How much does a long-distance call to Trinidad and Tobago cost? I’ll find out come my next phone bill.
I went on a reporting scavenger hunt this week.
Admittedly, more than a bit ambitious.
Also, more than a bit peculiar.
So is college football, though, right? Especially, college football fandom.
See, down in Oxford, Mississippi, fans of the No. 5-ranked Rebels are flying Trinidad and Tobago flags by the dozens.
Why? Well, because of star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
While covering an Mississippi home game against LSU last month, I spotted the southernmost Caribbean island nation’s red, black and white flag displayed throughout the popular Grove tailgate gathering spot. Trinidad and Tobago flags appeared in abundance when Ole Miss hosted Washington State two weeks later. They’re all over town.
What, exactly, is going on here?
Well, Ole Miss’ rise has been fueled by Chambliss, a breakout star. A Division II transfer, Chambliss began the season as the team’s backup, but he got thrust into duty after starter Austin Simmons injured his ankle in Week 2. As Chambliss started to dazzle, Trinidad and Tobago flags began showing up as a way for fans to throw support behind this former zero-star recruit turned SEC dynamo.
Chambliss, to be clear, is not from Trinidad or Tobago. He’s from Michigan. He’s not named after Trinidad and Tobago, either.
As the Clarion Ledger reported on this week, Chambliss’ parents named him Trinidad because the Christian faith is important to the family. Trinidad is a Spanish word that translates to Trinity in English. Also, his dad liked the name after watching boxer Felix Trinidad on TV.
And, there you have it. Chambliss’ parents named their son Trinidad, and Ole Miss fans used the flag of a country whose capital is 2,400 miles away from Oxford to support their quarterback. Fads have started for more bizarre reasons than this. Ole Miss fans and even coach Lane Kiffin are including the Trinidad and Tobago flag emoji in social media posts about the team. Dick’s Sporting Goods even sells a red T-shirt featuring the Trinidad and Tobago flag with the words “Ole Miss” underneath for $35.
“We were down there (for the Washington State game),’ Chambliss’ mom, Cheryl, told the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. ‘Driving to brunch through the neighborhoods in Oxford and seeing so many houses flying the flag of Trinidad and Tobago, (it’s) quite amazing.”
Chambliss credits fans’ creativity.
“I love it — all the flags at the tailgates. It’s really cool,” he said earlier this season. “My family loves it, too.”
I wanted to know, though, as Ole Miss prepares for a nationally televised clash at No. 7 Georgia, is anyone in Trinidad and Tobago aware of this surging phenomenon, of their country’s flag becoming a Mississippi football rally symbol at games and on display throughout a college town in the southern United States?
I phoned and sent messages to Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Sport, as well of its Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture. I spoke with a woman at a private tourism group who said I wasn’t the first reporter to call her this week. I emailed a couple of sports editors at newspapers in Trinidad, the larger of the country’s two main islands located off the coast of Venezuela.
No luck. I failed to connect with anyone in Trinidad or Tobago familiar with Chambliss or the flag fad he inspired. Hardly a surprise. Cricket and soccer are Trinidad and Tobago’s most popular sports. A scan of Trinidad’s newspapers shows no headlines about American college football.
Late in the week, though, the Trinidad and Tobago embassy in Washington D.C. returned my phone call. Although they weren’t familiar with Chambliss or their country’s flag flying at Ole Miss games before I called, they are now. And, apparently, they’re now planning to watch the Ole Miss-Georgia game, televised on ABC.
“The Mission is truly impressed by this remarkable phenomenon,” Janae Harris, a senior executive officer at the Trinidad and Tobago embassy in D.C., wrote in an email to me.
“Please be assured,” she added, “we too will be tuning in to the Trinidad Chambliss game to witness this moment on Saturday.”
And if this quarterback named Trinidad, who’s captured the heart and creative spirit of Ole Miss, helps author a victory at Georgia, you best believe Trinidad and Tobago flags will be displayed with pride and affection back in Mississippi.
Sam Hutchens’ reporting for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, contributed to this column.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
