classnotes Profilesin Leadership
A Ministry of Advocacy Lamell McMorris ’95 WHAT SEEMED LIKE an average call from a fellow alumnus turned into a score of a lifetime for Lamell McMorris ’95. Derrick Stafford ’79, an NBA referee, phoned him in late 2003 to ask McMorris’ firm, Perennial Sports and Entertainment, to help the referees conduct a secret ballot on a proposed pay raise. As the result of his work on that issue, the National Basketball Referees Association hired his firm as their primary representatives. Five years later, McMorris was also hired to negotiate labor-management issues on behalf of the World Umpires Association. Advocacy, McMorris said, is something Lamell McMorris ’95 he learned from Morehouse Men. “Every step I have taken has been inspired by a Morehouse Man,” he said. “A Morehouse Man has faith, intellect, perseverance, integrity and a commitment to community.” These are traits that McMorris saw in Morehouse Men while growing up on Chicago’s South Side: graduates like the Rev. Tyrone Crider Sr.’ 81, pastor of Chicago’s Mount Calvary Baptist Church, and author and Ebony magazine executive editor Lerone Bennett Jr. ’49. “Tyrone Crider and Lerone Bennett took me under their wings. They gave me a solid foundation—from making sure I had good grades to having enough money,” he said. “Their lives were examples of the intersection of words and deeds.” McMorris, following in his mentors’ footsteps, applied to Morehouse, where he found fertile ground for personal growth. He received support from people like Anne Watts, Aaron Parker, Larry Crawford, Lawrence Carter and Henry Goodgame. “I remember Dr. Crawford teaching us that culture is everything. I have never forgotten that,” he said. After finishing Morehouse with a degree in religion and society, he went on to earn a master’s degree in divinity from Princeton University. An ordained Baptist minister, he has never served the church in a traditional sense, instead seeing his ministry as a convergence of theology and public policy. His Christian faith is at the root of his commitment to advocacy: helping people. This led him to found a bipartisan government consulting firm, Perennial Strategy Group, a sister organization to his sports and entertainment business. “I’m an advocate — I’m passionate about individuals’ causes,” he said. —Rori Francis Blakeney MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
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American president of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. Jackie Robinson ’78 has joined the international law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP as a partner in the Dallas office. His practice will focus on litigation and dispute resolution. Robinson has practiced in state and federal courts and has tried more than 70 cases to verdict.
1980s David Morrow ’80, director of the Morehouse College Glee Club, was recently appointed conductor of the Atlanta Singers, an elite professional vocal ensemble of approximately 20 singers who are from around the city. Morrow is the third director of this group and the first African American to conduct such a group in the city. Melvin White ’84 was recently inaugurated as 36th president of the District of Columbia Bar. White is a senior trial partner at McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, where his practice focuses on complex commercial matters, including antitrust, civil RICO, class actions, contractual disputes, intellectual property, managed care, product