Wil Haygood | Legends and Legacies
This week has been all Wil Haygood all the time.
As you (hopefully) know, last night was the King Arts Complex’s annual Legends and Legacies event. This year, we honored Wil Haygood who is an author, a reporter, and a very down to Earth guy. The staff here has been working round the clock to make sure that the evening went off without a hitch. If you’ve ever worked somewhere that puts on big events, then you know all the last minute tweaks and hustling that goes into getting everything just right. There were awards to order, programs to print, decorations to hang, furniture to arrange, food and drink orders, technical run throughs, and that was just this week. In the end, all of the hard work paid off and the Complex can proudly say that it threw one of the best Legends and Legacies events ever.
To start the celebration off, Haygood arrived Wednesday to check things out and make sure everything was ready for the big day. We, of course, welcomed him in style with a lovely reception full of friends, family, and supporters. There was wonderful food from L.A. Catering and Haygood was kind enough to share a few words about what this week meant to him and how excited he was for the next day.
And when that day came it was all hands on deck. We had over 15 volunteers here to make any last minute adjustments and help the evening go smoothly. The evening began with Otis Davenport on the piano and a surprise performance from m’Zuri. Demetries Neely, Mark Corna, and Kimberly A. Blackwell welcomed the crowd with a few words about the Complex, our mission, and the purpose of the evening. Introducing Moore and Haygood, Larry James keep the evening rolling with wonderful summaries of the men’s lives and a few well timed laughs. He praised these two literary giants as having the kind of friendship that is so rare in the business; one that is genuine and supportive. He called it a real “lift as you climb” type of relationship.
The main event consisted of Greg Moore and Wil Haygood having an intoxicating conversation about Haygood’s career and lifetime achievements. This event was the first time Haygood has ever been honored for his body of work so we got to hear it all. They talked about how his mother managed to find a way to buy him his first art set, a move that would light the creative spark in him that would burn throughout his life. We got to hear about how Haygood was fired from Macy’s and what that meant for his writing career. They talked about the time Haygood was taken captive in Somalia by rebel forces. We heard the story of how Haygood managed to find his way to New Orleans after the flood and how
moved and touched he was by the pain and heartbreak he saw there. We even got to hear a special announcement about Haygood’s next project; the rights have been purchased to make a movie based off his biography of Sugar Ray Robinson!
At the end of the show, Haygood was sent off in style with two wonderful gifts; an original work of art created just for him and the news that the street out in front of The King Arts Complex would now be named Wil Haygood Way. The honorable Michael B. Coleman was there to present Haygood with a larger than life street sign that he could take home with him as a reminder of this historical gift. When it was time for him to give his acceptance speech, the renowned writer was speechless.
When asked about what they thought of the evening, Moore said it reminded him of the Kennedy Center Honors. Haygood had a little more to say; “I’ve met a lot of amazing people; Ruby Dee, Nelson Mandela, Andy Warhol… and after all of them, I went home and slept. Last night I couldn’t sleep.”
All in all, it was a fantastic evening. Now we need to figure out how we can possible top it next year.