In the days before he died former FAMU President Frederick Humphries, told family members and Tennessee State President Glenda Glover, that he’d like for FAMU and Tennessee State to work out their differences and resume playing each other in football, Laurence Humphries, son of the former president, said Saturday.
The storied series between the two teams dates back to 1944. The two teams have faced each other on the gridiron 55 times with TSU holding the series lead 31-24. Both teams last met on the gridiron in 2017 in Tampa. The Rattlers lost that game 24-13.
The games between the two programs have been dubbed “one of the greatest Black College football rivalries,” by the African American Athlete website. According to the website, the game was as fabled as the Southern v Grambling rivalry. The two teams not only fielded great teams, regularly sending great players to pros, but because of the game pageantry with the Aristocrats of Bands and the Marching 100.