Black Colleges Have Their Own Preseason Football Magazine

Willy Eubanks and Donald Staffo believe they have come up with a first, a pre-season football publication devoted exclusively to historically black schools.

The 56-page issue of The Sid Black Report devotes a page to each school in four conferences, the Southwest Athletic Conference, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southern Intercollegiate Conference, plus the major black independents, 42 schools in all.

“Since to our knowledge, no pre-season publication has ever covered all of the historically black football conferences and schools, The Sid Black Report is filling this void,” said Staffo, the editor.

“It is intended to be the main source where fans of black football throughout the country can go and find out detailed information about their favorite teams and conferences.”

It also contains stories about Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football; Bo Jackson, the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn University who chose baseball over football; Wille Totten, the NCAA’s all-time leading passer from Mississippi Valley State, and Proposition 48, the NCAA’s new rule on academic standards for freshman athletes.

The issue contains ads from each of the four conferences, and Staffo said the 1987 pre-season magazine will contain more ads.

“We needed a product first,” he said. “It’s very difficult to persuade people without a product. We expect a good response next year.”

He said that he and Eubanks, the publisher, are considering a similar annual magazine for basketall.

The 21,000 copies of the football issue, Staffo said, are being marketed primarily in areas where the schools are located, for $2. “We are selling them through book stores in colleges and through alumni associations.”

The Sid in the title is for sports information directors and the Black is for black schools.

“Our first intent is that the magazine be enjoyable and informative for the fans,” Staffo said. “However, we feel that it will also be useful to sports information directors and football coaches, and for its public relations value, to the schools and conferences covered.”