2023 'Realizing the Dream' Event To Honor Military Service Members

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The University of Alabama has announced the 2023 Realizing the Dream event, the 14th Legacy Awards Banquet, will honor several legendary military figures and feature a noted gospel singer.

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The theme for this year's event is “Realizing the Dream Through Commitment and Sacrifice."

The banquet will take place in Sellers Auditorium at the Bryant Conference Center on Friday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 p.m.

The keynote speaker will be retired Lt. Gen. Russel L.Honoré, who received international recognition in 2005 when he led 22,000 troops in the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in Louisiana. He also headed up the investigation into the security failures at the U.S. Capitol during an attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, that aimed to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

Other honorees and guests

• Retired Lt. Col. George Hardy — one of the few living Tuskegee Airmen — who will receive the Mountaintop Award. Hardy flew 21 combat missions in World War II, 45 in the Korean War and 70 in Vietnam, before retiring from service in 1971.
• Retired Lt. Gen. Willie J. Williams — whose name graces the Stillman College Institute for Leadership, Education Equity and Race Relations — will receive the Call to Conscience Award. He is a 1974 graduate of Stillman College, served in the United States Marine Corps for 40 years, and eventual rose to the position of Marine Corps Chief of Staff.
• Christopher Gill — a military veteran who is pursuing a doctoral degree in educational psychology at the University of Alabama, focuses on research of those who have transitioned into civilian life and is credited with preventing countless suicides. Gill will receive the Horizon Award.
• Tasha Cobbs Leonard will be the featured artist for the 2023 Realizing the Dream Concert on Sunday, Jan. 15, with the concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. at The University of Alabama Moody Music Building Concert Hall. Cobbs Leonard is a Georgia-based gospel singer, songwriter and minister who broke out in 2013 with the Grammy Award-winning single “Break Every Chain."

As part of the event, the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will sponsor Unity Day activities beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 16, which will kick off with the Unity Breakfast at Beulah Baptist Church.

The Unity Day is set to begin at noon from the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, with the annual Mass Rally will beginning at 5 p.m. at First African Baptist Church. The rally's keynote speaker will be Vernon Swift of Elizabeth Baptist Church.

Organizers say concert tickets are priced at $20, while tickets for the semiformal Legacy Banquet tickets set at $30 for individuals or $200 for a table of eight.

Click here to purchase tickets.

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