Five SWAC Icons to Receive Legends Awards in December
ATLANTA – Five individuals who have left an indelible imprint on the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) will be honored when the SWAC Alumni Association holds its annual Legends Awards and Roast here on December 20. The awards ceremony is slated for 11 a.m. at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
SWAC Hall of Famers Larry Smith of Alcorn State University and Alicia Pete of Prairie View A&M University will receive the SWAC Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award along with renown sports anchor Michael Rubenstein of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss., who will be honored posthumously. Additionally, George Stubbs, the longtime athletics trainer at Grambling State University, will receive the coveted Charles “Chuck” Prophet Wagon Master Award, while longtime Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference commissioner Dennis Thomas, who played and coached football at Alcorn State University, will receive the Association’s coveted Distinguished Service Award.
Smith was the top star on a team of stars that propelled the Alcorn State basketball team to prominence during Braves’ initial years as an NCAA Division I member in the early 1980s. The Rolling Fork, Miss. native averaged 16.7 points and 11.0 rebounds at ASU between 1976-80, leading the Braves to three SWAC regular-season championships, two SWAC tournament crowns, one NCAA tournament appearance and one berth to the NIT. The two-time SWAC player-of-the-year was drafted in the second round of the 1980 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and went on to be a star in the league for 13 seasons, including stints with the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs. He later served as an assistant coach with the Rockets from 1993 to 2002, helping the franchise capture two NBA titles. He served as Alcorn State’s head men’s basketball coach from 2008 to 2011 and currently serves his alma mater as Director of Athletic Development. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1995.
Pete, the current Vice-President of Operations/Senior Woman Administrator and Interim Director of Athletics at Prairie View A&M, was a stalwart volleyball player for the Lady Panthers between 1987 and 1990, reaping All-SWAC honors while competing. She later became the program’s head bowling coach and head volleyball coach, leading the latter program to two SWAC championships and two appearances in the NCAA volleyball tournament (1999 and 2006). Today, Pete leads the athletics program’s development and implementation of gender equity plans, coordinates annual updates to the program’s policies and procedures manual and monitors the program’s compliance with Title IX regulations. She was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2015.
Rubenstein was an award-winning television sportscaster for WLBT-TV in Jackson from 1974 to 1991. During that 17-year span, he gained the reputation as one of most popular and highly-rated television sportscasters in Mississippi television history. He was one of the first sportscasters to consistently cover SWAC events and African-American athletes in the state and his much-viewed Sunday night Sports Journal earned seven first place awards from the Mississippi Broadcasters Association. In 1991, Rubenstein began a two-year stint as sports editor for Love Communications, where he provided in-depth interviews and live in-studio events, before embarking on an 18-year career as executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, which he helped organize. He directed corporate and individual fundraising efforts and helped to sustain the museum without the use of government funding for operations.
Stubbs is in his 17th year as an equipment manager in the SWAC, including seven with his current employer, Grambling State. He also held similar stints at Alabama State University (2003-09), Texas Southern University (2009-10) and Jackson State University (2011-12). One of just three certified equipment managers in the conference, Stubbs handles equipment and apparel for all 15 sports at Grambling and he played an integral role in securing the university’s $1.5 million contract with adidas. The recipient of SWAC Equipment Manager-of-the-Year four times, his commitment to helping young people succeed has helped him send eight student managers to NFL teams for internships. Additionally, he started a football fitting program with the City of Shreveport, La. that benefits middle schools, high schools and youth leagues.
Thomas, who’s in his 18th year as commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, was a highly-touted football player at Alcorn State between 1970 and 1973. A first team Mutual Black Sports Network and two-time Pittsburgh Courier All-American, Thomas made history in 1973 when he became the first and only offensive lineman to be named the SWAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year. He later became the youngest defensive coordinator in SWAC history when legendary Alcorn State head coach Marino H. Casem gave him that title at age 24. During his playing and coaching tenure at ASU, the Braves won football championships in 1970 as a player and 1976, 1979 and 1984 as an assistant coach. It was Thomas, who’s regarded today as one of the nation’s premiere collegiate athletics administrators, who presented to ESPN the idea of a postseason bowl game between the SWAC and MEAC champions that evolved into the ABC-televised Celebration Bowl with a $1 million payout to each team. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Legends Awards and Roast is the marquee event held annually by the SWAC Alumni Association, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Tickets for the event are on sale now at a cost of $75, with the proceeds benefitting the SWAC Alumni Association’s Degree Completion Scholarship Fund, which assists student-athletes from the league in completing their college studies after their playing eligibility has exhausted. Fans can purchase tickets by contacting Alvin Moore at (205) 222-1044.
Congratulatory ads for the event’s souvenir program can also be purchased by contacting Moore via email at
amprint1949@aol.com. Ad prices are $150 for a full-page ad, $100 for a half-page ad, $75 for a quarter-page ad and $350 for an inside front cover or inside back cover ad.
About the SWAC
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is considered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country and currently ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of HBCU alumni playing with professional sports teams.
Current championship competition offered by the league includes competition for men in Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field and Tennis.
Women’s competition is offered in the sports of Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Soccer, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball.
Follow the SWAC
For complete coverage of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, please follow the SWAC on social media at @TheSWAC (Twitter), @TheSWAC (Facebook), and @TheSWAC (Instagram) or visit the official home of the Southwestern Athletic Conference at www.swac.org.