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LEO COLLINS REMEMBERED AS COMMUNITY LEADER

By Nicole Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, June 4, 2009 9:32 AM CDT

Educator, columnist, radio host, businessman, community activist. You name it, he did it, according to those who knew and loved Leo Hardy Collins, who died Friday at Davis Life Care Center.

LEO COLLINS

Collins was 76.

A guest columnist for The Commercial for more than 30 years, Collins also wrote articles for The Mirror, The State Press and Southern Mediator Journal. He also published a newsletter for six years. In addition, Collins was a radio host on local stations, KOTN and KYDE.

Collins served as principal and basketball coach at George Washington Carver Junior High School at Allport. He also served as principal of the high school there.

Earlene Stennis, a retired educator, said she met Collins in 1967 when he hired her to teach civics and English at the junior high school at Allport.

“He hired me before I had completed my education and insisted that following summer that I return back to school and get my degree. And I did,” she said.

“He taught me how to become a successful teacher, with great discipline skills.”

Stennis said when she began her teaching career at Watson Chapel High School, Collins became her mentor.

“For 25 years he served as a consultant each year to my class,” she said.

Collins joined the staff of AM&N/UAPB in 1967 and served there in various roles for 33 years. Some of the positions he held included assistant dean of men, sports information director, director of the TRIO (Talent Search, Upward Board and Special Services) programs and director of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).

Collins also served on the board of the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District, Pine Bluff Aviation Commission and was a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Glen E. Bell, director of SEAEDD, said he and Collins were friends for about 35 years.

“He was a very dedicated man. He strongly believed in helping the disadvantaged youth in the community,” Bell recalled.

He said it was actually Collins who, in 1976, was instrumental in beginning the first JTPA program at UAPB.

“I talked to him on many occasions, not only on a professional level, but on a personal level, and I found him to be good friend, a very reliable man, very dependable,” he said.

Born May 17, 1933, at Grayson, La., a son of the late John and Susie Collins, Collins received his early education at Union Parish, La., and graduated from Union Central High School in 1951.

Collins was a student at Southern University from 1951 to 1953. After serving in the Army from 1953-1955, he returned to Southern and was a member of the football team. He graduated from AM&N College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1960. He furthered his studies toward a master’s degree in political science and American government at Atlanta University.

Robert Hall, also a longtime friend of Collins’, said Collins served as educational consultant during his tenure as superintendent of Wabbaseka School District.

“Leo was a terrific guy. He wrote grants for the Title I and Title II programs and did all the training and development of staff,” Hall said.

“He was also instrumental in writing grants and securing federal money for UAPB.”

Hall said Collins was also a businessman, having owned Unified Liquor Store and the Debbie Oats Recreation Center, which was named after Collins’ daughter.

“Politicians from across the state visited there (recreation center) over the years,” Hall recalled.

According to Stennis, Collins served as advisor to many politicians, including former Sens. David Pryor and Dale Bumpers and former President Bill Clinton.

“He and Bill Clinton became best of friends during the time that Clinton was governor and president. That relationship still existed until Mr. Collins’ death,” Stennis said.

Stennis said Clinton talks about his long-standing relationship with Collins in his book, “My Life Bill Clinton.”

“Leo Collins’ contributions are many and he will go down in history as an outstanding Afro-American politician from Arkansas,” Stennis said.

Funeral arrangements for Collins will be announced by Brown Funeral Home.

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