Inspired by Emmanuel and Tinny McDuffie, who, in 1904, answered Booker T. Washington’s (Tuskegee Institute) call for Black progress through education & entrepreneurship, walked more than 400 miles to North Carolina to start Laurinburg Normal & Industrial Institute (Laurinburg Institute), which was later headed by the McDuffie son, “Coach” Frank H. McDuffie. The Laurinburg Institute is dedicated to the total development of youth, providing an informal, academic, and recreational program in a campus environment. Jo-EL was Awarded the Permanent Role as Advisory Counsel and Fellow Trustee of the Laurinburg Institute in 1973.

 

MR EL founded the Minority Enterprise Career Schools (MECS) f/k/a FES Sports Academy as an accredited four-year, private, co-educational, non-sectarian high school chartered by the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York on September 23, 1983, pursuing the goal of developing positive self-images for minority youth through the infusion of the principles of sport management, philosophy, principles, and organization of athletics in education into the regular curriculum. FES Sports Academy was nationally acclaimed by the U.S. Secretary of Education on July 15, 1985 for providing a unique sports-centered vehicle for teaching New York State Education Department’s mandated subjects.