2 weeks Ago By DIONNE GLEATON T&D Staff Writer
Two lifelong supporters of the South Carolina State University Bulldogs expect the team to win in Saturday’s Celebration Bowl. And they’re helping more than 100 people see that happen. “We’re going to win this game.
I’m sure of that. We’ve got an outstanding coach. We’ve always had great coaches, but we’re continuing with that same theme,” Evelyn Hubbard said.
For the second time in four seasons, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion S.C. State University and Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Jackson State University will face off in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.
Willie and Evelyn Hubbard of Orangeburg have planned and hosted trips to the S.C. State football team’s away games since the early 1970s and can count on one hand how many away games they’ve missed since they started the trips.
While health issues will prohibit 82-year-old Willie from attending Saturday’s trip, Evelyn said she will be among 150 people traveling on three buses to Saturday’s game. “I planned it and got more response than expected. We’ve got three buses loaded that’s leaving 5 o’clock on Saturday morning from the S.
C. State campus,” said Evelyn, 81. “This year we’re not going to stay.
All three of the buses are going to go to the game, and we’re going to come on back home, but I’m excited about meeting all of the people. We got about 48 coming out of Columbia to go with us, and the other two buses will be coming from Orangeburg. We’re going to prayerfully have a beautiful day on Saturday,” she said.
South Carolina State’s Chennis Berry leads South Carolina State to the Celebration Bowl with a 9-2 record. He was named the MEAC Coach of the Year after leading the Bulldogs to an undefeated conference record and a spot in the Celebration Bowl. Berry was also recognized as the AFCA Region 2 FCS Coach of the Year and is a finalist for the 2024 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award.
Willie said, “We’re very proud of what he’s done.” Evelyn said she admires the camaraderie that the team demonstrates. “The team seems to love each other, which is a great thing.
They love the fans, and so I’m excited about being there to cheer for them. We want to cheer them on to victory because if you’re at a game and ain’t got nobody cheering for you, of course you’re going to lose whatever you had,” she said. Willie said, “It also seems like the new coach has really pulled them together as a unit.
He has really done an excellent job of coaching the guys. He did a tremendous job at Benedict College, and he has come here and got these guys gelled together.” He continued, “He brought some of his Benedict players with him and, man, it’s been exciting just watching.
With the games that were on TV, I was very impressed as to how the guys really listened to him and how he has coached them.” “They’re mixed up like lemonade and tea. I’ll be looking right at them on TV.
They’ll hear me yelling all the way in Atlanta,” Willie said, laughing. Jackie Kennerly of Irmo and Mary Smalls of Orangeburg will be among the S.C.
State fans participating in the bus trip. Kennerly said he is excited to just be a part of the enthusiasm surrounding the team. “We have a new coach and new, I guess you might say, attitude about going the extra mile and working more so with the kids from the standpoint of them being students first and foremost and then athleticism being the extra part that we hope is going to be good,” Kennerly said.
“I think that will bode well for us in the future as far as looking at students who have potential not necessarily from an athletic standpoint, but from a total perspective and making sure that that’s first and foremost,” he said. Kennerly continued, “I think there’s a new culture going around the university. I think that there is going to be growth and development based upon what we see happening now with (S.
C. State) President Alexander Conyers and, of course, Coach Berry.” Smalls said, “We’re very excited.
I’m excited that the Bulldogs are going to play in another Celebration Bowl. The Bulldog family will be traveling to Atlanta. It’s been an exciting year for us at S.
C. State with football.” She continued, “This’ll be my second bowl game.
We went to the first one in 2021. I think they’ve done a fantastic job with a new coaching staff. They played real good because we’ve gone to all the off games, as well as the home games.
I think they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve had to to have come this far.” Smalls said Berry and his staff have demonstrated great leadership “for them to have a winning team like this.
” “To come in the first season as a first-time coach at S.C. State and have a winning season like this shows that,” she said.
Evelyn and Willie are not strangers to gathering people together for trips as they can also look back on more than two decades of crisscrossing the nation with their Land Cruisers tour group. The group has traveled to every state in the Union except for Alaska and Hawaii, along with several trips to Canada. As she prepares to leave for Atlanta, Evelyn said she is excited about continuing their traveling tradition.
“We plan to show up and show our enthusiasm for the team and the coaches,” she said. Kennerly said he looks forward to being a part of the trip and appreciates the support Evelyn and her family have provided for the university over the years. “If we don’t really (get) behind the kids that have really stepped up, then I think we have missed a big opportunity to show the kind of support that they need going forward.
We’re going to hang in there, and Ms. Hubbard is going to be a big part of that,” he said. “She has supported the institution forever.
She is a sweet person and quality individual, and I love her like I love the rest of my family,” Kennerly said. Contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5534.
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