Channel 9 delves into historic rivalry between NC Central Eagles and NC A&T Aggies

CHARLOTTE — We are just hours away from a Queen City clash of the state’s two largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

On Saturday, football teams from North Carolina Central University in Durham and North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro will face off at Bank of America Stadium.

It will be the first time the historic game is being played in Uptown Charlotte.

“It’s the pride and the history of just seeing two great schools playing football,” fan Robert Suber said. “I’m not a part of the school but I love coming to their games”

But the Aggie-Eagle Classic is not just another college football game. It’s the crown jewel of a fierce rivalry that’s a century old.

“This game actually marks the 100th anniversary of the first game played between North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T State University,” Director of Public History at NC Central University Dr. Charles Denton Johnson said.

The teams first met in 1922 in Greensboro.

In those days, state-supported liberal arts colleges that admitted Black students were few and far between, according to Johnson.

“The Aggies got that first one in a runaway. 26-to-0. North Carolina college was just starting out there,” Johnson said.

While what happens on the field is serious, the rivalry is also about bonds among family, lifelong friends, and close classmates.

“It is a rivalry that brings two institutions that are very close in proximity that have family members who attend both institutions,” Johnson said. “So there is a lot of overlap in relations.”

And there was a greater intensity in the quest for bragging rights.

“This game was for African Americans in the state of North Carolina, for much of the 20th century. It was the single biggest day event of the year. It is a real revenue generator,” Johnson said.

However, for graduates, the rivalry is less adversarial and more about continuing the memories of when they were Aggies and Eagles on campus.

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