NC A&T and NC Central have played football against one another every year since 1924. But the rivalry game known as the Aggie-Eagle Classic won’t happen this year.
That’s becaues it and all other fall sports events involving Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schools — including A&T and NCCU — have been canceled by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities league through the end of the calendar year.
The MEAC is the latest college sports entity to take the drastic move in response to the worsening COVID-19 outbreak, joining the Ivy League, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and others in pulling the plug on the fall season.
The conference currently plans to proceed with winter sports competitions as scheduled, but added in a statement announcing the fall cancellations that it will only go forward only with the approval of health and medical professionals.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes continue to be our number one priority,” Howard University President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, chair of the MEAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors, said in the statement. “We have made the decision to suspend all sports competitions after careful review of the current conditions and consideration of the potential exposure that regular travel to competitions may cause and ongoing extensive physical contact.
“While our competitions have been suspended, each member institution will plan ongoing engagement of all student-athletes to ensure optimization of their physical and mental well-being as they continue their matriculation.”
There is still a possibility that the MEAC could move football season to the spring. If that doesn’t happen, the cancellations will mean that A&T’s conference history in the sport will end with a whimper not a bang.
The Aggies, a founding member of the MEAC who have won the past three HBCU national championships and four of the last five, are leaving the conference at the end of the athletic year to join the Big South Conference.
“Obviously this is an arduous decision because everyone wants to have a fall season for student-athletes, fans and others,” MEAC Commissioner Dr. Dennis Thomas said. “Part of our responsibility is to ensure the mental and physical health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff is paramount. It is imperative that everyone recognize that is our first and foremost responsibility.”
There is still a possibility that the MEAC could move football season to the spring. If that doesn’t happen, the cancellations will mean that A&T’s conference history in the sport will end with a whimper not a bang.
The Aggies, a founding member of the MEAC who have won the past three HBCU national championships and four of the last five, are leaving the conference at the end of the athletic year to join the Big South Conference.
