17th Annual Watkins Award Dinner
Emcee’d by Claudia Jordan and Lamont King
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Inter Continental Hotel, Century City, California
February 23, 2008 6pmÂÂÂ
The Watkins Award is presented annually to African American scholar-athletes since 1992, the Watkins Award is named for Franklin D. Watkins, the coach of championship football and basketball teams in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Previous awardees include Arizona Cardinals Robert Tate, Darnell Dinkins of the Cleveland Browns, LaVarr Arrington of the New York Giants, Grant Irons and Ronald Curry of the Oakland Raiders, Deryck Toles of the Indianapolis Colts, Marcedes Lewis of Jacksonville Jaguars, Ernie Sims of the Detroit Lions, Ted Ginn Jr. of the Miami Dolphins, Justin Blalock of the Atlanta Falcons, and Darius Walker of the Houston Texans.     ![Funnyman [Lazee] Lamont King](http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs072/1101788458654/img/43.jpg?a=1101989171102)
The National Alliance of African American Athletes was founded in 1989. The mission of The Alliance is to empower African American males through athletics, education and public programs.
William C. Rhoden, New York Times Sports Writer and author of the book $40 Million Slaves is this year’s keynote speaker.
Media representatives are invited to cover the awards ceremony. For more information about the Watkins Award, The Alliance, or to get tickets for the awards ceremony visit our website at NAAAA or email Everette Pearsal, Executive Director at everedy@aol.com
