AGAINST THE GRAIN

Humphries still popular, appreciated
5/3/07
By Roosevelt Wilson

As I witnessed the Florida A&M University distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony Friday night, two things stood out like a white shirt under a black vest: Former President Frederick S. Humphries has reached almost folk-hero status, and the love alumni have for FAMU is almost indescribable.
Humphries, who clearly enjoyed every day he was president from the day he arrived on July 1, 1985 through his final day on Dec. 31, 2001, was always popular among students, many faculty, staff and alumni.
He had, and still has his detractors, though to a lesser extent.
However, over the past couple of years, there have been concentrated efforts aimed at discrediting a lot of what he did, downplaying many of his accomplishments and even blaming him for a lot of today's difficulties being experienced by the university.
There was such an anti-Humphries virus among a few detractors that it turned into an anti-James Ammons factor during the presidential search.
Word on the narrow street of the few detractors -- though some were in positions that almost yielded enough anti-Ammons votes to change the outcome of the selection -- was that hiring Ammons would be like bringing back Humphries. Ammons was chosen by a 7-6 vote.
But instead of belittling Humphries' legacy, his detractors called attention to it, reminding so many loyal Rattlers of the "good ol' days" when FAMU was Time magazine/Princeton Review's College of the Year in 1997, his perpetual battles with Harvard, Yale and Howard for the nation's top black scholars - which he won more often than not - and his bold recruiting that mushroomed FAMU's enrollment from 4,500 when he arrived to more than 13,000 when he left.
During his tenure academic offerings expanded and graduate degrees, including Ph.D.s, helped move FAMU among the academic elite.
But he wasn't a knight on a white horse all the time. He had his problems, too.
FAMU had audit findings during his administration, but according to the state's auditor general, Humphries' final operational audit - for the 2001 calendar year, contained eight findings and recommendations.
That's not good, but not nearly as bad as subsequent audits of his successors under whose administrations the number of findings grew to 14, 16, 24 to 35 for the 2005-06 fiscal year.
There also were some employees who disagreed with some of the things Humphries did, the way he did other things and with some of the people he hired.
But one would never know it today as he is greeted with almost reverence. When he returns to campus now and is introduced to an audience, more often than not, people don't just applaud. They cheer.
And although none of the students here now was here when Humphries was president, he still evokes maddening roars of approval as only he can with his legendary exit from the stage: "When the dark clouds gather on the horizon ... the Rattlers will strike, and strike and strike again!"
Honoring alumni
Humphries' class held its 50-year reunion as part of the commencement-alumni Weekend of Rededication, and it was difficult for even a scribe to capture in words the love and passion they expressed for their alma mater.
Distinguished alumni
Most of the expressions of love for FAMU came during the presentations of the Distinguished Alumni and Meritorious Achievement awards
Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award:
-- John C. Barnes, business. Retired from IBM after 33 years. Promoted career opportunities for FAMU graduates as a recruiter for IBM.
-- John W. Brown, athletics. Retired after 38 years of service to education and community work.
-- Marcellas Durham, military. Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Military Corps from FAMU. Retired from U.S. Army with the rank of Lt. Colonel.
-- Freddie L. Groomes-McLenden, education. Retired in 2003 after serving more than 40 years in education and administration.
-- Rose Hill, community service. Retired twice as an educator, and is now administrative coordinator at Bethel AME Church.
-- Irene N. Nelson-Holden. Community service. Dedicated Rattler and has served in numerous capacities within the National Alumni Association.
-- Lt. Col. Thomas L. Mitchell Jr., military. Has been a life member of the National Alumni Association since 1995. He also helped to charter the St. Louis FAMU-NAA and served as the vice president.
-- Claude Lee Perry Sr., community service. Marched along with FAMU students to desegregate public facilities. Founding member of the Ansonia, Conn. Community Action Group in 1968, and remains a believer in uniting disparate groups.
Meritorious Achievement
Recipients of the Meritorious Achievement Award:
-- James Denmark, artist. He and his wife now own a gallery.
-- Anne Richardson Gayles-Felton, education. In 2002 she co-authored the first history book of a college/school at FAMU, "The History of the College of Education-Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, 1887-2000."
She retired in 2003.
-- Gregory Anderson, producer, distributor, writer.
-- Robert "Rob" Hardy, writer, producer, director, photographer.
-- William "Will" Packer, writer, producer, distributor.
All of these honorees are FAMU alumni except Gayles-Felton, and she spent most of her life at FAMU educating future educators. She also donated the proceeds from her book to the university.
Literally every alumnus credited FAMU for the success they have achieved.
And there were individuals remembered, like the late Coach Robert "Pete" Griffin, who as track coach told his players, "Never let a judge decide the outcome of your race. Win it outright."
That was just one of life's lessons the alumni shared about the people at FAMU.
But despite the people, the year, era, faculty or administration, their love for FAMU is passionate, constant and strong.
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Roosevelt Wilson is editor and publisher of the Capital Outlook.
You can email him at rwilson@capitaloutlook.com .
You can also talk to him live on his weekly radio show "Against The Grain" on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 10