OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Alumni Association honors
six alumni with its highest annual awards during Homecoming Weekend
Oct. 16-17.
Inductees into the Alumni Hall of Fame are John Warner Alford Jr. of
Oxford, John “Kayo” Dottley of Vicksburg, George E. Hilliard of Memphis
and William W. Parsons Jr. of Merritt Island, Fla. David E. Brevard of
Tupelo will receive the Alumni Service Award for service to the
university and the Alumni Association. Tamara Yvette Crawford of
Arlington, Texas, will receive the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.
The Alumni Association is hosting a public reception for the honorees
at 6 p.m. Oct. 16 in the Gertrude C. Ford Ballroom at The Inn at Ole
Miss. A dinner for the recipients follows the reception and tickets
with advanced registration by Oct. 2 are required. Tickets are $50 per
person or $375 for a table of eight. Call 662-915-7375.
The honorees will be introduced Oct. 17 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
before the Homecoming game kickoff with the University of
Alabama-Birmingham. (Game time is to be announced.)
– Alford retired as executive director of the Ole Miss Alumni
Association in 2008, a position he had held since 2004. A former Ole
Miss football player, coach and athletics director, Alford earned three
letters as a guard on Rebel football teams in 1958-60. He was
co-captain of the 1960 undefeated national champion team and went on to
serve as UM athletics director from 1978 to 1994. He helped expand
athletics opportunities for both men and women, increasing the school’s
varsity sports from eight to 15.
From 1994 to 1999, he worked as a vice president for Mississippi
Diversified Corp., which provides insurance and related products to
more than 300 auto dealers. In 1999 he was named athletics director for
the University of Louisiana-Monroe and served in that position until he
was named vice president and national sales manager of Assurant Group’s
Indirect Auto in 2001. He returned to Ole Miss as executive assistant
for development for the UM Foundation.
A McComb native, Alford holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from
UM. He is married to the former Kay Swayze of Oxford, and they have
three children, Thomas Swayze Alford, John Warner Alford III and
Phyllis Alford Daniels, and six grandchildren.
– Dottley was born in Birmingham, Ala., and reared in McGehee, Ark. He
earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in administrative education
from UM. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Kappa Sigma
fraternity, was elected Colonel Rebel, selected to the student Hall of
Fame and earned numerous awards in football, including All-American
honors in 1945 and ’46.
After graduation, Dottley was drafted by the Chicago Bears and played
fullback until a car accident ended his career. He was Rookie of the
Year and was the first rookie back in NFL history named to play in the
Pro Bowl. He left Chicago for Vicksburg, where he was owner of a Jitney
Jungle Super Market. He also worked with his father to found Dottley’s
Spice, which he serves as board president.
He is married to the former Nina Nosser. They have three daughters,
Nina Rocconi, Debbie Brumitt and Dani Kay Thomas, and two sons, John
Albert Dottley Jr., (deceased) and Billy Joe Dottley. They have nine
grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
– Hilliard is president and partner in the Memphis independent
insurance agency Pete Mitchell and Associates Inc. As managing partner,
he is responsible for the agency’s service standards, business
practices and profitability. A Hernando native, he is a member of the
national, state and local associations for Professional Insurance
Agents. The Tennessee association recognized him as its 2008 Agent of
the Year.
Hilliard serves as a member of the board of directors for the Memphis
Chamber Foundation and the Ole Miss Alumni Association. He has received
numerous personal awards and honors including the Memphis Silver Star
New Achievers’ Award; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. African American
Male Image Award; Black Business Association of Memphis Special
Recognition for Outstanding Board Service; and Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity Inc. Southwestern Regional Bigger and Better Businessman
Award.
While at Ole Miss, he was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.
Hilliard and his wife, Malinda, have three daughters, Sabrina, Melodia
and Brittany.
– Parsons joined Lockheed Martin Mission Services in October
2008 as vice president of Strategic Space Initiatives. He is
responsible for helping to formulate Mission Services’ strategy as it
relates to Civil and Defense Space Programs and assists other business
units as requested. Before joining Lockheed Martin, Parsons served as
director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Parsons joined the NASA team in 1990 at Kennedy Space Center in the
Shuttle Operations Directorate. He has served as director of the Center
Operations and Support Directorate of NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center in Houston and has twice served as director of the John C.
Stennis Space Center. In 2003, he was appointed space shuttle program
manager to lead the Return to Flight activities for the agency and
played a key role in the success of the Discovery STS-114 mission.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from UM and a master’s in
engineering management from the University of Central Florida. He
received the Engineer of Distinction Award from UM and the Alumni of
the Year award from the University of Central Florida. Parsons and his
wife, Amy, have two children, Sarah and Wil.
– Brevard is president of B&B Concrete Co., a family business
engaged in the manufacture and delivery of ready-mix concrete, concrete
pipe and precast concrete items. He serves on the board of directors of
the Ole Miss Alumni Association, University of Mississippi Foundation,
Mississippi Methodist Senior Services Inc., Community Development
Foundation, Yocona Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Journal
Inc., B&B Concrete Co. Inc. and Concrete Industries Inc.
Brevard is a past president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association, former
chairman of the board of directors of Mississippi Methodist Senior
Services Inc. and the Health Care Foundation of North Mississippi. He
has received numerous awards, including the Yocona Area Council’s
Silver Beaver Award for Distinguished Service to Youth, Rotary
International Foundation’s Paul Harris Fellow Award, Parent of the Year
Award for Church Street Elementary School and Mississippi Business
Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 Leadership Award.
Brevard is a 1978 summa cum laude graduate of Ole Miss, earning a
Bachelor of Arts degree. He earned an MBA from the University of
Virginia in 1981. He is married to the former Shawn R. Stewart, and
they have two daughters, Stewart and Lizzie.
– Crawford, 31, is a senior aeronautical engineer for Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics Co., an aerospace defense company headquartered in Fort
Worth, Texas. Working in the area of mass properties, she utilizes
fundamentals of systems engineering processes to accomplish production
and modernization tasks on the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft.
She began her career at Lockheed Martin in 2003 as a systems engineer
and was selected as one of three young engineers from the company to
participate in the inaugural cross-training initiative for mass
properties. Earlier this year, Crawford was nominated for a Women of
Color in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Award in
Community Service, a national award that recognizes women of color
based on leadership, innovation and outstanding work in the STEM
fields. She received the 2009 Women of Color Technology Rising Star
Award, which recognizes advancement in shaping technology for the
future and demonstrating excellence in the workplace and community.
Crawford is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and was
initiated into the Theta Psi Chapter at UM. After earning her
bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UM, she received a
master’s degree in systems engineering from Southern Methodist
University. She is a leader of the Ashanti Community, which is a rites
of passage program for girls ages 8 to 18. Crawford oversees more than
100 women and girls, and volunteers 60 hours a month overseeing Ashanti
Community activities.
For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7375.