LEXINGTON, Va., Oct. 28, 2025—Virginia Military Institute, the oldest state-supported military college in the country, will celebrate its 186^th anniversary Friday, Nov. 7.

VMI alumnus, Eugene “Gene” Williams ’74, will receive the VMI Foundation Distinguished Service Award for his dedication in service to the Institute. He will address the Corps of Cadets at 1 p.m. in Cameron Hall on Main Street. Following his speech, the Founders Day parade with howitzers fired, will take place at 3 p.m. on the Parade Ground, weather permitting. The public is invited to attend both the speech and the parade.

Williams is founder and executive director of the College Orientation Workshop, Inc. (COW), a four-week challenging educational enrichment program, held each summer at VMI. Next year marks its 40^th year of transforming the lives of promising, male, minority and at-risk high school students.

Williams was in the third class of African American cadets at VMI. He received an athletic scholarship to play football and was dubbed “Mean” Gene on the gridiron. He played multiple positions including defensive safety, tight end, fullback, halfback, quarterback, and linebacker. He received All State, All Southern Conference, and All-American recognition, and was named an Outstanding College Athlete of America. He was selected to play in the All-American Bowl game in 1974 in Tampa, Florida, and sustained a serious injury in that game which ended his football career. That same year he received the Henry Fairfax Ayres Most Valuable Player Award and was inducted into Kappa Alpha Order. Within the Corps of Cadets, he attained the rank of lieutenant in Echo Company.

In 1978, Williams became the first African American and youngest appointee to the VMI Board of Visitors (BOV). He remained on the BOV for 10 years. He is a past member of the Keydet Club Board of Governors and the VMI Foundation Board of Trustees. He was inducted into the VMI Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, was keynote speaker for the 2001Virginia Commonwealth Games, and was the commencement speaker at VMI’s December graduation ceremony in 2017.

Marianne Hause
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE