"We want people to see what black colleges and universities have to offer."
With USC having a bye this week, this year's event received a boost of support from Trojans Athletic Director Mike Garrett and football Coach Pete Carroll, whose non-profit group "A Better L.A." created a partnership with Angel City Classic.
Fleming said he was surprised by Carroll's willingness to play an active role in the game.
"We had left phone messages for each other for a while when finally Pete said, 'We need to sit down and talk,' " Fleming said. "When I show up for the meeting, thinking it was going to be just a get-to-know meeting, Pete has a room filled with community leaders and just asks, 'What can I do to help?' That meant a lot."
Said Carroll: "The concept of it was to elevate the awareness of the kids in this big area right here of alternative schools they could go to that maybe they never had an awareness of. [Fleming] orchestrated a football game to do it. I just loved the idea of it so I told him, 'It's football, the Coliseum is right here.' It happens to be a week when we had some time to help."
With a goal of creating educational and cultural opportunities for minority youth, especially among African American males, the Angel City Classic is a variety of events surrounding the football game.
Tonight at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Farmers Insurance is sponsoring a scholarship gala. Then, on Saturday, a college and career expo will open at 9 a.m. outside the Coliseum. At 10 a.m., there will be a youth football game, which will be followed by a high school band competition. At noon, there will be a drum line and step show.
As for the football game, North Carolina A&T (0-1) has lost 17 consecutive games. Prairie View A&M won its opener last week, 34-14, over Texas Southern.
But for Phillips and others, the highlight of the weekend will be the "battle of the bands" at halftime of the football game.
"When those teams would come to town, I always would go to the parades and wherever the bands were playing," Phillips said. "They always have the best bands."
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lonnie.white@latimes.com
