A man who graduated from J.J. Jones High School in Mount Airy more than 50 years ago is making a homecoming this weekend to speak at a Surry County NAACP event.

Thomas J. “Buck” Rawley, who lives in Delaware, will be the keynote speaker Saturday night for the 45th annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“He’s a world-renown educator,” Faye Carter said of Rawley, who has worked in school systems in several states as a teacher and administrator.

Saturday’s catered banquet begins at 6 p.m. in Central United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, and will include music and special recognitions in addition to the speech by Rawley. Carter said tickets are still available, at $30 for adults and $15 for children.

“We’re hoping that the mayor is going to be there,” she said.

Organizers always seek to have a distinguished speaker for the event, and Carter believes Rawley will fill that bill. “He was just real elated that we asked him to do it, since he is a native of Mount Airy,” the NAACP president said.

“I know his mother real well,” Carter added, saying she has spoken to Rawley during the two or three times he comes home for a visit each year. Carter described him as “an outstanding gentleman.”

Rawley graduated from J.J. Jones, the city’s former all-black high school, in 1958. He then attended Fayetteville State University, where he starred on the football team and later was inducted into the university’s football hall of fame. Rawley graduated from Fayetteville State in 1962 with a B.S. degree in mathematics.

He later attended Rowan State University, where he received an M.A. degree in 1975.

Rawley taught in Spartanburg, S.C., from 1962-70 and in Columbus, Ohio, from 1970-72, before serving as an administrator in Wilmington, Del., from 1972-2000. Since 2002, he has been teaching in the Baltimore County public school system, according to biographical information supplied for Saturday’s banquet.

The former Mount Airy resident also has been a workshop and seminar facilitator in the areas of at-risk students and K-12 mathematics. In 1998, he was selected for a Who’s Who in America listing.

“He is just a genuine person,” Carter said in describing Rawley as an outgoing, personable individual who should be a big hit at the banquet.

About 80 people are expected for the event, which annually benefits various operations of the NAACP, including a legal defense fund.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.