Dr. Walter Reed, the iconic former Director of Athletics at Jackson State University and Florida A&M University, will be the Guest of Honor during the 20th Annual SWAC Alumni Association Legends Awards and Roast this Saturday.
 
A co-founder of the Association, Reed will be "roasted" by a host of friends and colleagues at the event, which will be held at the Embassy Suites Ridgeland on 200 Township Place. The event starts at 8 p.m. and is officially a sellout.
 
The Association's Legends Awards and Roast annually honors former student-athletes as well as former or current coaches, athletics administrators or staff members who have had positive impacts on the historic conference. Preceding the roast part of Saturday's event, Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented posthumously to the late Jackson State University running back Walter Payton as well as former Alcorn State University tight end current vice-president Tracy M. Cook and Texas Southern University operations director/marketing and promotions manager Harlan S. Robinson. The Charles "Chuck" Prophet Wagon Master Award will go to Adeanah Pooler, the senior associate commissioner of the SWAC, and the Association's highest honor, the Dennis E. Thomas Distinguished Service Award, will be presented to former Alcorn State and Philadelphia Eagles star Roynell Young, who's the founder and CEO of Pro-Vision, Inc., a youth mentoring organization in Houston, Tex.
 
On being selected as the Guest of Honor for the Legends Awards and Roast, Reed says it's a humbling experience.
 
"It's a lifetime of reflections," said Reed. "It shows that the things I did during my career were noticed by people other than the people that I was working with. People from the outside noticed some of the good things that I was doing."
 
A true Renaissance Man, Reed's journey to doing good things began with his pursuit of knowledge,  exemplified by the importance he places on education as the basis for success in life. A native of Toomsuba, Miss., he graduated from Stevenson Vocational High School, later earning a bachelor's degree from Jackson State, a master's degree from Indiana University and a doctorate degree from the University of Miami (Florida).
 
Reed's multi-faceted career as an educator, coach, athletics director and administrator has included positions at multiple high schools in Mississippi and at the collegiate level at Jackson State, Mississippi State, Florida International, Florida A&M and Miami. He has also worked in administrative committee positions with  the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), the NCAA and the NAIA. Reed is also a former chairperson of the NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee.
 
In summing up his career and his contributions to athletics, Reed says, "One of the most rewarding parts of my career has been the categories of people I had to work with in the jobs that I have held. Being an athletics director, I have worked with great coaches at Jackson State and FAMU, I worked with excellent presidents who supported me with what I was assigned to do and that made the job much easier."
 
As a result of Reed's impressive record of success, he has received numerous awards and honors, including an Education Professional Development ACT Fellowship, being named a Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Man of the Year, and twice being tabbed SWAC Athletics Director of the Year. He has been inducted into multiple halls of fame – the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, the Jackson State University Sports Hall of Fame, the SWAC Hall of Fame, the MEAC Hall of Fame, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame, the Newton County (MS) Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame.
 
Among Dr. Reed's memberships are the Board of Directors of the Jackson Touchdown Club, President of the Central Mississippi Chapter National Football Foundation, Board of Directors of the All-American Football Foundation, Chairperson of the Jackson State University Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors, and membership on the Board of Directors of the Marietta Reading Center. Dr. Reed also serves on the SWAC Alumni Association's Board of Directors.
 
Proceeds from the Legends Awards and Roast benefit the SWAC Alumni Association Degree Completion Scholarships, which provides financial support to student-athletes in the conference whose eligibility has expired and who are within 30 hours of graduating.
  

ABOUT THE SWAC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
The purpose of the SWAC Alumni Association, which was founded on December 10, 1999 in Birmingham, Ala., is to support Southwestern Athletic Conference events, promote the conference's athletics heritage and help preserve its legacy of competitive excellence. Former student-athletes from any SWAC-sponsored sport and from all member institutions are eligible for membership, as are current and former coaches, athletics administrators and staff members as well as game officials, employees of the conference office and supporters of SWAC athletics.