Michael James Reed

MICHAEL JAMES REED was born on September 10, 1948 as the third of four children to Cecil and Evelyn Reed at Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When Michael was still a small child, the family moved into a house at 1120 Bertram Road where Michael developed most of his childhood memories. One of his favorite hobbies was collecting baseball cards, and when he was little he would simulate all-star games using his collection of cards as avatars for the real players. Another pastime that he particularly enjoyed was quarter-midget racing. His father, Cecil, set the course and the young children on Bertram Road would come together to speed around the track in their quarter-midget racers. Perhaps the thing that Michael liked the most about living there was the opportunity to grow up so close to nature. He loved to spend time outdoors with his collie, “Rocket,” exploring the nearby creek and the woods.

When Michael began to play sports in middle school, he realized that he had a special gift for athletics. As a member of Washington High School’s “Mighty Class of ’66,” Michael excelled in several sports winning All-City, All-Conference, and All-State honors as a Running Back for the football team as well as becoming the City Champion in the High Jump and playing for the State Runner-up basketball team. His exceptional athletic ability earned him many scholarship offers, and he chose to take his talents to the University of Northern Iowa (Class of ’70) where he was a star player as Running Back and Strong Safety. In fact, his outstanding performance on the field earned him a position as a Team Captain. On the same day that he earned the MVP trophy for the homecoming game, he was crowned as the first Black Homecoming King. In college, he also continued to high jump for two years, and he became the college state champion in that event.

Michael had much to be proud of with his athletic accomplishments, yet the feeling was bittersweet. While it felt good to be valued for his athletic achievements, he remembered that before they knew about his ability the other students had mistreated him for being Black. Michael Reed’s legacy later on in life would counteract that same type of prejudice in the lives of those that he influenced.

Although Michael pursued several occupations in his life, the arena in which Michael Reed’s talents were best utilized (and the one that people remember him for the most) was as a teacher and a coach. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and a Minor in English from Northern Iowa, he began his teaching career in Des Moines, Iowa and soon after went to teach Physical Education and English at Northeast Junior High School in Kansas City, Kansas. Noting the unique struggles of African American youth in the educational system drove him to go back to school where he earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and a Minor in African American Literature from Kansas University in 1975. As a student at KU, he studied the detrimental elements of the education system and society as whole on Black students, but as a teacher, he did more than just learn about those problems. He lived out the solution.

In Kansas City, Missouri he taught language arts, sports literature, and English literature at Sumner High School. He also served as Sumner’s Head Football Coach and led the team through an outstanding season with one All-American, multiple eventual college athletes, and two future NFL players. Such success in coaching was no new experience for Michael. In a mere five years after graduating college, he had been an integral part of several amazing programs. In his first year out of college, he worked as the Running Back coach for a standout Northern Iowa team; during graduate school he was a graduate assistant coach for Kansas University’s Big Eight Champion Basketball team; and at Northeast Junior High School he coached an undefeated basketball team to the city championship. But, Michael was more than just a teacher and coach to his students and players. He was a mentor and a father figure, and they loved him for that.

During the late 70’s and the 80’s, Michael took a break from teaching and invested his time in several different occupations. His resume included endeavors as diverse as representing NBA and NFL athletes as a sports agent, as well as serving as the Corporate Vice President of Human Resources for a bread business known as Good Stuff Food Company. He also began working for an insurance company called Primerica Financial Services where he eventually became the Regional Vice President and made many lifetime friends. Working for Primerica over three decades allowed him to constantly come into contact with new people and Michael’s interpersonal skills shined. He was an excellent communicator and public speaker. His smile and his sense of humor made him a joy to be around.

During that time, Michael traveled around the country living in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles and making friends wherever he went. Although he wasn’t teaching, he continued to show a passion for helping others, which he expressed through his volunteering for a prison ministry and a job program for ex-offenders. Through this network of organizations targeting the needs of the oppressed, Michael came to work for World Impact, a program aimed at providing quality education to inner city youth.

Thus, Michael re-entered the education arena in the early 90’s and he went on to excel in various positions as an educator in Los Angeles. He spent time as both a principal (Los Angeles Christian School) and assistant principal (Celeste Scott Christian School). He served as both the Dean of an evening school (Lynwood Evening High School) and the coordinator of a gifted and talented program (GATE Coordinator at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School). He worked both in the classroom (King/Drew High School and Charles Drew University) and as a district administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Teaching was more than a career for Michael Reed, it was his passion. He had a unique ability to inspire his students, capture their curiosity, and fill them up with pride in who they are based on a true knowledge of their history. On top of all that, he had an unquenchable desire to always become better at his job. He pored through books and documentaries about history in order to learn every detail available about the subjects that he taught. One of his favorite hobbies was to take the documentaries and films that he watched and then to cut and paste different scenes together in order to create brief history videos that would be both educational and exciting for his high school students.

His drive toward becoming a better teacher was so strong, that even while his health was deteriorating, he was working toward his PhD at Argosy University. His dissertation, “A Study of the Effects of Formative Assessment on Student Achievement in History-Social Science in a Large Urban School District” was an investigation into the effectiveness of the student assessments for predicting adequate yearly progress for students.

Working for LAUSD as a History Specialist for Secondary Education, Michael Reed was able to spread his positive influence to students and teachers in various schools. Within this capacity he was able to develop curriculum and train teachers with regards to creating programs of study that would highlight and appreciate the contributions of people of color and the LGBTQ community within the larger scheme of History. In addition, he was awarded a one million dollar federal grant to fund the “Teaching American History” program that he created for training better History and Social Studies teachers. Thus, Michael’s impact in classrooms across Los Angeles was to positively impact students to learn about, and more importantly, to love their own history.

In July 2009, Michael Reed was diagnosed with cancer and would go on to courageously battle the disease for the next three years of his life. During those tough times, he never lost faith that God would be there to comfort him through every step of the way. The boldness of Michael’s faith walk was an inspiration to everyone around him. Michael’s faith in God was always an important part of his life and he enjoyed being able to share that with those around him.

He was always a great spiritual leader for his family and close friends, and he even served as the Bible Study teacher for Ward AME’s Adult Sunday School class. Each week he would bring his own unique style, combining his expertise gained from his teaching experience with his knowledge of ancient history. In his own special way, Michael reflected Christ into the lives of those that he came into contact with. He was excellent at encouraging people, and he always knew how to make people feel good about themselves. He was an honest and straightforward man, and everything that he did was done with the best of intentions.

His close friends and family will remember him as being caring and sympathetic. He wouldn’t hold grudges or talk bad about people, and when it came to an argument, he would concede to being wrong rather than let an issue escalate. As a young man, he joined the Northeast Optimist Club of Kansas City, Kansas and that positive attitude was something that he carried with him for the rest of his life, no matter what situation he faced. His optimism and sense of humor were so much a part of his personality that, even in the final days of his life, he continued to believe that he would recover, and he would make jokes in spite of his pain just so that those that loved him wouldn’t feel so bad.

Michael also possessed a love for culture and the arts. He enjoyed an impressive film and music collection. Some of his favorite music was jazz and big band swing music; and his favorite artists included Count Basie, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.

When he was 19 years old, he was asked, "What is the most important rule to live by?" and he responded, “I will testify that the golden rule works: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Throughout his life he has held by that conviction and the result has been the beautiful life and legacy of working for the benefit of others.

Michael Reed has now gone to eternity to join his father, Cecil, his older sister, Carol, and his younger brother, David. He is survived by his wife, Miko, his mother, Evelyn, his older brother, Richard, his daughter, Michelle, his sons, Todd, Matthew, Justin, and Milan, and his grandchildren, Hilton, Hilary, Holly, and Halston, as well as a host of loving family and friends.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another humbly in love, for the entire law can be summed up in this: love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:13-14