Tailgates, marching bands, the Eagle Walk and the ‘fifth quarter’ turn home games at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium into a can’t-miss NC Central tradition
By Beckett Brantley | Photography courtesy of NC Central Department of Athletics
North Carolina Central University football isn’t just a sport – it’s a lifestyle.
You don’t have to be an alumnus to rep the maroon and gray, just a willingness to embrace strong Eagle pride and join in supporting the historically Black university as its team competes for victory.
Fans typically begin arriving up to four hours before kickoff – some even the night before – on home game days. Parking lots and lawns, from the Miller-Morgan Lot to the Latham Surface Lot aka The Pit, transform into lively tailgates where folks gather around TVs for early kickoffs, challenge one another to cornhole and other lawn games, feast on overflowing tables of homemade food and enjoy music, laughter and camaraderie. And for homecoming, the Vendor Village marketplace on Nelson and Lincoln streets near O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium features a wide variety of food, apparel and merchandise vendors to browse before crowds head into the game. Each group of fans has a different setup, but they all share one goal: celebrating the program that won a HBCU national championship as recently as 2022.
Flock Party
Growing up just blocks from campus, Venita Quick always knew when football season had arrived – she could hear the Sound Machine Marching Band practicing during the week. By Saturday game day, she knew exactly what songs they were going to play.
Nestled between Fayetteville Street and Alston Avenue in the historic Hayti District, NCCU’s O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium has served as the football program’s home base since 1975. Neighbors and students pass by on their daily routines, but on fall Saturdays, the stadium acts as a beacon for generations of Eagle fans to reunite.
The festivities start at least three hours before kickoff for Venita. She and her family have tailgated for more than 40 years.
Their location has changed over time – currently they set up in the Walker Complex Lot – but one thing never has: Every home game, several generations of Quicks don their NCCU gear, pitch tents decked out with maroon-and-gray tables, chairs, games and flags, and welcome friends old and new. Hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages fuel most Saturdays, while homecoming and North Carolina A&T rivalry weekends inspire a full menu of brisket, corn on the cob, collard greens, crab legs and countless more homemade specialties.
“Obviously, we want to win all the time, but if they didn’t win a game, we would still be out there tailgating,” Venita says. “It’s just a fabric of who we are.”
Inside the stadium, seasoned fans know better than to leave their seats at halftime. The Sound Machine’s performance ranks among the day’s biggest attractions, but there’s also often another opportunity to hear them play after the final whistle during “the fifth quarter,” an HBCU tradition in which the home and visiting bands trade performances in an energetic musical showdown that can last up to a half hour.
Venita sometimes heads downtown once the tailgate is all packed up, participating in NCCU Alumni Association events like a past bar crawl that included visits to Bull McCabes Irish Pub and Queeny’s, or grabbing food at Devine’s Restaurant & Sports Bar. Homecoming weekend brings even more can’t-miss traditions, including the fraternity and sorority step show, alumni golf tournament and All-Class Reunion Dinner and Presentation of Gifts.
The entire experience, from pregame fellowship to cheering in the stands and postgame gatherings, has become a cornerstone of life for the Quick family.
“Hearing the band, knowing that it was going to be a game that I could go to, knowing that there were people who I knew who were playing … we’ve just made it part of our lives to be there for every game,” Venita says. “You’re missing something if you have to miss a game.”
Take It To The Nest Level
Supporting Eagle football didn’t end when Carlton Mack graduated from NCCU in 1966.
He jokes that he wasn’t talented enough to make the football team, so he spent a year as a student trainer instead. Decades later, like many alumni, he remains dedicated to helping the program flourish in his role as a James E. Shepard Annual Giving Society donor and a former board member of the Eagle Club, which awards scholarships to NCCU student-athletes. Carlton is also a familiar face at practices and home games; he and fellow NCCU alumnus Fred Green have provided halftime snacks for the Eagles for 20 years – oranges and bananas, every Saturday.
“My biggest thrill is watching the kids come in as freshmen and grow,” Carlton says. “I like to establish relationships with [them and] try to instill a sense of giving back. I’ve seen some of those kids come back and start endowments.”
Carlton tailgates in Eagle Alley, an area reserved for RVs outside the stadium. While he leaves the overnight camping to others, he joins friends there Friday night – including former NCCU Director of Athletics Ingrid Wicker-McCree and her husband, Geno McCree – for easygoing conversation and to enjoy some hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs or even fried fish before returning for Saturday’s game.
His advice for first-timers? Arrive early to soak up the atmosphere inside and outside the 10,000-person stadium – the “gala” of it all, he says. And don’t forget your credit card – the concessions are cashless.
“We got a stadium that’s very intimate,” Carlton says. “People get to know everybody. I’ve met some great people who sit near me, and I get to see those people at least six times a season. You develop friendships.”
Full Circle
Few people have experienced NCCU football from as many perspectives as Head Coach Trei Oliver. An all-conference defensive back and punter from 1994 to 1997, Coach Oliver returned as an assistant coach from 2003 to 2006, before taking the helm as head coach in 2018. Eagle pride runs deep in his family: His parents, Colon Oliver and Evelyn Oliver, both attended NCCU, and his father played wide receiver for the team from 1963 to 1966.
“My favorite game-day tradition as a player was ringing the Victory Bell after every win,” Coach Oliver says. “That tradition had been part of the university for generations – it was there when my dad attended school, so it always felt like a special connection to our program’s history and remains on campus to this day.”
Today as coach, he helps carry those rituals forward. Take the Eagle Walk, for instance, when players make their way from the pregame meal to the stadium about three hours before kickoff, greeting fans and family members along the route before taking the field. “It’s a tradition that really captures the excitement and sense of community leading up to kickoff,” Coach Oliver says.
