Southern University tailgates showcase a tradition built on family and culture
Sep 06, 2026
BATON ROUGE mdash; A Southern University tailgate is about more than football, according to fans who have been showing up for decades.nbsp;Roosevelt Johnson has been coming to the tailgate for 38 years, long enough to watch generations of Jaguars return to campus.nbsp;"One of the things that's impo
rtant is the family, the culture, cooking and camaraderie," Johnson said.nbsp;The cooking gets going well before kickoff. "After we get everything all set up, we start cooking, music and enjoying ourselves," Roman Smith said.nbsp;Johnson says some of what makes the tailgate special cannot be put on a menu. Dominoes, dancing and generations sharing the same game-day excitement are all part of it.nbsp;"The Southern experience, if no one has experienced it, they need to," Johnson said.nbsp;For Jaguar fans, the tailgate is just the warm-up. "Once you get to the game, the excitement, the Human Jukebox, there is nothing like it anywhere in the world," Johnson said.Permalink| Comments
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