UA Alumni-Athlete Award Recipients Honored at Football Game

Jack L. Bailey Jr.

While at UA, Jack Bailey Jr. was a member of the track and field team from 1963 to 1966 and the cross country team from 1962 to 1965. He graduated in 1966 with a bachelor’s in marketing and continued to run competitively until age 50, completing seven marathons including the Boston Marathon. He is now a certified track and field official of the master level. He has officiated eight of the last 10 SEC track and field championships and four NCAA national championship meets. Bailey is a former president for the East Tennessee Alumni Chapter of the National Alumni Association and served on the A-Club executive committee. He is working to help locate former track letter winners for the A-Club. Bailey lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Demeco Ryans

Demeco Ryans played football for the Crimson Tide from 2002 to 2005. He graduated cum laude from UA in December 2005 with his bachelor’s in business marketing. Ryans was the recipient of the 2005 Lott trophy, a four-time Academic All-SEC selection and was awarded the NCAA’s Top VIII Award in 2006. He has played in the NFL for both the Houston Texans and the Philadelphia Eagles. He is the creator of the Demeco Ryans Foundation, which strives to build innovative programs for the youth in his hometown of Bessemer. In 2011, Ryans pledged $300,000 to endow a full scholarship in his name for a football student-athlete pursuing a degree from the Culverhouse College of Commerce. Ryans lives in Pearland, Texas.

Past recipients are:

1988 – John Croyle

1989 – Young Boozer

1990 – Charlie Boswell

1991 – Fred Sington

1992 – Hoyt “Wu” Winslett

1993 – Holt Rast, Tom Rast

1994 – Bart Starr

1995 – Bud Moore

1996 – Ozzie Newsome

1997 – Jerry Duncan

1998 – Dwight Stephenson

1999 – Lee Roy Jordan

2000 – Joe Kelley, Wendell Hudson

2001 – Dr. Andrew Burch, Jack McKewen

2002 – Harry Lee, I. L. “Pat” O’Sullivan Jr.

2003 – Harry Gilmer, Don Salls

2004 – Jeremiah Castille, William E. Sexton

2005 – Bill Battle, Dr. Noah Langdale Jr.

2006 – Jim Loftin Sr., Bobby Luna, Mal Moore

2007- Clem Gryska, Cecil “Hootie” Ingram

2008 – Barbara Mack Harding, George A. McCain Jr., Ben W. McLeod Jr.

2009 – Jerry Belk, Jack V. Brown Sr.

2010 – Randy Billingsley, Colenzo “Rock” Hubbard

2011 – Clark Boler, Tommy Brooker, Lt. Col. Howard Pierson

2012 – Marlin “Scooter” Dyess, Johnny Musso

2013 – Martha Jones Lang, Joe Namath

2014 — Dr. Jeff Laubenthal, L.W. “Red” Noonan and Fred Sington Jr.

2015 — Sylvester Croom Jr., Charles Wayne Owen and Lillie M. Leatherwood