Khayat Recognized with AutoZone Liberty Bowl Distinguished Citizen Award

MEMPHIS, Tenn. University of Mississippi Chancellor Dr. Robert C. Khayat is the recipient of the 2007 AutoZone Liberty Bowl’s most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Citizen Award, which he received here Thursday in a luncheon ceremony at the Peabody Hotel.

The Distinguished Citizen Award is a time-honored tradition of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and has been presented for more than 30 years in order to recognize some of America’s most prominent citizens.

Dr. Khayat is in his 12th year as Chancellor at the University of Mississippi.  During his tenure, Ole Miss has enjoyed a renaissance that has earned the institution wide-spread respect and recognition.

“Robert Khayat is the embodiment of what the Distinguished Citizen Award is all about,” said  Bill Ray, the 2007 President of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Festival Association.  “As a star athlete at Ole Miss and in the NFL, a practicing attorney, and now one of the nation’s leading educators and administrators, Dr. Khayat has achieved great success throughout his lifetime.”

“Ole Miss has had a strong relationship with the City of Memphis and the Liberty Bowl,” Chancellor Khayat said upon accepting the award.  “We have long appreciated the Liberty Bowl values of freedom and its annual recognition and celebration of American patriotism. We commend the Liberty Bowl for its support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and thank AutoZone for its successful partnership with the Liberty Bowl.”

During his remarks, Khayat expressed special thanks to one of his former law students at Ole Miss, Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr.; Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive and Ron Higgins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the current president of the Football Writers Association of America.

“One of the highlights in Ole Miss history was in 1989 when we defeated Air Force in the Liberty Bowl,” Khayat recalled.  “It was a special night, because Chucky Mullins was able to attend the game, which was his first time to leave Baptist Memorial Hospital after being paralyzed two months earlier in our Homecoming game against Vanderbilt.”  

A native of Moss Point, Miss., Khayat began his extraordinary journey at Ole Miss in 1956.  His college experience demonstrated that athletes can succeed academically and athletically.  He was a star athlete in both football and baseball for the Rebels.  In 1958 and 1959, he led the nation in scoring by a kicker, and in 1959 earned Academic All-American and Academic All-SEC honors.  In baseball, he was a two-time All-SEC catcher.

Following his career at Ole Miss, he played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1960-63, earning Pro Bowl honors in 1961.  Khayat was named to the Ole Miss Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.  He was also selected as the kicker on the Ole Miss Football Team of the Century.

Beyond athletics, Khayat has achieved success as an attorney and a distinguished law professor, and in 1995 was named Chancellor.  He has led a resurgence at Ole Miss, resulting in increased enrollment, increased endowments and high academic achievement, including a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

“As a former student-athlete, Dr. Khayat embodies the mission of the SEC, which is to provide the student-athlete with the opportunity to compete, to learn positive life lessons from competing, to get an education, to graduate and then to apply these lessons to life so as to make a contribution to the community in which he/she lives,” said Commissioner Slive, who also attended the luncheon.

Khayat is married to the former Margaret Denton of Memphis.  They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Khayat joins a prestigious list of previous winners of The AutoZone Liberty Bowl Distinguished Citizen Award, which was first presented in 1972.  Among the previous winners is Elvis Presley, who was honored in 1977, which prompted Khayat to say with a broad smile, “I’m glad to be on the same list as Elvis.”

Previous AutoZone Distinguished Citizen Award winners:

2006   Phil Bredesen, Tennessee Governor

2005 Ambrose F. “Bud” Dudley, Liberty Bowl Founder

2004 Frederick W. Smith, CEO, FedEx Corporation

2003 The Danny Thomas Family, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

2002 Pitt Hyde, AutoZone Founder

2001 New York City Police Officers, Firefighters & Emergency Workers

2000 Franco Harris, NFL Hall of Fame/RB-Pittsburgh Steelers

1999 Dr. Tom Osborne, Legendary Nebraska Coach/Former U.S. Congressman

1998 William B. “Billy” Dunavant, Jr., Business & Sports Entrepreneur

1997 G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery, U.S. Congressman

1996 Dr. Peter Doherty, Nobel Prize Recipient

1995 Rochelle Stevens, Olympic Gold Medal Winner

1994 Johnny Majors, Legendary Coach

1993 Dr. Adrian Rogers, Pastor

1992 Charles M. Neinas, Athletics Administrator

1991 Jerry Clower, Entertainer

1990 Allen C. Page, Professional Athlete/Judge

1989 Chris Schenkel, Sports Broadcaster

1988 Lindsey Nelson, Sports Broadcaster

1987 Walter Byers, NCAA Executive Director

1986 Fred Russell, Sports Writer

1985 Kemmons Wilson, Founder of Holiday Inn

1984 William Lawrence, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy

1983 William Simon, Former U.S. Secretary of Treasury

1982 Eddie Robinson, Legendary Grambling Coach

1981 Marguerite Piazza, Entertainer

1980 Pearl Bailey, Entertainer

1979 Danny Thomas, Founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

1978 Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, Explorers

1977 - Elvis Presley, Entertainer

1976 Roone Arledge, President, ABC Sports

1975 John McKay, Legendary Coach

1974 Paul “Bear” Bryant, Legendary Alabama Coach

1973 John A. Dramesi, Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force

1972 Frank Leahy, Legendary Coach

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related Videos