Charles Youmans McClendon (October 17, 1923 – December 6, 2001), also known as Charlie or "Cholly Mac," was an American football player and coach. He served at the head coach at Louisiana State University from 1962 to 1979. McClendon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.^[1]

Early years[link]

McClendon was born on October 17, 1923 in Lewisville, Arkansas. He played college football under Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky.

Coaching career[link]

McClendon's first coaching job was as an assistant at Vanderbilt University in 1952. In 1953, he came to LSU as an assistant under head coach Gaynell Tinsley. He was retained as an assistant when Paul Dietzel took over the team in 1955. In 1958, McClendon helped Dietzel coach LSU to its first recognized national championship. At the end of the 1961 season, Dietzel left LSU and picked McClendon to be his successor. McClendon served as the LSU head coach for the next 18 years (1962–1979), the longest tenure of any football coach in LSU history.

During his first 12 years (1962–1973), McClendon coached the Tigers to nine appearances in the final AP Poll, with an average rank of 9.22. During this time, LSU's record was 97–32–5 (.724 winning percentage) and LSU went to two Sugar Bowls (1965 and 1968), two Cotton Bowl Classics (1963 and 1966), and two Orange Bowls (1971 and 1974). LSU won nine games in five consecutive seasons from 1969–1973, but during that stretch won only one Southeastern Conference championship (1970) and one bowl game in four visits, the 1971 Sun Bowl versus Iowa State.

In 1969, LSU was 9–1 and ranked fifth at the end of the regular season, but when the Cotton Bowl Classic denied the Tigers a match-up with top-ranked and undefeated Texas, LSU refused invitations by the Bluebonnet Bowl and Liberty Bowl, instead opting to stay home. Tiger fans suspected the culprit for the Cotton Bowl Classic snub was the decision by Notre Dame to lift its self-imposed bowl ban and participate in post-season play for the first time since 1925. When the Irish opted to return to the bowl scene, the Cotton Bowl Classic snapped up Notre Dame. The seething antipathy between LSU and Notre Dame boiled over into a two-year series between the schools in 1970 and 1971, in which the home team won each game, Notre Dame in 1970 and LSU in 1971.

Despite all of LSU's success during this period, the Tigers only had a 4–7–1 record against Ole Miss and a 2–8 record against Bear Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide. 1970 was the only year in which McClendon beat both Ole Miss and Alabama in the same season, and not coincidentally the only year his Tigers finished undefeated in the SEC. McClendon was awarded AFCA Coach of the Year honors, but the Tigers lost the 1971 Orange Bowl to Nebraska.

McClendon's 1973 team lost three games in a row, to Alabama, Tulane, and Penn State in the Orange Bowl, to end the season after starting 9–0. This was the Tigers' first loss to Tulane since 1948 and signaled the beginning of a decline. During McClendon's last six seasons as LSU's head coach (1974–1979), LSU had no appearances in the final AP Poll and compiled a record of 38–29–2 (.551 winning percentage). The Tigers also lost to Tulane in 1979, but that was followed by a 34–10 victory over Wake Forest in the Tangerine Bowl, McClendon's final game at LSU.

In addition to owning the longest tenure in LSU football coaching history (18 seasons), McClendon holds the program records for most wins (137, including two forfeits to LSU), most losses (59), most bowl appearances (13), most bowl wins (7), and most bowl losses (6).

Later years[link]

After his retirement from LSU, McClendon became the executive director of the Tangerine Bowl, now renamed the Capital One Bowl, from 1980 to 1981. He was also the president of the American Football Coaches Association in 1979 and executive director from 1982 to 1994. The practice facility at LSU was named in his memory on September 9, 2002, nine months after his death on December 6, 2001. His death came just two days before LSU won its first outright SEC title in 15 years.

Head coaching record[link]

See also[link]

• List of presidents of the American Football Coaches Association

References[link]

External links[link]

• Charles McClendon at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Charles McClendon at the College Football Data Warehouse

Forrest McClendon (born in Norwalk, Connecticut) is an American stage actor, singer and professor. McClendon received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical nomination in 2011 for his portrayal of Mr. Tambo in the Broadway musical, The Scottsboro Boys.^[1][2] The Scottsboro Boys had marked McClendon's Broadway debut.^[3][4]

Biography[link]

McClendon was born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut.^[2][3] He was raised in the Roodner Court public housing project in South Norwalk.^[3] His mother, Ruthie Mae Brown, still resides in Norwalk.^[2] He attended Nathan Hale Middle School and graduated from Norwalk High School in 1983.^[2] McClendon received his first formal singing lessons from Lewis Cisto, a teacher in the Norwalk High School music department.^[2] He also received lessons from Betty Jones, a Connecticut opera singer, and Cassandra Eaton, the music minister of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk.^[2]

He initially studied engineering at the University of Connecticut (UC).^[2] However, he switched majors to vocal studies, for which he obtained a bachelor's degree.^[2]

Career[link]

In 1993, McClendon appeared off-Broadway in Faith Journey. He also appeared as CC White in a 2005 Prince Music Theatre revival of Dreamgirls: The Musical in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[5]

He made his Broadway debut as Mr. Tambo in the 2010 musical, The Scottsboro Boys, after appearing in the musical off-Broadway.^[4] The role led to McClendon's first Tony Award nomination in May 2011 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.^[2][6]

The actor is now in rehearsal for a regional production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Two Rivers Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey.^[4]

McClendon is a faculty member at Temple University and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Arts in Philadelphia.^[2] He is a resident of East Lampeter Township, a suburb of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as of 2011.^[4][7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Forrest McClendon at the Internet Broadway Database

Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price @ New Orleans Jazz Fest, 1996
Background information
Born	(1933-03-09) March 9, 1933 (age 79)
Origin	Kenner, Louisiana, United States
Genres	R&B[1] Rock and Roll
Occupations	Vocalist, songwriter, bandleader, entrepreneur, record executive
Years active	1952–present
Labels	Specialty Records KRC Records ABC-Paramount
Website	Lawdymissclawdy.com

Lloyd Price (born March 9, 1933) is an American R&B vocalist.^[1] Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits. His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" was a huge hit on Specialty Records in 1952, and although he continued to turn out records, none were as popular until several years later, when he refined the New Orleans beat and achieved a series of national hits.^[2] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.^[3]

Biography[link]

Born in Kenner, Louisiana, United States, and growing up in a suburb of New Orleans, Price had formal musical training in trumpet and piano, sang in his church's gospel choir, and was a member of a combo in high school. His mother, Beatrice Price, owned the Fish 'n' Fry Restaurant, and Price picked up a life-long interest in business and in food from her.

When Art Rupe of Specialty Records came to New Orleans scouting for talent and heard Price's song, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", he wanted to record it. Because Price did not have a band(though he would eventually start his own band in 1949),^[4] Rupe hired Dave Bartholomew and his band (which included Fats Domino on piano) to do the arrangements and back up Price in the recording session. The song turned out to be a massive hit and his next release cut at the same session, "Oooh, Oooh, Oooh" a much smaller one. Price continued making recordings for Speciality but did not chart any further hits at that time.

In 1954 he was drafted and ended up in Korea. When he returned he found he had been replaced by Little Richard.^[5] In addition, his former chauffeur, Larry Williams, was also recording for the label, having released "Short Fat Fannie".

Price eventually formed KRC Records with Harold Logan and Bill Boskent. The first single was "Just Because". It was picked up by ABC Records and from 1957 to 1959 Price recorded a series of national hits on ABC Records that were successful adaptations of the New Orleans sound, such as "Stagger Lee", "Personality", which reached #2, and the #3 hit "I'm Gonna Get Married".^[2] "Stagger Lee" topped the pop and R&B charts, sold over a million copies. Dick Clark insisted the violent content of the song be toned down when Price appeared on American Bandstand but it was still the "violent" version that was on top of the R&B charts of 1959.^[3] "Stack-o-Lee" is an old blues standard recorded many times previously by other artists. Greil Marcus, in a critical analysis of the song's history, has written that Price's was an enthusiastic hard rock version with a screaming saxophone.In all of these early recordings of Lloyd Price, Merritt Mel Dalton was the lead Sax Man on the recordings of "Personality, Stagger Lee, I'm gonna get married etc..," Merritt, was in the traveling band as well and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show with Lloyd Price.^[6]

In 1962, Price formed Double L Records with Logan. Wilson Pickett got his start on this label. In 1969, Logan was murdered. Price then founded a new label, Turntable, and opened a club by the same name in New York City.^[7]

During the 1970s Price owned a Manhattan restaurant-nightclub called Turntable and helped Don King promote fights including Muhammad Ali's "Rumble in the Jungle". He later became a builder erecting 42 town houses in the Bronx.^[8]

Price toured Europe in 1993 with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Gary U.S. Bonds. He performed in 2005 with soul legends Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, and Ben E. King for the "Four Kings of Rhythm and Blues" tour, concerts captured for a DVD and PBS television special.

On March 9, 2010, his 77th Birthday, in New Orleans, Lloyd Price was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and on June 20, 2010, Price appeared and sang in season 1 finale of the HBO series "Treme".

Price currently manages Icon Food Brands, which makes a line of primarily Southern-style foods, including Lawdy Miss Clawdy food products, ranging from canned greens to sweet potato cookies, and a line of Lloyd Price foods, such as Lloyd Price's Soulful 'n' Smooth Grits and Lloyd Price's Energy-2-Eat Bar (with the brand slogan "Good taste ... Great Personality"), plus Lawdy Miss Clawdy clothing and collectibles.^[9]

Lloyd Price Avenue in Kenner, Louisiana, was named for the singer and the city celebrates an annual Lloyd Price Day.^[10]

In 2011 Price was promoting his autobiography The True King of the Fifties: The Lloyd Price Story and was working on a Broadway musical called "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," in conjunction with a team that includes producer Phil Ramone. The musical details how rock and roll evolved out of the New Orleans music scene of the early 1950s. He continues to sing.^[8]

Price lives with his wife in Westchester County, New York.^[8]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1959: Exciting Lloyd Price
• 1959: Mr. Personality
• 1960: Fantastic
• 1960: Mr. Personality Sings the Blues
• 1960: Mr. Personality's Big 15
• 1961: Cookin' Music-Music
• 1981: This Is My Band
• 1989: Lloyd Price : His Originals, Speciality
• 1990: Greatest Hits, Pair
• 1990: Walkin' the Track, Speciality
• 1990: Personality Plus, Speciality
• 1992: Stagger Lee, Collectables
• 1994: Lloyd Price sings his Big Ten, Curb
• 1994: Vol. 2 : Heavy Dreams, Speciality
• 1994: Greatest Hits : The Original ABC Paramount, MCA
• 1995: Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Ace
• 1998: Body with No Body, Moms
• 1999: Mr Personality, Sba
• 1999: The Exciting, Sba
• 2002: Christmas Classics, Prestige
• 2002: Millenium Collection, Universal
• 2004: Classics : 1952-1953, Nad
• 2005: Lawdy !, Fantasy
• 2006: Speciality Profiles, Speciality
• 2006: Great, Goldies
• 2006: 16 Greatest Hits, Passport Audio

Chart singles[link]

• 1952 "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" / "Mailman Blues" (#1 R&B)
• 1952 "Oooh-Oooh-Oooh" (#4 R&B)
• 1952 "Restless Heart" (#5 R&B) flip of above
• 1953 "Ain't It A Shame?" (#4 R&B)
• 1953 "Tell Me Pretty Baby" (#8 R&B) flip of above
• 1957 "Just Because" (#3 R&B/#29 Pop)
• 1957 "Lonely Chair" (#88 Pop)
• 1959 "Stagger Lee" (#1 R&B, #1 Pop, UK #7) (certified Gold)
• 1959 "Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day?)" (#4 R&B/#23 Pop, UK #15)
• 1959 "Personality" (#1 R&B/#2 Pop, UK #9) (certified Gold)
• 1959 "I'm Gonna Get Married" (#1 R&B/#3 Pop, UK #23) (certified Gold)
• 1959 "Three Little Pigs" (#15 R&B) flip of above
• 1960 "Come Into My Heart" (#2 R&B/#20 Pop)
• 1960 "Wont'cha Come Home" (#6 R&B/#43 Pop) flip of above
• 1960 "Lady Luck" (#3 R&B/#14 Pop)
• 1960 "Never Let Me Go" (#26 R&B/#82 Pop)
• 1960 "No If's - No And's" (#16 R&B/#40 Pop)
• 1960 "For Love" (#43 Pop)
• 1960 "Question" (#5 R&B/#19 Pop)
• 1960 "Just Call Me (And I'll Understand)" (#79 Pop)
• 1960 "Who Coulda'Told You (They Lied)" (#103 Pop)
• 1961 "(You Better) Know What You're Doin'" (#90 Pop)
• 1961 "Mary and Man-O" (#110 Pop)
• 1962 "Under Your Spell Again" (#123 Pop)
• 1963 "Misty" (#11 R&B/#21 Pop)
• 1964 "Billie Baby" (#84 Pop)
• 1964 "I Love You (I Just Love You)" (#123 Pop)
• 1964 "Amen" (#124 Pop)
• 1965 "If I Had My Life To Live Over" (#107 Pop)
• 1969 "Bad Conditions" (#21 R&B)
• 1973 "Trying To Slip (Away)" (#32 R&B)
• 1976 "What Did You Do With my Love" (#99 R&B)

^{[11] [12]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lloyd Price Icon Food Brands Official Website
• LLoyd Price History-of-Rock Profile

James Baldwin
Baldwin in 1971
Born	James Arthur Baldwin (1924-08-02)August 2, 1924 Harlem, New York, U.S.
Died	December 1, 1987(1987-12-01) (aged 63) Saint-Paul de Vence, France
Occupation	Writer, Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Activist
Nationality	American
Genres	Fiction, non-fiction
Influences Henry James, Black church, Bessie Smith, Miles Davis, Beauford Delaney, Elia Kazan, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers
Influenced Suzan-Lori Parks, Spike Lee, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, bell hooks, Huey P. Newton, Toni Morrison, Susan Straight, Eldridge Cleaver, Rip Torn

James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.

Baldwin's essays, such as the collection Notes of a Native Son (1955), explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th-century America, vis-à-vis their inevitable if unnameable tensions with personal identity, assumptions, uncertainties, yearning, and questing.^[1] Some Baldwin essays are book-length, for instance The Fire Next Time (1963), No Name in the Street (1972), and The Devil Finds Work (1976).

His novels and plays fictionalize fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures thwarting the equitable integration of not only blacks yet also of male homosexuals—depicting as well some internalized impediments to such individuals' quest for acceptance—namely in his second novel, Giovanni's Room (1956), written well before the equality of homosexuals was widely espoused in America.^[2] Baldwin's best-known novel is his first, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953).

Early life[link]

When Baldwin was an infant, his mother, Emma Berdis Jones, divorced his father because of drug abuse and moved to Harlem, New York, where she married a preacher, David Baldwin. The family was very poor. James spent much time caring for his several younger brothers and sisters. At age ten, he was beaten by a gang of police officers. His adoptive father, whom James in essays called simply his father, appears to have treated James—versus James's siblings—with singular harshness.

His stepfather died in summer of 1943 soon before James turned 19. The day of the funeral was James's 19th birthday, his father's last child was born, and Harlem rioted, the portrait opening his essay "Notes of a Native Son".^[3] The quest to answer or explain familial and social repudiation—and attain a sense of self both coherent and benevolent—became a motif in Baldwin's writing.

Schooling[link]

James attended the prestigious, mostly Jewish DeWitt Clinton High School, in the Bronx, where, along with Richard Avedon, he worked on the school magazine—Baldwin was its literary editor.^[4] After high school, Baldwin studied at The New School, finding an intellectual community.

Religion[link]

At age 14, Baldwin joined the Pentecostal Church and became a Pentecostal preacher. The difficulties of life, as well as his abusive stepfather, who was a preacher, delivered him to the church. During a euphoric prayer meeting, Baldwin converted, and soon became junior minister at the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly. He drew larger crowds than his father did.

At 17, Baldwin came to view Christianity as falsely premised, however, and later regarded his time in the pulpit as a remedy to his personal crises. His early experience with the church influenced Baldwin's writing.^[5]

In The Fire Next Time, Baldwin discusses his visit with Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam, who inquired about Baldwin's religious beliefs. Baldwin answered, "I left the church 20 years ago and haven't joined anything since." Elijah asked, "And what are you now?" Baldwin explained, "I? Now? Nothing. I'm a writer. I like doing things alone."^[6]

Baldwin viewed Muhammad's beliefs about white devils to be just as outrageous as biblical beliefs. Baldwin also wrote that, "being in the pulpit, was like being in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion worked."

Though he was irreligious, it's not clear if Baldwin was an atheist. He never identified himself as such, and didn't clarify if he still believed in God despite leaving Christianity. He retained enough interest in religion that he was recorded singing "Precious Lord," a famous gospel song composed by Thomas A. Dorsey.