Tuesday, February 26, 2002
Athletic administrators from FIU and Bethune-Cookman
College gathered at the Ft. Lauderdale City Hall Tuesday to announce
plans for this year's South Florida Classic football game, scheduled
for Saturday, Sept. 21 at Ft. Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium.
"With the excitement surrounding the first-year
program at FIU and the tradition of Bethune-Cookman, not just
in football but also with its outstanding marching band, we're
looking for our first sellout at Lockhart Stadium," said
B-CC athletic director Lynn Thompson.
"The spirit of competition between these two
schools is something I am proud of," Thompson said. "We've
played against one another in so many of our other sports, playing
in football is a natural."
Bethune-Cookman has hosted the South Florida Classic,
on and off, since 1989. On Sept. 9, 2000, the Wildcats beat Norfolk
State, 24-6, in front of 15,847 fans-the largest attendance ever
for the event. B-CC was scheduled to play Savannah State at Lockhart
Stadium last Sept. 15, but the game was canceled after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks.
"This concept of the South Florida Classic
is exciting to us," said FIU athletic director Rick Mello.
"The Broward County/Ft. Lauderdale area is important to FIU.
This is a great opportunity to showcase our new program and it
was one of the reasons we started football, for events just like
this."
The football game will be just one of a number of
events planned for the weekend said Classic committee chairman
Jacques Frink. A charity golf tournament will take place on Friday,
and on Saturday morning an alumni scholarship banquet and presidential
reception will be held. Following the game, as many as six high
school marching bands will be invited to participate in a battle
of the bands.
The FIU program, under the direction of head coach
Don Strock, will play its first-ever game this coming Aug. 31
against St. Peter's at the FIU Community Stadium on the University
Park campus.
Strock, who recently announced the program's second
recruiting class, opens spring practice on Monday, March 25 with
the closing Spring Game scheduled for Saturday, April 13 at Community
Stadium.
Bethune-Cookman, who was nationally ranked
for a time during the 2001 season, finished 6-4, 5-3 in Mid-Eastern
Athletic Conference play.
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