Harvard Plays Howard at Second Annual Truth and Service Classic in DC

By Kevin Childs

Howard alumni and students came to Audi Field in Washington to cheer for the Bison football team in the second annual Truth and Service Classic on October 15, 2022. This year’s contest was against Harvard University, which won 41-25.

“I love going to HBCU football games. It’s political, it’s cultural, it’s spiritual – it’s a combination of all those things,” said A. Peter Bailey, one of the fans excited to be there. Bailey, who attended Howard from 1959 to 1961, is a contributing columnist to the Washington Informer newspaper, and a former editor at Ebony.

Although the opponent was one of the storied Ivy League schools, the day had more of the flavor of a game between two HBCUs.

During the action on the field, Howard’s cheerleading squad provided lively dances and cheers such as “Fight, let’s fight, Bison, we’re the best!” The Howard color guard and marching band had their own section in the stands, playing music and dancing throughout. The marching band supported the color guard during halftime when they took to the field with their flags.

And a stadium DJ kept the crowd excited with antics such as the “Old School/New School Dance” challenge. As tunes such as Parliament’s hit “Flash Light” played, today’s students and alumni busted out their best dance moves for the Jumbotron screen.

Howard students and alumni were reminded to “STAY CONNECTED WITH THE MECCA” on the big screen, and Development and Alumni Relations staff greeted patrons decked in colorful Howard wear.

The crowd was “a little more than 8,000,” said Kery Davis, HU athletics director. Among those present were HU President Wayne A. I. Frederick; Rushern Baker (B.A., ’82; J.D., ’86 HUSL) former Prince George’s County, Maryland, county executive and two-time Maryland gubernatorial candidate; and Henry Louis Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University.

In the arena’s concourse, the all-female band Bela Dona from Prince George’s County, Maryland provided pre-game entertainment. The “Divine 9 Lounge” displayed banners of each of the University’s fraternities and sororities and provided a place of respite to their members.

In the pre-game activities, Charles Butler and the Trinity Gospel Choir sang the National Anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” During the game, between the first and second quarter, author and public speaker Lillian Lincoln Lambert (B.A., ’66) was honored on the field for her pioneering role as the first Black woman to graduate Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1969.

People were also prompted to donate to the Margaret Singleton Scholarship Fund, which will support a business or urban studies student at Howard and at the University of the District of Columbia. Singleton (B.S., ’71; MAT 1972 HUSOE) spent 20 years with the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce. She was interim president and CEO of the D.C. Chamber when she died in January 2021.

The 20,000-seat Audi Field hosted the first Truth and Service Classic game in 2021, which featured the Howard Bison against the Hampton Pirates. This was Howard’s second time playing Harvard; the two teams first met in 2019.