-white floats and roughly a dozen college dignitaries enjoying rides in some fine convertible automobiles.

The heaviest crowds were near the end of the route at Tarboro and Lane streets, and they line-danced to a DJ while they waited for the cavalcade to come by.

Alice Ford Eakins of Wilson, class of 1960, attended St. Aug's before it lost its football team in 1965. She is one of four sisters who graduated from the college, and they all returned for the homecoming from places as far away as Colorado Springs, Colo. She had a front-row seat in the stands as the Falcons built a 13-3 halftime lead over Johnson C. Smith University of Charlotte.

"It's been very exciting; what else can I say?" she said. "It's a beautiful day - you couldn't ask for any prettier a day - and the crowd, it's just great."

But, like a true fan, she wasn't satisfied with a 10-point halftime lead.

"Maybe we can do even better in the second half," she said.

The Falcons didn't disappoint, winning 34-15.