William Goddard: Emancipator

Born into slavery, Goddard, a mulatto, was able to buy his freedom by paying in installments. Throughout his life, he purchased or brokered the freedom of 22 enslaved people in Alexandria. He also purchased a parcel of land in the same block as Alfred Street Baptist Church. His date of birth is not known. He died in 1819.

Oliver Ellis: Athlete

Oliver Ellis

Ellis was a four-letter athlete at Parker-Gray High School.  He received national recognition on the football team at West Virginia State College as a senior.  Ellis was inducted into the Greater Washington Fast-Pitch Softball Hall of Fame in 1981 and into the West Virginia State College Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.  He was one of three Alexandrians to be selected for induction into the Black College Football All-American Team in 1949.

Dr. John O. Peterson, Sr.: Minister, Humanitarian, and Educator

Dr. John O. Peterson , Sr.

The Virginia Union valedictorian taught sciences in Warwick and Arlington, Virginia. He served as pastor at Alfred Street Baptist Church from 1964 to 2006, expanding membership by more than 1000%, and increasing the budget from $12,000 to $3.5 million. His involvement with the Baptist World Alliance led him to visit more than 27 countries and positioned him to play a significant role in negotiations with the rebels after the civil war in Liberia.  He also served on the Alexandria branch of the NAACP, the Northern Virginia Urban League, the Alexandria School Board, and other local and national organizations.

Dr. Arthur C. Dawkins: Educator and Musician

Dr. Arthur C. Dawkins

This Alexandria native began his pursuit of music by playing woodwinds at age 12. He served as vice principal at T. C. Williams High School. Dr. Dawkins is recognized for founding the Howard University Jazz Repertory Orchestra and as one of the first African-American musicians to play in major venues of post-segregation Washington. He also developed a curriculum of Jazz Oral History, which focused on masters of modern jazz and is housed at the Howard University’s Moorland Spingarn Research Center. For more than 25 years he served as the musical contractor for Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.).

Edward L. Patterson: Educator, Musician, and Pricipal

Edward L. Patterson

Patterson began his career at Parker-Gray High School as an instrumental music instructor and a social studies teacher.  In later years, he would become an Assistant Principal at the school.  He used his teaching position and contacts from his alma mater (Virginia State College) to motivate students to attend college and secure scholarships.  He was a member of the Trustee Board at Shiloh Baptist Church.  He also served in many civic organizations including the Alexandria Community Chest, the Northern Virginia Urban League, and N.A.A.C.P.

Harry Burke: Educator, Community Leader, and Historian

Harry Burke

Harry Burke served as a public schoolteacher for several decades.  During segregation, African American youths had no place to swim. When the African American community dedicated the Johnson Memorial Pool in 1952, Burke served as the director.  He was also responsible for organizing the first black swim teams in Alexandria.  He conducted classes for youth to earn lifeguard certification. Burke was instrumental in securing scholarships for athletes who would join collegiate swim teams.  Harry served for several years as the Alexandria Society for the Preservation of Black Heritage Chairman and was an advocate for preserving Alexandria’s African American heritage.

Moses Hepburn: Contractor and Builder

Born in 1809 to an enslaved mother and a wealthy white man, Hepburn received a large inheritance after his father died.  He purchased land and water rights to his properties along the Potomac River and helped purchase the land for what is now Roberts Memorial United Methodist Church.  Hepburn built four townhouses at 206-212 N. Pitt Street. Facing the charge of the “crime” of sending his son to school, he moved to Pennsylvania. At that time, educating African Americans was against the law.

Reverend George Parker: Minister, Politician and Entrepreneur

In 1870, he was the first African American to serve on the Alexandria City Council. Rev. Parker founded Third Baptist Church located on Princess and N. Patrick Streets. He was one of the first teachers at First Select Colored School and was the owner of The Empire House Hotel located between Payne and Fayette Streets.

George Lewis Seaton: Politician, Master Carpenter, and Builder

Seaton was the first African American elected to the Virginia General Assembly from Alexandria, in 1869. He constructed the Seaton School for Boys, the Hallowell School for Girls, the Odd Fellows Hall and many homes in Alexandria. Seaton was a founder of the Colored Building Association and the Colored YMCA.  He lived at 404 South Royal Street.

Alexandria Negro Public Schools

Parker-Gray High School

• John Parker and Sarah Gray

Lyles-Crouch Elementary School

• Rozier Lyles and Jane Crouch

Charles Houston Elementary School

• Civil Rights Lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston



Andrew W. Adkins: Minister and Educator

Alfred Street Baptist Church

Rev. Andrew Adkins was pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church for 43 years (1920-1963), the longest serving pastor in the church’s history.  In addition to his religious duties, he also taught in the local schools.  As there was then no secondary education for Negroes in Alexandria, he began teaching high school classes in one room of the Parker-Gray Elementary School during his first full year in the city.  Within five years, this small effort led to the creation of the first high school for Negroes in Alexandria, but it would be 1936 before the high school received full accreditation.  He continued to teach through most of his pastorate at Alfred Street and oversaw the church during the Great Depression, its most financially bleak years.  His legacy as a great pastor and dedicated educator within Alexandria resulted in a city-wide day of mourning upon his death in 1963.  He was the father of well-known educators Rutherford, Aldrich, and Robert Adkins.

William H.Pitts, Sr.: Athlete, Educator, and Principal

William H. Pitts, Sr.

Pitts was a three-year starter for Virginia Union University’s football team, 1921 to 1924.  On the 1923 National Championship Football Team, he started as a running back.  He was inducted into the school’s Football Hall of Fame in 1928.

Pitts epitomized the Parker-Gray experience.  As principal of Parker-Gray from 1938 to 1965, Pitts pressed for curriculum expansion including business education, art, dramatics, and industrial art; equal opportunities in education including physical education for girls; and continuous upgrading of teacher preparation.  Parker-Gray achieved recognition as an outstanding institution of learning and one unequaled in athletics.

Helen Lumpkins Day: Educator

Helen Lumpkins Day

Day was a founder of Hopkins House Association, and served with many other national organizations. She attended the Hallowell School for Girls in Alexandria, was a graduate of Dunbar High School and of Miners Teachers College in Washington D.C.  She taught grade school in the Alexandria Public Schools for 46 years, and had a strong commitment to public service.  Born in 1905, she died in 1992. A post office within the Parker-Gray Historic district is named in her honor.

Ferris Holland: Educator and Coach

Ferris Holland

Holland worked at Parker-Gray High School for 30 years as a coach, teacher and academic counselor.  He formed the school’s baseball and football teams when there was no funding for either sport at the school.  A Street is named for Holland and his family in the Gum Springs community in Fairfax County.

Dr. Rutherford H. Adkins: President, Fisk University, Tuskeegee Airman, and Educator

Dr. Rutherford H. Adkins

As a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, he flew 14 overseas missions with this elite squadron of black pilots.  After earning his Ph.D. at Catholic University, this Alexandria native served as a member of the 100^th Fighter Squadron of the 332^nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen) until 1945.  Dr. Adkins served as a physics professor at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College, Fisk University, and the U.S. Naval Academy.  Dr. Adkins served as president of Knoxville College from 1976 to 1981, at which time he retired.  In 1997, he returned to public life after being named the 11^th president of Fisk University.

Arnold Thurmond: Educator and Coach

Arnold Thurmond

Thurmond began teaching at Parker-Gray in 1950 as an Industrial Arts Education instructor.  He later became the school’s head basketball coach.  During his coaching tenure, he won three consecutive Virginia state basketball championships (1955-1957) and participated in the national high school basketball tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.  His leadership produced the school’s first Division One sports scholarship recipient (Walter Griffin- University of Connecticut, 1957).  Following his tenure at Parker-Gray, Thurmond served as an assistant principal at George Washington High School.  As a result of his WWII service in the Army, the French government awarded him the French Legion of Honor for his role in saving French citizens.

Charles Price: Athlete, Educator, and Administrator

Charles Price

Price lettered in high school and college sports before becoming a coach at the Parker-Gray High School. He was the first Virginia State College football player to sign with a professional football team.  Following desegregation, he became the first black head coach in Virginia at Langley High School.  During the early years of the desegregation era, Price was a school administrator in the Fairfax County School system.  He also is a charter member of three Kappa Alpha Psi alumni chapters in Virginia.

Jacqueline LaMarr Henry-Green: Musician and Educator

Jacqueline L. Henry-Green

Henry-Green was one of Alexandria’s premier music educators, who was an extraordinary voice, piano and music theory teacher.  After graduating from college, she taught music at Parker-Gray High School and the Northeast Conservatory of Music.  She directed choirs at Alfred Street Baptist Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Lomax AME Zion Church.  She also organized the Choral Arts Society of Alfred Street and the Choral Arts Society of Alexandria.

Edward "Jose" Hernandez: Musician and Educator

Edward "Jose" Hernandez

Alexandria native Edward Hernandez was a 1965 graduate of Parker-Gray High School.  The renowned oboist has traveled the world with the United States Air Force Symphony Band as a musical ambassador. Hernandez wrote Soul Train and has penned hits for the R&B group “The Whispers.”  He has performed with recording artists Joe Williams and Patti Austin.

Eugene Thompson: Historian

Eugene Thompson

This native Alexandrian will forever be remembered for his contribution to Black History in Alexandria. He was the first Director of what is now the Alexandria Black History Museum.  Through the leadership of Eugene Thompson, the Alexandria Black History Resource Center (today known as the Black History Museum) chronicled the history of the African American community at a time when that history was largely ignored.

Carlton A. Funn, Sr.: Educator and Historian

Carlton A. Funn

Mr. Funn is recognized throughout Alexandria for his decades of work as a schoolteacher who championed the preservation of black history.  While teaching a seventh-grade class in 1957, he was shocked by the dated and racially offensive Virginia history textbook, and began to develop his own curriculum, one which recognized African American achievements and history.  He was the Chairman of the Alexandria Society for the Preservation of Black Heritage.  He is well-known for founding NICE (National/International Cultural Exhibits) which promotes cultural awareness of historical contributions by several ethnic groups.  In 1998, Funn received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.  In 1972, he earned a master’s degree in education from Virginia State University.

Ardelia Hunter: Educator and Principal

Ardelia Hunter

Ardelia first taught at Charles Houston Elementary School.  In the 1960s when the schools were desegregated, she was transferred to Ramsey Elementary.  A few years later, she was appointed as acting principal at Stonewall Jackson Elementary School.  Following that position, she served as the Lyles Crouch Elementary School principal for 10 years.  Before retirement, Ardelia served as the Patrick Henry principal for 11 years.

Christine Howard: Educator and Principal

Christine Howard

Christine received a master’s degree from the University of Virginia.  Her first teaching position was at Charles Houston Elementary School.  She later served as the Jefferson-Houston Elementary School principal for 14 years.  Howard was instrumental in instituting the Head Start program in Jefferson-Houston School and the Alexandria Community YMCA – it is still one of the most outstanding Head Start programs in the country.  Christine retired from the public school system in July of 1987.  As a note of interest, Christine Howard, Nellie Brooks Quander, and Ardelia Hunter all played on the same basketball team in their segregated school, Parker-Gray, and then all three ended up as principals of integrated schools.

William D. "Bill" Euille: Mayor, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Mayor Euille

He holds the honor of being Alexandria’s first African-American mayor.  Positions on the Alexandria City Council and as vice mayor are also added to this native Alexandrian’s list of accomplishments. Mayor Euille founded Wm. D. Euille & Associates, a successful construction firm, and has contributed funds to community organizations through the William D. Euille Foundation.

Earl Cook: Alexandria Chief of Pollice

Earl Cook

This Alexandria native transferred to T.C. Williams High School after integration and was a member of the historic Titan football team.  He attended Duke University, and in 1979 began his professional career as a police academy recruit. After 30 years of service, in 2009, Cook became the first African American in Alexandria’s 260-year history to serve as the Chief of Police.

Ferdinand T. Day: Trailblazer and Civil Rights Activist

Ferdinand T. Day

Day was the first African-American Chairman of a public school board in Virginia when he became Chairman of the Alexandria School Board in 1964.  This retired U.S. Foreign Service Reserve Officer has devoted his life to advancing civil rights and improving educational opportunities for black children in Alexandria. A  T.C. Williams High School cafeteria and a street in Alexandria were named in his honor.

Judy Belk: Journalist and Writer

Judy Belk

Belk, a T.C. Williams High School graduate, has over 25 years experience in international giving, corporate social responsibility, and family philanthropy.  She is a frequent writer and speaker on organizational ethics, race, and social change.  Her work has been recognized through several state and national awards.

Marie Bradby: Journalist and Writer

Marie Bradby

Award-winning journalist and children’s author, Marie Bradby is an Alexandria native and one of several children who integrated Alexandria public schools.  Marie is a former staff writer for the Courier Journal newspaper (Louisville, Kentucky) and National Geographic Magazine.   Her picture book “More Than Anything Else” is well-known nationally and internationally in schools and libraries.  It won the International Reading Association Award for its fictionalized account of Booker T. Washington’s childhood struggle to learn to read.  Her acclaimed novel “Some Friend” tells the story of an 11-year-old girl during the age of Motown music.

Mabel Lyles: Writer

An Alexandria native, Mable Lyles began her education in a one-room school.  As a child, she questioned the disparity of why whites had a longer school year than blacks.  As a result of an NAACP lawsuit, the school year was made equal for all students.  Mable graduated from Virginia Union University in Richmond.  She began teaching in the Alexandria schools in September 1954.  She received a Master of Education degree from George Mason University (Fairfax) in 1980.  Mable retired from the school system in 1988.  In 2006, she published a book, Caught Between Two Systems:  Desegregating Alexandria’s Schools 1954-1973.

Adrienne Terrell Washington: Journalist and Educator

Adrienne Washington

Washington received her master’s degree in journalism from Johns Hopkins University and is an award-winning journalist, television and radio commentator.  This Alexandrian is known for her columns that focus on public policy issues, particularly socioeconomic injustices towards women and minorities.  As a college professor, she has taught at the Catholic University of America, Northern Virginia Community College, and the University of the District of Columbia Community College.

Since 2009, Ms. Washington has been the director of the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, leading an effort to preserve, document and create a historical record of a forgotten pre-Civil War African American community. This Society has reclaimed the history of one of Alexandria’s earliest thriving African American communities.

Samuel Tucker: Civil Rights Attorney and Activist

Samuel Tucker

In 1939, he led a “sit-down strike”protest at the Alexandria Public Library, which did not issue library cards to black residents, and later defended those participants in the resulting legal actions. During WWII, Tucker served in the 366^th Infantry. Tucker was the principal lawyer for the NAACP in post-Brown school desegregation cases and was the organization’s 1996 “Lawyer of the Year.”  In 2000, Alexandria’s Samuel W. Tucker Elementary was dedicated in his honor.

Nolan Dawkins: Circuit Court Judge

Judge Dawkins

He attended Parker-Gray High School until 1963 and is listed among the first African Americans to integrate George Washington High School.  Judge Dawkins graduated from G.W. High School in 1965. He served as the chief judge for Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. His nomination to the Circuit Court was initially stymied due to partisan bickering. However, he persevered and became Alexandria’s first African American Circuit Court Judge. 

Joseph Waddy: Judge

Judge Waddy

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Alexandria native Waddy to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1967. In the 1940s and 1950s, he fought to end the discrimination practices of unions that excluded black railroad workers. He was a member of the D.C. Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Bar Association.

Cathy Grimes Miller: Athlete and Attorney

Cathy Grimes Miller

As a basketball player at T.C. Williams High School, Cathy Grimes was named an All-District, All-Region, All-Metropolitan and All-American player.  Outside of her sports career she was an Academic All-American while attending the University Of Virginia (UVA). She was the first female player to have her jersey retired by UVA. Grimes is an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Thea James: Physician

Dr. Thea James

Born in 1956, Dr. James is a native Alexandrian and the co-founder of Unified Global Healing, a nonprofit agency that circles the world helping others. She was selected to serve on the National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence by the Obama Administration. She is the Director of the Boston Medical Center’s Violence Intervention Advocacy Program and is an assistant professor of Emergency Room Medicine at Boston Medical Center.

Dr. Charles West: Athlete and Physician

Dr. Charles West

He attended Washington and Jefferson College where he was a member of both the track and football teams. He became the first African American quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl. West was drafted by the Akron Pros professional football team, but instead went to medical school at Howard University. Later, he opened a family practice in Alexandria and coached football at Parker-Gray High School. In 1979 he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Dr. Albert Johnson: Physician



Dr. Johnson's home


Dr. Johnson was the first licensed African-American physician in Alexandria.  Born in Lynchburg in 1866 to parents who were slaves, Johnson attended Howard University Medical School.  Johnson lived and worked at 814 Duke Street from 1896 to 1940. His home is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Eudora Lyles: Activist and Musician

Eudora Lyles

Lyles was an advocate for fair housing, founding the Inner City Civic Association and serving on the United Way Housing Committee.  She served as a mentor to young girls at the Meade Memorial Episcopal Church. A gifted musician who taught herself to play the piano and ukulele, Lyles was one of Parker-Gray High School’s first graduates. She used her gift to entertain the military at the local USO, and Robert Kennedy at the prestigious Jockey Club in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Ella O. Lewis: Community Activist

Ella was one of the first women to serve on jury duty in Virginia. She served as a member of the Hopkins Settlement House Board where she developed a program to find and train Black couples to serve as foster parents. At Ebenezer Baptist Church, she was Chair of the Trustee Board and the first female Sunday School superintendent. Lewis was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Dorothy Turner: Community Activist

Dorothy Turner

This native Alexandrian was an advocate for fair housing for underrepresented tenants and was the first president of the Alexandria Tenants Council.  This organization, of which she was a founder, was the first in the state of Virginia to defend the rights of public housing tenants.

Thomas "Pete" Jones: Community Activist

Thomas "Pete" Jones

Jones worked hard to rid public housing units in Alexandria of drugs.  In 1990, in utmost secrecy, President George H. W. Bush met with Jones and a group of local leaders at the Charles Houston Recreation Center to support their efforts.  Jones truly cared about those living in low-income housing and made sure they had a voice. 

Olander Banks, Sr.: Entrepreneur

Olander Banks, Sr.

As a teenager, this Alexandria native held numerous jobs at Alexandria landmarks, including the Torpedo Factory and Washington Gas Company. He established the Zero Cab taxi service and a trucking company in the 1950s. Later he built Banks Auto Parts, his primary business.  In 2001, he donated his ten-acre property in Fairfax County to the Parks Authority to become the Margaret Lomax and Olander Banks, Sr. Community Park.

John Wesley Jackson: Entrepreneur

John Wesley Jackson

This entrepreneur was one of the first black hotel owners in Alexandria and owner of Hotel Jackson (located on King and Peyton Streets). Jackson also owned a grocery store at 200 North Payne Street and founded Mount Jezreel Baptist Church in 1890. Jackson was a private financial lender, a member of the NAACP, and a member of the National Building Association of Baltimore City. In 1917, he purchased a house at 521 North Henry Street. It functioned as a rooming house and a bakery. Over the years, it was the only place chauffeurs and other service workers could stay, due to segregated hotels.

Richard A. Diggs: Entrepreneur

Richard A. Diggs

Diggs is the owner of Alexandria Pest Services, Inc. He has encouraged numerous individuals to follow in his footsteps and start their own businesses. Diggs has provided jobs to dozens of Alexandrians and has mentored disadvantaged youth and those overlooked by the average employer.  He is the co-founder of Minorities in Pest Management.

Charles A. Hall: Entrepreneur and Minister

Charles A. Hall

Hall was the first black general manager in Boeing Computer Services.  In 1995, he founded HMS Enterprises. In 1989, Hall received the National Achievers Award as founder of “Brothers and Sisters Who Care.” He was ordained as a minister in 2012 and installed as Pastor of Saint John’s Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Arthur Bracey: Educator, Florist, and Electrician

Arthur Bracey

Bracey received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia State College and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.  Bracey joined the Parker-Gray faculty as a shop teacher.  He and his wife Miriam opened Peoples Flower Shop (Alexandria) in 1948.  That same year he also established Bracey’s Electric. Bracey selected Parker-Gray students and mentored them in his electrician’s apprenticeship program. He encouraged them to seek higher education, additional training and/or apprenticeships in the electrical trade or other related areas.

Thomas H. "Tommie" Turner: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force (Retired)

Thomas H. "Tommie" Turner

Lieutenant Colonel Turner is a graduate of Parker-Gray High School.  During his junior year at Savannah State College, he enlisted in the USAF and served as a B-47 combat-ready jet pilot.  He served in a variety of air transportation, management, command and staff positions, while also serving in the cartography, photo mapping, and photo-intelligence career field.

Leo Austin Brooks, Sr.: Major General, U.S. Army (Retired)

Austin Brooks, Sr.

This Parker-Gray graduate served in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of Major General.  While in that position, he was responsible for buying and managing all food, equipment, and supplies for all branches of the United States Armed Services.  Later, Brooks accepted an appointment as Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia.  He is currently a deacon at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria.  He has two sons who are also U.S. Army generals, making the Brooks family the only African American family which includes three generals.

Andrew Winfree: Command Sargeant Major, U.S. Army (Retired)

Andrew Winfree

Winfree enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957, and received numerous commendations for his stellar service during his 35-year career. He participated in the Entombment of the Vietnam War’s Unknown Soldier Ceremony.  Command Sergeant Major Winfree wrote the book Fire It, which chronicled the history of African-American artillery units in WWII.  He volunteered as a tutor of math for the community group Untouchables Youth Club from 1995 to 2001.  He was the historian at First Agape Church.

Derek Lymus: Media Producer

Derek Lymus

Derek has touched the lives of many Alexandrians through the lens of his camera, as a volunteer for Hoop Academy Project, a nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Virginia.  In 1995, Derek began the documentation and preservation of unforgettable events and oral history of legendary Alexandrians.  He has indiscriminately captured over 100 documentaries firsthand.  These treasured keepsakes will be shared by future generations.

Lloyd Alexander Lewis: Episcopal Priest and Educator

Lloyd Alexander Lewis

A native Alexandrian, he was the first Black graduate of Saint Stephen’s School.  A Classics scholar at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1972 he became the first African American from Alexandria to be ordained into the Episcopal ministry.  He began his academic career teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary, earning a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at Yale University.  He holds the Downs Professorship of New Testament at the Seminary.

Lillie Finklea and Louise Massoud: Activists and Cemetery Preservationists

Lillie Finklea and Louise Massoud

This Alexandria resident helped to protect a Civil War gravesite for African American “freedmen.”  The Washington Parkway and Beltway had compromised these graves, and when plans for the new Wilson Bridge were proposed, she appealed to the residents and officials of the City.  In May 1997, Finklea, along with Louise Massoud, held a Memorial Celebration for the Freedmen’s Cemetery.  In 2007, City mitigation funds were used to preserve the Cemetery.

The Cross Family: Track and Field Athletes

Douglas, Brandi and Tyron Cross

Native Alexandrian Douglas Kenny Cross’s family, including son Tyron and granddaughter Brandi, is one of two known families to win Championship of America Titles at the prestigious Penn Relays.  The team won the Penn Relays Championship in 1958.  During the 2008 Penn Relays, the Cross family members were awarded watches for their historic accomplishment.  The grandfather Douglas K. Cross was also a member of the winning Parker-Gray High School 4x400 meters relay track team.  

Earl Lloyd: Professional Basketball Player

Earl was one of three Alexandrians to be selected for induction into the Black College Basketball All-American Team in 1949.  In 1950, this Alexandria native became the first African American to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) when he was drafted by the Washington Capitals.  Lloyd is a member of the NBA James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  After playing for the Detroit Pistons, he served the community in his work with the Detroit public school system, teaching job skills to underprivileged youth.  Lloyd was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Keith Burns: Professional Football Player

Keith Burns

Burns lettered in football, basketball, and baseball while at T.C. Williams High School and went on to play for Oklahoma State.  Burns was the 210^th player chosen in the 1994 NFL draft, by the Denver Broncos, and he was a key player on the 1997 and 1998 Super Bowl teams.  He was awarded the Ed Block Courage Award in 2002.  In 1997 he established the Keith Burns Foundation to help inner-city youth. He also donated equipment to the T.C. Williams High School football team, and food and toys to needy Alexandrians during the holidays. 

William "Red" Jackson: Athlete and Coach

William "Red" Jackson

Affectionately known as “Red,” William Jackson excelled in football, basketball and baseball while at Parker-Gray High School.  As quarterback at North Carolina A&T, he led the Aggies to a Black National Championship.  “Red” played baseball in the Negro League and football in the Canadian Professional League.  He coached at a number of historically black colleges and universities, retiring from Benedict College in South Carolina.  He was one of three Alexandrians to be selected for induction into the Black College Football All-American Team in 1949 and 1950.

Lloyd, Ellis, and Jackson, all from Parker-Gray, were all three on the First Team, Black College All-American in 1949.

Horace Burton: Athlete and Entrepreneur



Horace Burton



Horace was a member of the Parker-Gray High School 1946 basketball “Dream Team” that defeated a high school All Star basketball team from Washington, D.C.  In high school, Horace lettered in football, basketball and baseball.  After graduating from Shaw University, he continued his athletic career by playing in the Canadian Football League.  Although Horace’s early career efforts were modest, over time he worked his way to the top of his profession, while successfully navigating the transitions from segregation to integration.  As a professional businessman, he and his sons formed Horace Burton and Sons Subcontractors.