During the month of February, each day, as we celebrate Black history, we will shine a light on Savannah State University's notable alumni who have made and are making history.
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| Wesley McGriff, class of 1990, is the co-defensive coordinator/ secondary coach at the University of Louisville. |
A native of Tifton, Ga., Wesley McGriff, class of 1990, is the co-defensive coordinator/ secondary coach at the University of Louisville. McGriff played at South Carolina State for one year before transferring to Savannah State, where he started at outside linebacker for three seasons and was named the conference’s 1989 Male Academic Athlete of the Year.
McGriff has been in the coaching ranks since 1990 when he was hired as a graduate assistant at Savannah State, where he coached for four years. Starting as a graduate assistant, McGriff tutored running backs before coaching the secondary in 1991-92 and then served as defensive coordinator in 1993-94. He was Savannah State’s interim head coach for three months in spring 1993.
The veteran coach has experience coaching in the National Football League with the New Orleans Saints and with four schools from the Southeastern Conference and nine universities overall. These include Savannah State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, Baylor University, University of Miami, Vanderbilt University, University of Mississippi, Auburn University, and the University of Florida.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, graduating cum laude, from Savannah State in 1990 and earned a master’s in public administration from Georgia Southern in 1993. McGriff was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1990 and was a member of the Army Reserves until 2001. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Tone Bell, class of '04
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| Actor Tone Bell graduated from Savannah State’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications with a concentration in radio and television in 2004. |
Actor Tone Bell graduated from Savannah State’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications with a concentration in radio and television in 2004. Bell created the university’s first daily television program. The Georgia-born comedian has appeared in various TV shows over the past few years, with recent roles as Dickie Brewster on Amazon Prime’s ‘Sylvie’s Love’ and John Levy in Hulu’s ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday.’
Bell got his shot at comedy when he moved to Dallas, Texas in 2007. He relocated to Los Angeles, California a few years later to pursue his craft full-time. His biggest break happened in 2012, when he won NBC’s “Stand Up for Diversity” talent search and earned a development deal with NBCUniversal. In 2019, he debuted ‘Tone Bell: Can’t Cancel This,’ his first stand-up special on Showtime and appeared alongside Regina Hall, Marsai Martin, and Issa Rae in the comedy film ‘Little.’
Bell is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
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| Cat Harper earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications, concentrating on radio and television, in 2009. |
Cat Harper, an Atlanta native and a 2009 graduate of Savannah State University, is the founder of Cat Harper Photography. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications, concentrating on radio and television, Harper focused on being behind the cameras but found herself in front of the cameras. Wanting to do both acting and photography, her acting role as a photographer on the hit TV Show “Necessary Roughness,” showed her that it was possible to do both.
Harper’s true passion is photography, however. Her start as a photographer assistant to celebrity photographer Derek Blanks led to opening her own studio in Atlanta, Ga. Since then, she has photographed great names in the industry like Jacob Latimore, Mike Epps, (Americas Next top model) Keith Carlos, Young Joc, Meme Faust, Jamie Grace, Akon and many more.
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| Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, DeVon Cobb, class of ‘17, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering technology |
Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia Devon Cobb, class of ‘17, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering technology. With more than four years of field engineering experience (including Geotechnical, Construction Materials Testing & Surveying), Cobb is a civil designer at M.E. Sack Engineering.
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| James Wright was part of a "military experiment" in Tuskegee, Alabama during World War II, to train America's first Black military pilots. |
The late Savannah State alum and Tuskegee Airman James E. Wright was born in Wadley, Georgia. Wright was part of a "military experiment" in Tuskegee, Alabama during World War II, to train America's first Black military pilots. This became known as the Tuskegee Experience and the participants as the Tuskegee Airmen.
James Wright was a student at Savannah State University when he was encouraged to scrape up enough money to travel to Tuskegee, Alabama to pursue his lifelong dream of learning to fly. Despite significant financial and racial challenges, he made the trip, learned to fly and went on to become an instructor for countless other pilots at Tuskegee.
Wright became one of the first instructors for the Tuskegee Airmen. He also served as the president of the NAACP in Ozark, AL, and was a member of the Dale County Executive Democratic Committee and the Alabama Democratic Conference.
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| Alysha Harvey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Savannah State University in 2011. |
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| Michael Lloyd, Ph.D., earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Savannah State University. |
Lloyd was named as one of 12 fellows in Blavity.org’s first cohort of its Growth Fellowship, a six-month program awarding a $10,000 non-dilutive grant, free technology, and an assigned sponsor for the duration of the program. He plans for Num Num Sauce to be the first nationally distributed Black-owned condiment or BBQ sauce brand manufactured by Black, Indigenous, People of Color
-owned and operated company in the United States.
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| Melvin D. Williams, class of ‘87, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Savannah State University. Melvin D. Williams, class of ‘87, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Savannah State University. Williams is a retired president of Nicor Gas, the largest natural gas distributor in Illinois and senior vice president of Southern Company Gas, where he served for more than 30 years. He was responsible for ensuring that natural gas is delivered safely to more than 2.2 million homes and businesses in 646 northern Illinois communities. Under his leadership, the largest infrastructure rehabilitation effort in Nicor Gas’ history was deployed. Williams was named one of Yahoo EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executives in 2019. He previously served as senior vice president of planning and business services, and also held the position of vice president and general manager for Atlanta Gas Light and Florida City Gas. In that role, Williams oversaw field operations in Port St. Lucie, Brevard and Hialeah, Fla., and much of the Atlanta Gas Light territory in Georgia outside of metro Atlanta. In 2020, Williams Melvin D. Williams gifted the SSU Foundation, Inc. with a $25,000 endowment fund to establish the James Monroe Hall Scholarship for need based students. Williams is on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta and AGL Resources Foundation and is a member of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. He actively supports numerous community and youth organizations in both Georgia and Florida. |
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| Felicia Bell, Ph.D., earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Savannah State University. |
Felicia Bell, Ph.D., class of ‘98, is a senior advisor in the Office of the Director at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Savannah State University, a Master of Arts in historic preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in U. S. history from Howard University in Washington, DC.
She later served as an Assistant Professor of History and the inaugural Director of Honors at Savannah State. During her tenure at SSU, she introduced museum studies courses into the curriculum. Bell received the first Historically Black Colleges or Universities Museum Internship Program Grant from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Previously, Bell was the Director of Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum where she formulated policies, developed a strategic plan, cultivated over $100,000 in gifts, and oversaw all operations of the museum. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Professor of History and the inaugural Director of Honors at Savannah State University. During her tenure there, she introduced museum studies courses into the curriculum and received the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Museum Internship Program Grant from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Bell has also served as the Director of Education and Outreach at the Coastal Heritage Society in Savannah, Georgia and at the U. S. Capitol Historical Society in Washington, DC. While in Washington, Bell curated a nationally traveling exhibition, provided expert witness testimony to Congress for the recognition of enslaved labor used to construct the U. S. Capitol building in Washington, DC, and served on the National Capital Planning Committee’s Environmental Impact Statement for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She has received numerous awards and honors including recognition by the House of Representatives of the State of Alabama “for her record of excellence as the Director of the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University Montgomery” and the 2020 Citizen of the Year Award from the Montgomery (AL) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Bell is also a contributing author in The Future Emerges from the Past: Celebrating 200 Years of Alabama African American History and Culture (2019) and a contributing editor to A Girl Named Rosa: The True Story of Rosa Parks (2018).
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| Amelia Boynton attended two years at Savannah State University before transferring to Tuskegee University, earning a degree in home economics in 1927. |
Amelia Isadora Platts Boynton Robinson (August 18, 1911 – August 26, 2015) was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama and a key figure in 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. In 1984, she became founding vice-president of the Schiller Institute. She was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Medal in 1990.
Boynton was born in Savannah, Georgia, on August 18, 1911, to George and Anna Eliza (née Hicks) Platts. Church was central to Amelia and her nine siblings' upbringing. As a young girl, she became involved in campaigning for women's suffrage. Amelia attended two years at Savannah State University before transferring to Tuskegee University, earning a degree in home economics in 1927. Platts later also studied at Tennessee State, Virginia State, and Temple University.
Boynton taught in Georgia before starting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Selma as the home demonstration agent for Dallas County. She educated the county's largely rural population about food production and processing, nutrition, healthcare, and other subjects related to agriculture and homemaking.
In 1934, Amelia Boynton registered to vote, amidst the difficulty due to discriminatory practices under the state's disenfranchising constitution passed at the turn of the century which excluded Black people from politics for decades. A few years later she wrote a play, Through the Years, which told the story of the creation of Spiritual music and a former slave who was elected to Congress during Reconstruction, based on her father's half-brother Robert Smalls, to help fund a community center in Selma, Alabama. In 1954, Amelia and her husband met Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife, Coretta Scott King at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where King was the pastor.
In 1963, after the death of her husband, Boynton ran for Congress from Alabama, hoping to encourage black registration and voting. She was the first female African American to run for office in Alabama and the first woman of any race to run for the ticket of the Democratic Party in the state.
In 1964 and 1965, Boynton worked with Martin Luther King Jr., Diane Nash, James Bevel, and others of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to plan demonstrations for civil and voting rights.
To protest continuing segregation and disenfranchisement of Black people, in early 1965 Amelia Boynton helped organize a march to the state capital of Montgomery, which took place on March 7, 1965. Led by John Lewis, Hosea Williams and Bob Mants, and including Rosa Parks and others among the marchers, the event became known as Bloody Sunday when county and state police stopped the march and beat demonstrators after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge into Dallas County. Boynton was beaten unconscious; a photograph of her lying on Edmund Pettus Bridge went around the world.
“Then they charged. They came from the right. They came from the left. One shouted: 'Run!' I thought, 'Why should I be running?' Then an officer on horseback hit me across the back of the shoulders and, for a second time, on the back of the neck. I lost consciousness.”
— Amelia Boynton Robinson, 2014 interview
Boynton suffered throat burns from the effects of tear gas. She participated in both subsequent marches. Another short march led by Martin Luther King Jr. took place two days later; the marchers turned back after crossing Pettus Bridge. Finally, with federal protection and thousands of marchers joining them, a third march reached Montgomery on March 24, entering with 25,000 people.
In 1990, Boynton was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Medal. Her memoir, Bridge Across Jordan, includes tributes from friends and colleagues, including Coretta Scott King and Andrew Young.
In 2014, the Selma City Council renamed five blocks of Lapsley Street as Boyntons Street to honor Amelia Boynton Robinson and first husband, Sam Boynton.
Robinson is played by Lorraine Toussaint in the 2014 film Selma, about the Selma Voting Rights Movement and its Selma to Montgomery marches. Robinson, then 103 years old, was unable to travel to see the film. Paramount Pictures set up a private screening in her home to include her friends and family. A CNN reporter was present to discuss the film and her experiences at Selma, and she said she felt the film was fantastic.
In 2015, Robinson attended the State of the Union Address in January at the invitation of President Barack Obama, and, in her wheelchair, was at Obama's side as he and others walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Selma Voting Rights Movement 50th Anniversary Jubilee that March.
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| Matthew "Showbiz" Jackson played football for three years at Savannah State as a wide receiver and earned all-conference honors before joining the Air Force |
As a member of the Globetrotters, Jackson earned the nickname “Show Biz”, because of his style of play and ability to keep the crowd entertained. He is known for his behind-the-back half-court shot that he sank with remarkable accuracy. Jackson is only the 32nd person to be honored with the Legend title in the team’s 95 years of touring.
He played football for three years at Savannah State as a wide receiver and earned all-conference honors before joining the Air Force and learning of the Harlem Globetrotters after his service.
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| Ernest Miller, class of ‘86, earned his bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering. |
Ernest Miller, class of ‘86, is an actor and former professional wrestler who worked for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), better known by his ring name, Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Miller earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and played football for SSU earning All-American honors in the sport.
Upon graduating, Miller started a career as a karate tournament competitor, winning the world championship three times, and once the ISKA kickboxing championship.
As an actor, he is best known for his role in the 2008 academy award-nominated film The Wrestler. Miller also played Earnie Shavers in the 2008 Chinese television series The Legend of Bruce Lee and appeared in the 2009 film Blood and Bone.
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| Tatia Adams Fox graduated from Savannah State with a dual degree in Mass Communications and Business Administration. |
Tatia Adams Fox, class of ‘93, is an entrepreneur, wife and mother of two. Adams Fox graduated from Savannah State with a dual degree in Mass Communications and Business Administration. She went on to earn her master’s degree in Integrated Marketing from Roosevelt University. Adams Fox began her career in marketing working at Heart and Soul Magazine, MTV Networks, and Playboy Enterprises.
Adams Fox led a successful career in marketing and entertainment, holding various leadership roles at Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Playboy Enterprise, and Rodale Press, Inc. n her role as Vice President for Global Partnerships for ViacomCBS, she oversaw and account managed Nickelodeon theme parks, hotels, resorts and mall entertainment centers in Asia, Europe, Australia and North America.
As she navigated through her career Adams Fox graduated from the Executive Leadership program at Harvard School of Business.
Adams Fox was the first and highest ranking Black female executive at Warner Music/ADA. In 2011, she launched The New School of Etiquette: an organization that offers a comprehensive enrichment program committed to educating and promoting etiquette, social decorum & positive self-image.
Adams Fox is a two-time recipient of the Southern Regional Press Institute Career Achievement Award, and was listed among New York City’s top twenty-five under 40 most powerful women in philanthropy, music, fashion, STEM, arts and culture by Black Enterprise. She’s been featured in Billboard, Essence, Ebony, Vibe, The Tavis Smiley Show, Fox News, NBC and ABC affiliates.
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| Shannon Sharpe received his B.S. degree in Criminal Justice in 1990. |
Shannon Sharpe, class of ‘90, is a three-time Super Bowl Champion and Pro Football Hall of Famer and the co-host for the sports opinion and debate show SKIP AND SHANNON: UNDISPUTED. Sharpe is Savannah State’s first professional football player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A seventh-round draft pick out of Savannah State University, Sharpe enjoyed a 14-year career with the Denver Broncos (1990-99, 2002-03) and Baltimore Ravens (2000-01). During his first tenure with Denver, Sharpe was voted to seven consecutive Pro Bowls from 1992-98, earned the prestigious first-team All-Pro honors an impressive four times and was voted the first-team tight end on the 1990s All-Decade Team. He finished his career with 815 receptions for 10,060 yards (12.3 avg.) and 62 touchdowns, ranking in the top five all-time among tight ends in each category. He received the ultimate individual honor when he was selected for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Sharpe holds the NFL post-season record for longest reception, a 96-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown at Oakland in the 2000 AFC Championship Game. He also holds the NFL record for most receiving yards in a game by a tight end (214). A big-game performer who played his best under the brightest lights, Sharpe appeared in 12 post-season contests as a Bronco – all starts – and ranks third in franchise playoff history in receptions (47) and fourth in receiving yards (505).
Before his professional career, Sharpe was Co-SIAC Player of the Year, selected to the Kodak Small College All-America First Team, and named the College Player of the Year in Georgia. He was the first Savannah State player to play in the Blue-Gray Classic (1990) and East-West Shrine Game (1990). Sharpe owns SSU single season receiving records for yardage, touchdowns, and yards per catch. His #2 football jersey was officially retired on Shannon Sharpe Day in October 2009 at SSU. In 2010, Sharpe was inducted into the Savannah State Athletics Hall of Fame.
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| Traci Adams, class of ‘00, earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications |
Traci Adams, class of ‘00, earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications and graduated cum laude. Upon graduating, Adams began her career as a Programming & Promotions Assistant at Radio One. Adams is currently the Executive Vice President for Promotion at Epic Records, an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
From Mariah Carey to Future, Adams has worked with every artist across the board. Adams is also credited for her recent work on projects like “Khaled, Khaled,” which hit number one on the Billboard charts upon its 2021 release, and artist Bia’s “Whole lot of Money” in addition to other major projects.
Adams served as a board member for the 2021 XXL Awards and was honored by Billboard as a 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Player.
She was also Savannah State University’s 190th commencement ceremony speaker.
Donnie Cochran, class of '76
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| Donnie Cochran earned his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering Technology |
Captain Donnie Cochran, class of ‘76, is an SSU NROTC graduate earning a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering Technology and a commission in the United States Navy. Captain Cochran was raised on a farm near Pelham, GA, with 11 brothers and sisters. He was inspired by the military planes flying over his family's farm, and dreams of flight led him to make history as the first African American Blue Angels pilot and flight leader.
In 1984, Captain Cochran applied for the Blue Angels but was not chosen for the team. He decided to give it another go in 1985 and made history when he was chosen to be on the 1986 team.
As part of his interview, he was asked if he would feel additional pressure as the first Black pilot to fly with the Blues. In an article published by The Naval History and Heritage Command, Captain Cochran gave his response: “Well, I don't think it's a matter of am I going to feel additional pressures or not. It is a matter of how I am going to deal with the pressure. And I believe that flying off the ship day and night has given me a perspective and some of the skills necessary to deal with the pressures that [come with] being a part of the team."
Captain Cochran went on to be a professor of Naval Science at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and Florida State University. He was also recognized as the 1989 Black Engineer of the year.
On May 10, 1991, Savannah State University dedicated the Blue Angels motif A-4 Skyhawk aircraft display to Captain Cochran, and in 2017 he visited the campus for a discussion and the signing of his book Glad to be Here: My Lessons Learned as a Blue Angels Flight Leader and Pilot.
Captain Cochran is a 2022 inductee to the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.
Ezinne Kalu, class of ‘15
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| Ezinne Kalu earned her bachelor’s degree in African Studies. |
Ezinne Kalu, class of ‘15, is from Newark New Jersey. Kalu earned her bachelor’s degree in African Studies and went on to lead the Nigerian women's basketball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. That was only Nigeria’s second appearance in the nation's history on the Olympic stage in the sport.
Kalu has played for the Nigerian national team since being recruited in 2011 while a student-athlete at Savannah State. Kalu was an integral piece of the first MEAC Championship winning team in 2015. She was also the first to score over 2,000 career points at SSU.
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| Jerome Miller earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics. |
Born in 1954, the late Jerome Miller, class of ‘75, earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics. Miller was the founder, owner, and Chief Executive Officer of J. Miller & Company management consulting firm.
Prior to his retirement as vice president (VP) for Diversity and Inclusion at Toyota Motor Inc., Miller served as the chief people officer at Kumho Tire Georgia, senior VP and Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer at TIAA-CREF, and VP of Diversity and Social Responsibility at Toyota Motor Sales. Miller was also VP for Global Diversity and Community Affairs at Delta Air Lines and president of Delta Airlines Foundation.
During his distinguished career, Miller’s leadership and achievements were recognized by numerous organizations including Latina Style, Working Women, Diversity Inc, and Black Enterprise. He was featured in many publications including Ebony, Atlanta Tribune and Who’s Who.
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| Curtis V. Cooper was a health and civil rights leader. |
The late Curtis V. Cooper, class of ‘55, born in 1932 in Savannah, GA, was a healthcare and civil rights leader. Cooper is known for reshaping health care for the poor in Savannah. In 1972, he secured funds for the establishment of a comprehensive health center for the city's impoverished and served as its executive director. Under his management, it grew into the Westside-Urban Health Center, a major medical resource. The center saw its first patients in 1974 from a makeshift building on West Bay Street.
On March 12, 2004, the ribbon was cut on a new state-of-the-art health care center at 106 E. Broad Street. As soon as ground was broken for this new facility in 2002, the Board of Directors, staff and citizens throughout Savannah and Chatham County knew that the organization should bear the name of Curtis V. Cooper.
Cooper is also known for becoming one of the first Black members of Memorial Medical Center's board of directors. He became chair of that same board. He also was the chair of the Chatham County Hospital Authority and served on the Georgia State Access to Health Care Commission and the Georgia State Health Strategies Council. Cooper led the local Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later became president of the NAACP Savannah Branch.
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| LeAndrea Mikell is the executive director of Governmental Relations and Community Relations at Savannah State University. |
Savannah State University (SSU) Executive Director of Governmental Relations LeAndrea Mikell is from Hardeeville, South Carolina. Mikell earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications: Public Relations and Advertising. Before reaching the full circle moment of serving at SSU as a staff member, Mikell worked as program and community development coordinator for World Trade Center Savannah, consumer revenue acquisitions manager for the Savannah Morning News, and public relations/communications associate for the Small Business Assistance Corporation.