Education Fund Creates Award Honoring Lou Rawls

Education Fund Creates Award Honoring Lou Rawls

UNCF Leader Delivers Eulogy at Funeral of Long-Time Supporter

FAIRFAX, Va., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) today announced the creation of the Lou Rawls Lifetime Achievement Award which will be given annually to a popular artist whose career reflects the quality of commitment to UNCF and its mission that was Rawls' hallmark. The announcement was made during remarks by UNCF President and CEO Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D. as he delivered the eulogy during funeral services for Rawls.

The new award will be given at UNCF's annual television entertainment program An Evening of Stars(R) which raises funds and awareness of UNCF. The Lou Rawls Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to an individual who has been a strong supporter of UNCF's mission of promoting minority higher education. This award will be given in addition to the tribute given each year to the individual to whom that year's An Evening of Stars(R) is dedicated.

Rawls is credited with having created the UNCF's annual television special, known for years as The Lou Rawls Parade of Stars. The program was re-named An Evening of Stars(R) in 1998. Rawls was honored on the 2004 program for helping the UNCF raise more than $200 million since 1979, and was presented with the UNCF's first honoree tribute on that program.

Earlier this week, the family of Rawls requested that in lieu of flowers, individuals should make donations to UNCF as a way of ensuring that Rawls' commitment to education continues. Donations can be made to the United Negro College Fund, 8260 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, P.O. Box 10444, Fairfax, VA 22301-8044 or by visiting http://www.uncf.org/ .

Remarks by Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D. at the Lou Rawls Funeral

Friday, January 13, 2006

Listen. The silence you hear is the stilled voice of our friend, Lou Rawls.

For almost fifty years he was the voice of our lives. Whether we were with -- or trying to be -- "Groovy People" or trying to escape from "A World of Trouble," we did it to Lou Rawls' music.

For more than twenty-five years he lent his voice to the organization I have the honor to lead, the United Negro College Fund, as the star and spirit of our annual television fund-raiser, originally named The Lou Rawls Parade of Stars(R) and now called An Evening of Stars(R). He started the show, and he nurtured it with his talent and his dedication. He made it not only a must- see for tens of millions of Americans, but a must-perform for the greatest entertainers of two generations, from Boys II Men to Whitney Houston, to Frank Sinatra -- who said that Lou had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game."

And he made it a "must-give" for millions of donors, who came for the music and stayed for the cause -- making it possible for hundreds of thousands of young men and women to get the college education they needed but couldn't afford. No one who has enjoyed An Evening of Stars(R) and responded to its message of hope and dedication will ever forget Lou Rawls and his commitment to UNCF and to minority higher education.

We want to preserve that link for future viewers as well. So a highlight of next year's An Evening of Stars(R) will be the presentation of a new "Lou Rawls Lifetime Achievement Award" to a popular artist whose career reflects the kind of commitment to UNCF and its mission that was Lou's hallmark.

The last song I heard Lou Rawls sing was just last Saturday, when I watched and listened to him sing on his twenty-seventh Evening of Stars(R). And I will never forget the last words of the last song he sang, the Sinatra standard, "It Was a Very Good Year," because they seemed to sum up a life of art, of service, and of generosity.

"I think of my life," he sang, "as vintage wine, from fine old kegs. From the brim to the dregs, it poured sweet and clear. It was a very good year."

Lou Rawls was a very good man, and he lived a very good life. And we miss him very much.

Source: United Negro College Fund

CONTACT: UNCF Communications, +1-703-205-3404 or www.uncf.org

Web site: http://www.uncf.org/

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