Early Life and Education
Reed was born in 1942 in Hico, Louisiana and named after his father. He grew up on a farm in nearby Bernice. His parents worked to ensure Reed got an education in the segregated South. Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at West Side High School in Lillie.
He attended Grambling State University, a historically black college. Reed amassed 2,280 career points, averaging 26.6 points and 21.3 rebounds during his senior year. He led the college to one NAIA title and three Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships. Reed also became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
Read more about this topic: Willis Reed
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:
“Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
““O life of this our Spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the Spring,born but to smile and fall?”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“The Supreme Court would have pleased me more if they had concerned themselves about enforcing the compulsory education provisions for Negroes in the South as is done for white children. The next ten years would be better spent in appointing truant officers and looking after conditions in the homes from which the children come. Use to the limit what we already have.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)