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Countdown ticking to ‘The Classic’ – 29

Peel back the years that the Southern Heritage Classic has unfolded in Memphis and some building-block words, phrases and thoughts pop out: 

Vision.

Perseverance.

“…(T)his can be successful.” 

Economic impact.

“It’s about what we can accomplish together.”

With the Memphis tradition poised to add its 29th layer (Sept. 6-8), Southern Heritage Classic Founder Fred Jones Jr. responded to the Memphis Rotary Club’s invitation for a look back and peek forward. In a short, it’s-not-about-me presentation on Tuesday, Jones put “The Classic” and its effects out front.

“The biggest impact for me is that I know I can take this event and put smiles on people’s faces,” Jones told a packed-house crowd at The Bluff on Highland.

As a businessman, Jones knows that there are those in the corporate world who will give polite reception to talk of smiles and feel-good moments and then directly (or indirectly) say, “… that’s not going to help the bottom line.”

“But to me,” Jones said, “you wouldn’t get to the bottom line unless people felt good about what you were doing.”

The numbers for the Southern Heritage Classic pack a wallop. The Memphis-area economy reaps an annual economic benefit of $21 million. The competing schools – historically Tennessee State University and Jackson State University – have earned $11.8 million.

Ray George, retired vice president of Coca Cola, introduced Jones. He recalled his early collaboration with Jones – the fun, the work and the determination to push forward toward a goal some others could not see.

Jones, George said, is “a man of perseverance and vision” who has brought to Memphis something it needed. “Fred didn’t have any staff (in the early days); now look.”

The Classic has grown to attract the support of a “who’s who list of corporate sponsors and corporate partners as well,” George noted, recalling a one-time Memphis banker listening to a sponsorship pitch and saying, “I can’t really see how this would be good for my bank. We don’t really see the fit.”

Jones said he still encounters people who ask where he is from in a manner that reflects their disbelief that someone from Memphis – and especially his background – could be part of such a successful venture. He is from ZIP code 38126, which he said “was then and still is one of the poorest … in America.”

Earlier this summer, Jones spoke at a school, recalling that there were kids who also asked that where-are-you-from question with similar disbelief.

“We have to do a better job of conveying that there are people in Memphis that are from Memphis – and especially ones from my background, which I am very proud of – that you can be successful here.” 

The Classic started out like a blank page that was filled in with the help of people that he was able to get to – or who got to him – to say, “You know, this can be successful.”

Yes, there were naysayers.

“They did to me what I won’t do to anybody,” Jones said. “I will never tell anybody in Memphis or anyplace else, especially our young people, that you can’t be successful. I will tell you how difficult it is. We all are in business. We know how tough it is.”

There is a lot more that needs to be done in Memphis, Jones said, adding that if such ventures are going to work, “We all have to step up. … It’s about what can we accomplish together.”

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