HOUSTON – Opening week for college football will feature a rivalry going back almost 40 years.
With a few exceptions, Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M have played football every Labor Day Weekend since 1985. Legions of fans have pledged their love and support to one side or another.
SEE ALSO: PVAMU and TSU head coaches played together for the Houston Oilers
But for one local family, Gwendolyn and William Richardson, it’s not just as simple as picking your favorite team.
“It’s a fun rivalry,” Gwendolyn said. “It really is. We don’t we don’t bicker about it.”
The Richardsons love their respective schools. She’s a panther; he’s a tiger, but they never let the game get in the way.
“We’ve never made any bets,” William explained. “We just resort to just saying we have bragging rights for a year, but we really don’t hardly brag. Cause we hate for either of them to lose. We’ll be honest with you: we love ‘em both - it’s a win-win situation.”
When you have so many kids and grandkids as former, current, or future students at both schools, there’s no room for a catfight.
“Sometimes we’ll have a running joke with each other,” William said. “She’ll say ‘you need to get your tiger self on,’ And I say, ‘you need to get your panther self’”
Some years are more memorable than others. Like in 2008, when they skipped the game to get married.
“In our honeymoon suite, we listened to the game, you know, the next day we listened to the game,” William recalled. “Yeah. So and of course, you know, TSU lost that win. So it was kind of tough, for the rest of the weekend for me.”
“It wasn’t too bad,” Gwendolyn said grinning.
“Yeah, she was enjoying it,” William replied.
Sure, the losses hurt a bit, but it’s easy to bounce back when you have two prestigious marching bands going against each other too.
“I love it,” Gwendolyn said. “So, basically we call it a rivalry but it’s really not.”
Regardless, they’re still ready to cheer on their schools! Also, you heard the Richardsons got married during the Labor Day classic 16 years ago. What are they doing for their anniversary this year? Not going to the game!
Gwendolyn got them concert tickets. and William has the TSU app on his phone so he can keep an eye on the score.