What football game?

Lee Harris was shedding pounds right before our eyes -- one Barack Obama button at a time.

Covered from head to toe with $2 buttons commemorating everything from the 16th annual CSRA Classic to soon-to-be first lady Michelle Obama, Mr. Harris was showing large bare patches of clothing by the time the football game kicked off at Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday. You could no longer find any with the Obama family pictured inside the official seal of the president of the United States.

"Everywhere they'd stick there was a button," Mr. Harris said. "Maybe had a thousand of them and they're gone. They're all gone."

One of the biggest social events in Augusta's black community since 1992, the CSRA Classic was particularly festive Saturday. It had little to do with the football opponents -- Clark Atlanta University and Benedict College of Columbia -- and much more to do with the historic election five days ago of Mr. Obama as the first black president.

T-shirts with pictures of Mr. Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were a ubiquitous sight with the same general message: The Dream ... Realized.

"I've never seen so many Obama T-shirts in my life," shouted the disc jockey on Jamz 103.

It was certainly the dominant theme on a glorious November day, with the public address announcer commemorating it before the game and the announcers for both schools shouting its praises during the halftime battle of the bands. Mr. Obama's name periodically echoed across city blocks over the competing rhythms of hip-hop stations, marching bands and calliope tunes.

Chad Alexander, an Augusta native now living in Atlanta, was attending his first CSRA Classic with family and friends.

"I figured this would be a good moment to come out here," he said. "It's a perfect day. There's a lot to celebrate."

Mr. Harris, 32, was a teenager at Laney High School when the CSRA Classic was started 16 years ago. He remembers the lift it gave to the black community.

"The area was, like, real low and they needed something to boost themselves," Mr. Harris said of the game, which used to be played at Lumpkin Road Stadium.

When the first CSRA Classic was played in 1992, the country elected Bill Clinton to his first term. Mr. Clinton is often jokingly referred to as the first black president because of his popularity in the black community.

Sixteen years later, the reality of Mr. Obama's election is more satisfying.

"Unbelievable; just exhilaration," said 68-year-old Dorothy Latimore, of Waynesboro, attending another Classic wearing a shirt that said "This one voted for THAT ONE, Barack Obama."

"It seems like things have come full circle," Ms. Latimore added.

"Lordy, he's the answer to my prayers," said her friend Hattie Outlaw.

Saturday's game was a mere backdrop to a block party more than 400 years in the making. The circle in front of the stadium entrance on Laney-Walker Boulevard had turned into an Obama fair. At every vending stand there were T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, buttons and dog tags with the picture of the future 44th president all over them. Everywhere you turned there was somebody -- young and old -- wearing their pride and choice on their chest.

Muhammed Njie -- a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Gambia and now living in Atlanta -- expected to sell out his stock of Obama shirts by the end of the day. One of the most popular had the message "Stop Hat'N Obama for President."

His business partner, Hassan Muhammed, said the sales in a tough economy are bolstered by a collective euphoria.

"The enthusiasm is about the history we just had take place," said Mr. Muhammed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria who is now a middle school teacher and part-time vendor in Atlanta. "Everybody is looking for change."

Roxie Wilson, a Benedict College fan visiting from Columbia, works closely with a staunch John McCain supporter in her office. The two decided before the election to respect the other's choice and whoever won the race, but that didn't mean Ms. Wilson wasn't thrilled when she woke up at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning and turned on the TV to hear that Mr. Obama was the president-elect.

"It was like Christmas morning," she said.

Clarence Brooks, a master sergeant at Fort Gordon living in Hephzibah, was frying up catfish at his tailgate party wearing an Obama apron. He'll be celebrating his 55th birthday on the same day Mr. Obama is inaugurated.

"Everybody's real excited," he said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

His friend Albert Brooks, a retired military officer in Hephzibah, has been coming to the CSRA Classic for six years and has yet to see a down of football played. It's the spirit that draws him back, and on this occasion he struggled to find the words to suit the moment.

"I feel like an accomplishment has been made," Mr. Brooks said. "I'm 56 and there's always been a lot of struggles. But I always felt optimism that something great was going to happen. I can feel it in the atmosphere. As a group effort, you feel it. I don't know how to put it in words, but it's good."

Expectations for the next president from his supporters are varied but hopeful. Whether it's fixing the economy, ending the war, restoring America's international reputation or simply changing the tone of bitter partisanship in government, his supporters believe Mr. Obama is the right man at the right time.

"I think it's a positive direction the country is taking," said Monique Franklin, of Columbia. "It unifies all races and not just one race."

"To be honest, the next four years if he gets anything turned around it will be just short of a miracle," Mr. Alexander said. "Being the first African-American president, he has many obstacles in front of him. As long as he continues to stay honest he'll be fine."

"I'm very optimistic that this guy is going to make a difference, but we'll see," Mr. Muhammed said. "He was chosen from nowhere to be a rescuer. But a savior has to have some people behind him to do it."

Under buttons and shirts, aprons and hats, Mr. Obama's supporters were behind him en masse Saturday at the CSRA Classic.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.