BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " BRIG. GENERAL LEROY BELL " A UNITED STATES ARMY RETIRED GENERAL AND NOMINATED TO RECEIVE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD DURING MEAC TOURNAMENT : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                                              BLACK             SOCIAL            HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 Brig. Gen. Leroy Bell to Receive Distinguished Alumni Award During MEAC Tournament

Florida A&M University (FAMU) alumnus Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Leroy C. Bell has been selected to receive a 2014 MEAC Distinguished Alumni Award during the 43rd Annual MEAC Tournament in Norfolk, Va. on March 13.

Bell will receive a plaque naming him a “Distinguished Alumni” at a special on-court halftime ceremony during the tournament’s 8 p.m. men’s basketball game.

Known to family and friends as the “Road Runner,” Bell came to the university as a track and field scholarship recipient in 1951. After graduating from FAMU in 1955, Bell accepted a commission as an officer in the United States Army. Thirty-two years later, after completing tours in Europe, Korea and Vietnam, he retired as a brigadier general and is one of only five FAMU graduates to reach the flag officer rank in the history of FAMU’s Army ROTC program. While serving in the armed forces, Bell served on the personal staff of the first African American Secretary of the Army Clifford L. Alexander Jr.

A longtime contributor to the MEAC, FAMU Athletics and the FAMU National Alumni Association (FAMUNAA), Bell currently serves as vice president of the Northeast Region of the FAMUNAA and continues to be active in FAMU’s athletic support groups, the Rattler “F” Club and FAMU Boosters.

Previous FAMU honorees to receive the MEAC award include Earl Holmes, head coach of the FAMU football team; Quinn Gray, former quarterback and current quarterbacks coach of the FAMU football team; former U.S. Congressmen Kendrick Meek and Irvin Clark, vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Radford University.