GROOMES SPRING CLASSIC (GSC)

During the initial year of the ABAA’s existence, the association wanted to honor one of its greatest contributors, Mel “Big 10” Groomes. Who is Mel Groomes? He began his administrative career, teaching seven physical education courses and his coaching career, as an assistant football coach, at A&T in 1955. It was said that Groomes was so proud of his history as a student-athlete in the Big Ten, that he spoke about the training he received so much, several of his athletes began to call him “Big Ten”. Groomes was also given A&T’s baseball head coaching job in 1956. He settled in and never looked back until he retired in 1987. Not only was he instrumental in the development of A&T’s Health, Physical Education, and Recreation department as a professor, he developed the character of countless men and women who matriculated through his classrooms and practices.

It was not good enough to just be successful in athletics, he wanted to you be successful in life. “Big Ten” was a man of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., an elite college football player, a professional football player, a U.S. Air Force Airman, a Greensboro, N.C. high school sports official, an Aggie football coach, an Aggie baseball coach, an Aggie sports announcer, and for some, the most influential mentor in their lives. Because of Mel Groomes’s 30 plus year dedication and service to the Aggie baseball program and its graduates, the ABAA was proud to have named the spring baseball homecoming in his honor, "The Groomes Spring Classic."

The Groomes Spring Classic takes place around a MEAC conference baseball series. The weekend was created to bring former Aggie baseball players and program supporters home to root for the Aggies during one of the most competitive series of the season. The three day event consists of the GSC Calcutta Cocktail Party, the GSC Golf Invitational, and the GSC Doubleheader Tailgate.