MONTGOMERY, Ala. | John Knight, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, university administrator, politician, civic leader, and student leader, will receive the Roscoe Nance Lifetime Achievement Award. A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Knight rose from humble beginnings, one of four children to Ruth and John Knight, Sr., to become a powerful legislator in the state of Alabama and a leading administrator at Alabama State University.
           
Knight will be one of six former coaches and athletic administrators from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) institutions who will be honored during the  Association's 23^rd Legends Awards and Roast banquet on Saturday, May 16, 2026, 7 p.m., on the campus of Alabama State University in the J. Garrick Hardy Center, 915 S Jackson Street, Montgomery, AL, 36104.
           
Knight graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1963 and was drafted into the Army in 1966 and was sent to fight in the Vietnam War. Serving as a platoon sergeant, Knight was awarded the Silver Star for bravery and valor in combat.
          
After being discharged from the Army in 1969, Knight returned to Montgomery and soon thereafter enrolled at Alabama State University. A nontraditional student who had the experiences of the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement to help shape his worldview as a man, Knight got his first taste of politics as student body president of Alabama State in the 1970s. 
           
Knight graduated from ASU in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in political science. In 1977 Knight returned to Alabama State as the public relations director. In the 1980s he was elected to the Montgomery County Commission for District Four.  Over the next four decades, Knight served in dual roles as an education administrator at Alabama State and a state and local politician in the Alabama Commission.
           
At Alabama State, Knight rose to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, a position he held for over 30 years. He was also named Acting President of ASU from May 31 to July 14 in 2008.
           
Politically, in the 1990s, Knight was appointed to the Montgomery Housing Authority Board, serving until 1997. In 1993, he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives for District Seventy-Seven and served there more than two decades.
           
Knight's other prominent affiliations include the Montgomery County Democratic Conference (chair), Montgomery County Democratic Conference Executive Committee, Leadership Montgomery, Leadership Alabama, Kershaw YMCA Board of Directors, Cleveland Ave. YMCA, Montgomery Improvement Association Southern Development Council, and St. Johns AME Church.
           
In 1999, Knight became the first African American to chair the Alabama House of Representatives House Ways and Means General Funds Committee, serving until 2010.
Knight retired from Alabama State in 2014.
           
The Association's Legends Awards and Roast annually honor former student-athletes as well as former or current coaches, athletics administrators, or staff members who have had positive impacts on the historic conference.
           
Tickets for the 23^rd Annual Legends Awards and Roast are $75 dollars each, with a table of eight (8) selling for $600 dollars. Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/swac-alumni-association-annual-legends-banquet-and-roast-tickets-1986591428440?aff=oddtdtcreator  , or Zelle – swacalumni@gmail.com .

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Association's NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) program and will benefit a male and a female athlete from SWAC institutions.