'He was more than a mentor': Winter Haven education advocate Donzell Floyd dies at 73

Winter Haven has lost another titan of the Black community.

Donzell Floyd, who led a decades-long effort to generate scholarship funds for students, died Wednesday at 73, according to friends.

Floyd, a 1966 graduate of the all-Black Jewett Junior-Senior High School, became the first president of the former school’s alumni association in the 1980s and led the organization for decades until his health began to decline, fellow graduate Jimmie Hudson said. The association raised money that it used to bestow college scholarships.

Floyd’s passing follows the deaths over the past two years of Ulysses J. Johnson III, an educator and historian; Lemuel Geathers, a World War II veteran and educator; Larry Hardaway, a lawyer and civil-rights advocate; and Ann Darby, the only Black woman elected to the Winter Haven City Commission.

Floyd lived for most of his life in Florence Villa, a predominantly Black neighborhood in north Winter Haven. He played football and basketball at Jewett and served in student government, fellow 1966 graduate Don Chamberlain said. He later played offensive guard and tackle at Bethune-Cookman College (now University) in Daytona Beach.

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After earning his bachelor’s degree, Floyd trained to be a pharmacist at Xavier University of Louisiana, Chamberlain said. He returned to Polk County and worked at various pharmacies during his career, Chamberlain said.

Hudson, a 1961 graduate, recalled Floyd’s role in the formation of the Jewett High School Alumni Association.

“When we got started with the alumni, it was supposed to be just a one-time thing,” she said. “It was, like, three or four of us that we kept talking and saying we wanted to do something, not with just our class but with all the classes.”

When that small group held its initial meeting, those who arrived first decided that the last person there would be assigned the role of chairperson for the new association.

“Donzell was the last person,” Hudson said with a chuckle. “And boy, what a great chairperson he was. … He said, ‘We need to do this. We need to do that.’ And it was so successful that first year that the people in the community asked us would we do it again.”

The final class graduated from Jewett in 1969, Hudson said, the year before racial integration came to Polk County’s public schools. The site of the former school in Winter Haven’s Florence Villa neighborhood is now the site of Jewett Middle Academy Magnet on Avenue T NE.

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The association initially organized a “Wolverine Night” for graduates of the classes from 1961 through 1966, Hudson said. The title recognized the nickname of the Jewett sports teams.

Wolverine Night eventually expanded into a Wolverine Weekend held once every three years. The festivities, including a parade, a banquet, a dance and a golf tournament, generated money for the college scholarships.

"In addition to socializing and renewing old acquaintances and friendships, it also provides a greater opportunity for networking among our membership,” Floyd told The Ledger in 2007. “And most importantly, it provides the vehicle for all of us to give back to the community that gave us our start in life, something that we must never, ever forget.”

The association initially granted scholarships to relatives of Jewett High graduates but eventually offered them to other students, Chamberlain said. Many of the scholarship recipients attended high schools in Polk County, but some lived outside the area or even in other states, Hudson said.

Hudson said Floyd carefully documented the finances of the association and regularly shared the details with its members.

“That’s why it went so well — because everybody trusted him and the committee because Donzell made sure that everything was printed out of who gave what, how much we raised, how much was given out and how much was left for the next year,” Hudson said.

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The association had dispensed nearly $250,000 in scholarships to more than 190 recipients as of 2013, The Ledger reported. The association registered as a Florida nonprofit in 1995, and state records show Floyd was last listed as its agent in 2018.

Chamberlain said Floyd gave himself a nickname, the Chief, that reflected his influential status in Winter Haven.

“He was more than a mentor; he was a pillar in the community,” Chamberlain said. “As a matter of fact, we’re going to extend that and say he was a pillar wherever he went. He was always community oriented, family oriented — anything he could do to help in any situation. The Chief is one of a kind. There will never be another.”

Chamberlain, who now resides in Ohio, said Floyd served as an informal communications coordinator for fellow Jewett graduates, including those living out of state.

“It was a gap that he stood in the middle of in order to keep our family together,” Chamberlain said.

Patricia Smith-Fields, a local historian, said Floyd had a deep knowledge of Winter Haven and provided her with crucial details when she was compiling a history of the Pughsville community.

“A true, true giant, and respectful — a really respected and a humble person,” she said in describing Floyd. “But he was a person of pride and promoted higher education, and he loved his community. And he empowered people to get involved and to know what were the issues and to be a part of the issues and help be a part of the solution.”

Hudson said Floyd was actively involved for decades in First Missionary Baptist Church. Floyd is survived by his wife, Carolyn, two adult children and grandchildren.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Donzell Floyd, who ran Jewett Alumni Association, dies at 73