The Association of St. Augustine High School Alumni - DFW
2023 Mardi Gras Ball
About the Mardi Gras Ball
The Association of St. Augustine Alumni – DFW Chapter’s Annual Mardi Gras Ball is a premier fundraising gala and major social event focusing on raising awareness and support for our alma mater’s 69-year mission of educating and molding deserving young black men in the city of New Orleans to become leaders equipped to improve the world. This exclusive, “must-attend” event is designed to be one of DFW’s finest evenings of fun, good food, glitz and glamour that will have attendees feeling like they are in New Orleans enjoying the pageantry of Mardi Gras.
Based on New Orleans traditions, the BALL is known for its food and music including Carnival Indians and a Brass Band. This year, we are honored to have the legendary actor, Harold Sylvester to serve as our grand Marshall. Harold Sylvester is a who has stared in TV series including “Married with Children” and “Hill Street Blues”. He has also acted in major films including “An Officer and A Gentleman” and “Uncommon Valor”. Harold is a proud 1968 graduate of St. Augustine High School.
Event Details
The annual Mardi Gras Ball is the DFW Chapter’s largest and most significant event each year. The event targets local DFW professionals, corporations, small businesses and other community-based organizations. For five (5) hours attendees will experience the flare of New Orleans hospitality, music, food and fun. When complete, everyone will have learned a little bit about the cause of helping St. Aug to continue its mission and how their support improves the lives of students and their families.
When: January 21, 2023 - 6:00 PM – Midnight
Where: Ruthe Jackson Center – Grand Prairie, TX
The Event Venue
The Ruthe Jackson Center
3113 S Carrier Parkway Grand Prairie, Texas 75052
Soulful Soundz Band
Unfaded Brass Band
Your Entertainment
George Mccullum
Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club Tramps
D.J. Professor Breez
Why Sponsor?
Sponsors of this event will gain access to a ground floor opportunity to market their brand, products or services to professionals from across the DFW area and from cities across the US. We have chosen to cap attendance to year’s event at 500 in order to ensure that we produce the right experience. Due to attendance demand, we fully expect to expand our event to 1200 guest over the next couple of years. Professionals who attend this event will come from all walks of life and are consumers of all types of goods and services. We encourage you to take a look at this unique opportunity to support our ‘party with a cause’ and grow with us over the coming years.
Photo of Grammy Award Winning Artiste Jon Batiste Class of 2004. Musician for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The entire 2022 Graduating Class achieved a 100% college
acceptance and received $9.2 million in tuition scholarships.
501c3 Information sent upon request
Black and white photograph of
St. Augustine High School
basketball team located in
the National Museum
of African American History and
Culture, Washington, D.C.
2023 Mardi Gras Ball - Sponsorship Packages
2023 Mardi Gras Ball - Ad Specifications
Ad Sizes Available - Width x Height in Inches
501c3 Information sent upon request
Our 2023 Grand Marshal
Harold Sylvester, Class of 1967
Early life and education
Sylvester was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He is a graduate of New Orleans' St. Augustine High School
and Tulane University. Turning down Harvard, he attended
Tulane on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1972
with a degree in theater and psychology. He was the first African American
to receive an athletic scholarship from Tulane.
Career
Sylvester is best known for his role on the TV series Married... with Children as
Griff, the co-worker and friend of Al Bundy at the shoe store. Harold's other
TV roles include the miniseries Wheels (1978), Sylvester was in Barnaby Jones,
episode titled “A Desperate Pursuit”(10/11/1979), the short-lived 1981 series
Walking Tall, Today's F.B.I., Mary (1985), Shaky Ground, and "A Different World". The most recent TV show in which he starred was The Army Show. Sylvester had a recurring role on the TV series City of Angels. He has made guest appearances on shows, ranging from The Eddie Capra Mysteries to Hill Street Blues to Murder, She Wrote to NYPD Blue.
His first Hollywood role was as Nathan, a lead character in Part 2, Sounder, the sequel to Sounder. His better known film roles are in supporting roles in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), Innerspace (1987), and Corrina, Corrina (1994). He was a contract player for Universal Studios.
Sylvester wrote the screenplay for the 1998 TV movie Passing Glory. This screenplay was based on some of his experiences playing basketball in high school, including a groundbreaking game of St. Augustine High School's all-black team against Jesuit High School's all-white team.
The Amistad Research Center of New Orleans, Louisiana, maintains a collection of Harold Sylvester's papers that document his correspondence, film and television scripts, and materials reflecting his involvement with the Free Southern Theater and his Blue Bayou Productions Company.
Personal life
Sylvester has been married to Kathleen since 1970. They have two children.
Our 2023 King
Reginald J. Alexander Sr. Class of 1981
Reginald J. Alexander, Sr. was born in the Irish Channel of New Orleans at Sara
Mayo Hospital. He is the 5th child of the late Peter Jr. and Geraldine Alexander.
He grew up in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and attended St.
David Elementary. His family later moved to Gentilly Woods where he finished up
his elementary studies at St. Gabriel the Archangel. Weeks before 8th grade
graduation, he received the best news possible in an acceptance letter to attend
St. Augustine High School and join the family legacy as a Purple Knight!
Reg’s older brothers Peter ’71, Eric ’73 and Jon ’74 were all Purple Knight
graduates and Reg joined them when he graduated in 1981. The Alexander
St Aug family legacy continued when his son, Reggie Jr., graduated in the
Class of 2007. While attending St. Aug, Reg was introduced to the
Junior Achievement (JA) program where he gained his entrepreneurial spirit! He attributes his exposure and weekly interaction with professional business leaders and owners to many of his successes in life. The JA program at St Aug truly prepared him with a great foundation for economic success to be a co-owner, along with his wife Lana, of Beaucoup Seafood, LLC. Reg is currently serving as Secretary for the St Augustine DFW Alumni Chapter.
Reg attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana, USL (UL Lafayette) where he worked as a USL Campus Police Student Officer. While attending USL, he accomplished three great milestones that included becoming a member of the Gamma Delta Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc in the Fall of 1985; meeting his beautiful wife Lana and earning his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Upon graduation, he and Lana moved back to New Orleans to start a family and began promising careers, Reg as a new firefighter and Lana as a schoolteacher.
After Hurricane Katrina, Reg and Lana moved their family to the DFW area. In 2006, he became the first African American Lieutenant fire officer in the Farmers Branch Fire Prevention Division. In 2015 he became the first African American Chief Officer in the Cedar Hill Fire Department where he was appointed as the Fire Marshal. He leads the Fire Marshal’s Office and the Fire Prevention Division with over 25 years of experience in the fire service. Chief Alexander currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Fire Marshal’s Association and the Texas Police Trainers. He is a member of the Texas Commission on Fire Protection Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee for Fire Investigation. He is Past President of the North Texas Fire Investigators’ Association (NTFIA). He is also an active member of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), the Texas Chapter of the IAAI, Fire Protection Association of North Texas (FPANT), The National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI), a graduate of the Texas Fire Chiefs Academy and a graduate of The Bill Blackwood Institute Law Enforcement’s Fire Executive Management Training (FEMT) at Sam Houston State, Huntsville, TX. He is a certified Texas Commission On Law Enforcement (TCOLE) Master Peace Officer. He has certifications as a Firefighter, Fire Inspector, Fire Investigator, Arson Investigator and Fire Instructor for the State of Texas. He is also a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) through the National Association of Fire Investigators.
In 1997 while in the New Orleans Fire Academy, Reg joined the Navy Reserve as an Intelligence Specialist assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency. In 2009 He proudly served his country during a yearlong deployment to Bagram, Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2001, days after the September 11 attacks he was assigned to a division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Office at the Pentagon in Washington D. C. for a one-year deployment, supporting Operation Noble. In his last assignment, he served as the Training Officer for Pacific Fleet Command N2N39 FTW, supporting Pacific Command HQ in Pearl Harbor, HI. Lieutenant Commander Reginald Alexander retired from the Navy in September 2022 after 25 years of service.
Reg and his wife Lana have been married for 34 years and have three girls Krystal, Regina and Kahla along with two boys Reggie Jr. and Gerald, and daughter-in-laws Brittany and Lindsey. Reg loves to spend time attending music concerts, traveling, fishing, cycling, and hanging out with his six grandkids.
Hotel Accommodations
Courtyard by Marriott Dallas Grand Prairie
2850 S State Hwy 161, Grand Prairie, TX 75052
GROUP ROOM RATES
Our Sponsors
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The Kings of Mardi Gras
Donations welcomed
All proceeds raised will help support a student scholarship fund for St Augustine High School in New Orleans, LA. Non Profit 501c3 filling information available upon request.
