Fred Jones
The Southern Heritage Classic — a football game between Jackson State University and Tennessee State University in September — has been held at the Liberty Bowl since 1990 thanks to Jones, president of Summitt Management Corporation, an entertainment consulting firm. The game has averaged more than 50,000 in attendance since it was first held. Jones received the 2010 Authur S. Holmon Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Memphis. In 2014 he received a Music Business Award from the W.C. Handy Heritage Awards. He was added to the Beale Street Brass Note Walk of Fame in 2010 and received a Key to the City from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in 2017. As part of its 40th anniversary in 2019, Leadership Memphis saluted Jones as one of the 40 Change Makers in Memphis.
