Grambling State University

Continuing on with the list of historically Black colleges and universities here is what is commonly known as “the Black Norte Dame”.

Grambling State University is a public, coeducational university, which is among the Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Located in Grambling, Louisiana, Grambling State was founded in 1901 and accredited in 1949. The GSU motto is “Where Everybody Is Somebody”.

Grambling State University emerged from the desire of Black farmers in rural north Louisiana who wanted to educate other Blacks in the northern and western parts of the state. In 1896, the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association was formed to organize and operate a school. After opening a small school west of what is now the town of Grambling, the Association requested assistance from Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Charles P. Adams, sent to aid the group in organizing an industrial school, became its founder and first president. Under Adams’ leadership, the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School opened on November 1, 1901. Four years later, the school moved to its present location and was renamed the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, the school was able to offer two-year professional certificates and diplomas after becoming a state junior college. The school was renamed Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute.

In 1936, the program was reorganized to emphasize rural education. It became known as "The Louisiana Plan" or "A Venture in Rural Teacher Education." Professional teaching certificates were awarded when a third year was added in 1936, and the first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944 in elementary education. The institution’s name was changed to Grambling College in 1946 in honor of a White sawmill owner, P.G. Grambling, who donated a parcel of land for the school. Thereafter, the college prepared secondary teachers and added curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business. With these programs in effect, the school was transformed from a single purpose institution of teacher education into a multipurpose college. In 1949, the college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In 1974, the addition of graduate programs in early childhood and elementary education gave the school a new status and a new name – Grambling State University.

From 1977 to 2000, the university grew and prospered. Several new academic programs were incorporated and new facilities were added to the 384-acre campus, including a business and computer science building, school of nursing, student services building, new stadium, stadium support facility and an intramural sports center. In a renewed emphasis of its commitment toward modernized university facilities, student housing and sustained scholarship support, Grambling State University kicked off a Comprehensive Capital Campaign, November 24, 2007 with the goal of raising $30 million over the next five to seven years. GSU students were among the first to contribute to the campaign with their contribution of a $1 million scholarship endowment to forge sustained financial support for academic programs. Their endowment was made by a $500,000 contribution which will be matched dollar for dollar and used for need based scholarships.

Following the first university president Charles P. Adams, in 1936, the school’s longest serving and most noted president, Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, became the second president who served until 1977.

Currently, the GSU Department of Athletics sponsors men's intercollegiate football and baseball along with men's and women's basketball, track & field, softball, golf, soccer, tennis, bowling and volleyball. GSU is best known for its world famous football and marching band programs. At the time of his retirement in 1997, Coach Eddie Robinson held the NCAA record for most career wins as a head coach in college football. During his stellar 57-year career Coach Rob sent over 100 G-Men to the National Football League (NFL) and many more to the Canadian Football League (CFL) causing the school to gain a national reputation. After Robinson’s retirement in 1997, former GSU standout and NFL Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams took over the reins of the University's football program. Grambling has won thirteen Black college national championships, more than any other HBCU school. The Tigers sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (I-AA for football) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The school colors are Black and Gold. Grambling State plays its arch rival Southern University in the annual "Bayou Classic," in New Orleans over Thanksgiving weekend at the Louisiana Superdome and broadcast nationally on NBC.

Composer Sam Spence wrote an instrumental piece for NFL Films entitled "Ramblin' Man from Gramblin,'" acknowledging both the University as well as the Bob Seger song "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".

Since the arrival of the late great Conrad Hutchinson in 1952, the Tiger Marching Band has performed all around the world, from Tokyo, Japan to Monrovia, Liberia; in movies, TV commercials, TV shows, numerous Super Bowls, NBA games, albums, etc.

• Since the early 1960s the “famed band from Tiger Land” has performed in nearly every major stadium in the U.S.
• Performed at Super Bowl I.
• Performed at the inauguration of Liberian President William Tolbert.
• Performed at the U.S.’s bicentennial celebration in Washington, D.C.
• President Bill Clinton performed with the band for a halftime show in Grambling, Louisiana and gave Grambling State's Marching Band the undisputed title of "The Best Band in the Land!"
• The Tiger Marching Band has an average of 250 students with a grade points average of 3.00 or more each year.
• The Tiger Marching Band — along with GSU's female dance troupe, "The Orchesis Dance Company" — was featured in a nationally televised commercial as part of Procter & Gamble's "Tampax Was There" marketing campaign.
• In 1998, the band was featured in Super Bowl XXXII, alongside Boyz II Men, Martha Reeves, and Smokey Robinson.
• The band appeared in "Marching Band/Coke Is It," an award-winning commercial developed for Coca-Cola USA.
• The band also performed in the Hollywood films Grambling's White Tiger (1981), and Drumline (2002).
• In the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade, Grambling State's marching band was the marching band in the Star Wars Spectacular, in which all members were wearing Imperial officer uniforms.
• The band was in the inaugural parade for President George W. Bush.

In 2006, Grambling State was the setting for the Black Entertainment Television network docudrama "Season of the Tiger," which chronicled the daily lives of members of the football team and marching band throughout the 2005 season.

Notable alumni include Willis Reed, NBA Hall of Famer; Erica Abi Wright (better know by her stage name Erykah Badu); Doug Williams, NFL Super Bowl XXII MVP; Ronnie Coleman, 8 time Mr. Olympia winner; actress Natalie Desselle-Reid; and a list of who’s who in the NFL including Hall of Famers Buck Buchanan and Willie Davis.