by Daniel Johnson
April 19, 2025
Though Morehouse and the mayor of Montgomery celebrated the transfer, residents of Columbus, Georgia, had been lower than happy in regards to the transfer
The Tuskegee-Morehouse Basic, among the many oldest HBCU rivalries, can be transferring from Columbus, Georgia, to Montgomery, Alabama, for its eighty fifth iteration, and though Morehouse and the mayor of Montgomery celebrated the transfer, residents of Columbus had been lower than happy in regards to the transfer and its misplaced income for the town.
In accordance with WVTM, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, a Morehouse alum, stated that he wished the soccer recreation in Montgomery so he and his metropolis can supply the sport and its college students and athletic staff greater than they’d been receiving in Columbus and Birmingham, its earlier houses.
“Perceive the backdrop of Montgomery because the birthplace of the Civil Rights Motion. Perceive the kind of academic alternatives it’ll have for the coed athletes in addition to the followers who’re coming,” Reed stated. “It was a enterprise determination from the standpoint of what we had been ready to supply to carry the sport to Montgomery versus what they had been being supplied in different cities particularly Columbus the place they performed final yr.”
Columbus resident Terrance Flowers hinted {that a} potential cause for the sport’s relocation may very well be a scarcity of attendance as he informed the outlet, “I don’t know why they left however I do know it’s one thing that’s going to harm this metropolis. It jogs my memory of a kind of issues, for those who actually like one thing you need to pour into it,” Flowers stated.
In accordance with Al.com, the sport’s historical past in Columbus stretches again to 1936, and each recreation since has been performed there apart from a three-year run from 2020-2023.
Lisa Goodwin, the chairperson for The Basic, as the sport is understood, stated that Harold Ellis, Morehouse School’s athletics director, knowledgeable her that the sport was certainly moved because of monetary issues.
“One of many (causes) he talked about to me was that it was a monetary determination for them,” Goodwin informed the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer, earlier than persevering with, noting to the outlet that the house workforce has the proper to determine the place the sport is performed.
“The sport right here in Columbus has historic significance,” Goodwin stated. “And we hope that someday Morehouse School acknowledges that, as Tuskegee College does.”
Goodwin additionally famous that attendance was down final yr, one thing she attributed to the transfer from Birmingham again to Columbus.
“There needs to be consistency for individuals to (go) all-in and imagine that it’s going to be right here,” she stated. “So this yr, in 2025, the truth that they’re leaving once more makes it disappointing for us.”Ellis, in the meantime, is hopeful that Alabama’s capital metropolis will prove for the sport, as he indicated in a information launch on April 18.
“I’ve little doubt they’ll present up and present out for this Basic!” Ellis stated. “Past the thrill on the sphere, that is an unimaginable alternative for our student-athletes, band members, and college students to expertise the wealthy civil rights historical past embedded within the metropolis. Morehouse’s legacy runs deep in Alabama.”
RELATED CONTENT: Tuskegee Earns Bragging Rights Over Morehouse In NBA HBCU Basic
