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:
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There must be a profound recognition that parents are the first teachers and that education begins before formal schooling and is deeply rooted in the values, traditions, and norms of family and culture.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)