50 Years of Kappa League

KAPPA LEAGUE CHAPTER SPOTLIGHT

Mobile (AL) Alumni Chapter Kappa League Has a Unique History Steeped in Achievement

advise the Mobile Kappa League, his goal was to sustain the legacies and deep traditions of the Mobile Kappa League Program, rebrand and modernize the presentation of the program, increase the number of young men in the pro- gram, and to be a data driven Kappa League program while implementing the traditional “5 Phases of Kappa League.” The Mobile Kappa League currently sustains a membership of 100 young men in grades 9 th -12 th grades from 15 different high schools. Based on the data presented in the 2010 United States Census, published for Mobile County, Alabama, the Mobile Kappa League has consistently captured roughly one-third of the young African American male population. While these young men represent a large portion of the Mobile County citizenry living below the national poverty guideline, through the Mobile Kappa League Program, they are able to use their collective power to catapult themselves out of poverty into the African American Middle Class. This fact alone gives testament to the ef- fectiveness of the Mobile Kappa League Program. Because of the joint efforts of the Mobile Kappa League Advisors and the attributed social and cultural capital provided to these young men, the Mo- bile Kappa League Program has become more than a Leadership Development Program, it has transitioned into a trans- formative life changing agent. According to Dr. Cunninghan, with the help of the highly motivated Mobile Kappa League advisory team and with the support of the various Polemarchs since 2002 and current Polemarch, Rodney Patrick (Eta Nu 2000), a data system has been implemented to track every young man who completes the Mobile Kappa League program. As of today, we know the following since 2002:

From left: Messrs. Jordan Bryant, Kameron McKinney, Montrell Pettway and Jorden Reed.

T he Mobile (AL) Alumni Chapter Kappa League has a very unique history. It began in 1978 at Toul- minville High School (now LeFlore High School). As the story has been told, Brother Willie Shipman (Beta Zeta 1960) traveled to Los Angeles in the 1970s and saw the Los Angeles (CA) Alumni Chapter Kappa League program. When he returned to Mobile, Brother Shipman met with Brother William N. “Bill” Jessie, Sr. (Beta Zeta 1959, Chapter Invisible 2008), football coach at Toulminville High School at the time, to start a Kappa League program sponsored by the Mobile (AL) Alumni Chapter. Since its beginning years, there

have been some dynamic brothers who served as Kappa League advisors such as Dr. Keflyn Reed (Eta Chi 1980, Chap- ter Inivisible 2010), Warren L. Greene (Eta Nu 1987), Carl G. Cunningham, Sr. (Mobile (AL) AL 1997), just to name a few. Brother Shipman served as the Kappa League advisor for 20 years. He continues to be an outspoken advocate for the program. Brother, Dr. Carl G. Cunningham Jr., (Hattiesburg (MS) AL 1997) currently serves as the Guide Right Director and Kappa League advisor. Brother Cun- ningham is entering his 18 th year as the advisor. When Brother “Cunningham Jr.,” was handed the baton in 2002 to

40 | SUMMER-FALL 2020 ♦ THE JOURNAL

Publishing achievement for more than 105 years

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