Event will honor Wayne Embry and Sande Robinson
Wayne Embry
The 2012 Fellowship Open Board of Directors has announced that NBA Hall of Famer Wayne Embry and Sande Robinson, Director Emerita of the Educational Opportunity Program at Marquette University and Milwaukee Art Museum Trustee, will be honored at the event slated for August 17 at the Silver Spring Country Club. The two honorees have made a lasting imprint on the Milwaukee community and embody the Fellowship Open’s commitment to honoring citizens who have demonstrated tremendous personal commitment to the lives of others.
Embry, who will receive the ‘Fellowship Open Legends Award,’ is a sports icon and long time Milwaukee businessman, whose impact has been felt across both fields for more than four decades. Embry, who was enshrined into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1999, was the first African American named general manager of an NBA Franchise (Milwaukee 1971). His influence on the NBA included instilling a deeper understanding of the possibilities of sports around the globe and serving in major leadership capacities for a number of NBA franchises, including executive positions with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors. Embry was a member of the world championship Boston Celtics and was also one of the original members of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise. His role in major transactions, including the trade of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, reverberates within the sport today.
Embry also embodies another tenet of the Fellowship Open, “a commitment and vision to helping others.” As an entrepreneur, CEO and corporate board member of major companies, including Kohl’s Corporation, he shaped and developed opportunities for literally thousands of people. While the phrase “role model” is frequently used, it has never been more accurately applied then when used in referencing Wayne Embry.
Sande Robinson
The same is equally true of the ‘Community Leader Award ‘ honoree Sande Robinson. Robinson is known throughout the Milwaukee community for her unparalleled career with Marquette University, where she recruited and nurtured literally thousands of students. In addition, the Educational Opportunity Program she championed and administered for the University has made higher education attainable for thousands. Because of the Marquette Educational Opportunity Program, literally dozens of the city’s most important civic leaders are now public policy influencers, among them Congresswoman Gwen Moore, President of the Milwaukee Common Council Willie Hines and Alderman Ashanti Hamilton.
Robinson is equally well known for her passionate patronage of the arts in Milwaukee. Speak to any of the literally hundreds of brilliant artists in the community and, at some point in their careers, they have been supported and encouraged by Robinson. A trustee of the Milwaukee Art Museum, she has been instrumental in bringing the finest cultural assets to the general community, all while making sure there is full inclusion. Her civic work encompasses engagement with artists both locally and nationally. She co-curated the Wisconsin Contemporary African-American Art Exhibit during the national NAACP Conference in Milwaukee in 2005. Literally, she has touched every venue of importance to African- Americans in the arts. The Fellowship Open is honored to recognize the commitment and life’s accomplishments of these two individuals.
Additionally, the Chairman of the Fellowship Open also announced the event’s new honorary chairs: Raullo Eanes, vice president of Commercial Banking, Wintrust; Andre Gordon, Northwestern Mutual; Darrell Hines II, Destiny; Telvin Jeffries, Kohl’s Department Stores; Tracy Meeks, Seaway Bank and Trust Company; Bob Moore, United Performing Arts Fund; Rodney Moutry, Sprint Nextel Corporation; Floyd Rose, 100 Black Men of Madison, WI; Dennis Shields, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Platteville; Gaulien “Gee” Smith, Owner of Gee’s Clippers; Tim Terry, Green Bay Packers; and Darrell Thomas, Harley-Davidson, Inc.