The Ohio Classic was a college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 game played annually between two teams from historically black universities

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....

.

The Ohio Classic was held before the start of each college football season and used to rotate between Cleveland Browns Stadium

Cleveland Browns Stadium

-See also:* List of current National Football League stadiums* Chronology of home stadiums for current National Football League teams* List of American football stadiums by capacity* List of U.S. stadiums by capacity* List of North American stadiums by capacity...

 in Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 and Paul Brown Stadium

Paul Brown Stadium

Paul Brown Stadium is an American sports stadium located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the home venue of the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. It opened on August 19, 2000. The stadium was named after Bengals' founder Paul Brown. The stadium is located on approximately of land and...

 in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

. In September 2005, organizers selected Cleveland as a permanent location.

The Ohio Classic was held over a weekend, with the game itself played on the Saturday. Concerts, educational events and other attractions highlighted the Ohio Classic Weekend. The Ohio Classic's flagship program was called the "End Zone Club", a year-round education program for students in grades 7 through 12. Participants in the program were dubbed Community Quarterbacks, to reaffirm the expectation of personal leadership. End Zone Club criteria includes proficiency, as well as ACT

ACT (examination)

The ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc. It was first administered in November 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test...

 & SAT

SAT

The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...

 test tutoring. Community Quarterbacks received instruction about scheduling college preparatory courses, completing financial aid and college admissions forms.

The Ohio Classic had its inaugural year in 2003, when more than 45,000 fans attended the event in Cleveland.

On March 17, 2006, The Plain Dealer reported that the year's Ohio Classic has been cancelled due to mounting debt and a lack of sponsorship.http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/sports/114259673710350.xml?sxoth&coll=2

Teams participating in Ohio Classic games

• 2006: Event cancelled
• 2005: Morgan State University
  Morgan State University
  Morgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
  
   and Savannah State University
  Savannah State University
  Savannah State University is a four-year, state-supported, historically black university located in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah State holds the distinction as the oldest public historically black university in Georgia...
  
  
• 2004: Grambling State University
  Grambling State University
  Grambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
  
   and Bethune-Cookman College
  Bethune-Cookman College
  Bethune-Cookman University or B-CU is a private historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida.- History :Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School in 1904...