Museum gala honors Greensboro native Bob McAdoo, civil rights trailblazers
Bob McAdoo, a Greensboro native and Hall of Famer, was among six honorees as the Civil Rights Museum tied its gala to the sit-in legacy.
The International Civil Rights Center & Museum honored six people at its annual gala, putting Greensboro native Bob McAdoo alongside civil rights and civic figures as the museum marked the 63rd anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins. McAdoo, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer who played at Ben L. Smith High School, was one of the night’s most recognizable names.
The gala was rescheduled to Sunday, March 9, 2025, with the venue and honorees unchanged from the original plan. Museum materials described the event as black-tie optional, and the fundraiser served the institution that operates at the former Woolworth lunch counter site in downtown Greensboro, where the sit-in movement is preserved and interpreted for visitors and school groups.
Along with McAdoo, the named honorees included Dr. Robert "Bob" Brown, the family of Neil Belenky, The Honorable Irving Allen and Dr. Virginia Williams. Coverage of the event also said the museum recognized the Greensboro Four and several other local trailblazers, keeping the focus on the people and organizations that turned Greensboro into a national civil rights landmark.
McAdoo’s recognition carried a specific Greensboro resonance. He was born Sept. 25, 1951, in Greensboro, attended Ben L. Smith High School and went on to become one of the city’s most celebrated athletes before being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. His place on the museum’s honoree list linked a sports career to the city’s civil rights identity, giving the gala a distinctly local cast.
The museum has continued to use anniversary programming to reinforce that connection. Its 2026 gala, titled "Standing Up for Democracy" and Defending Civil and Human Rights, was set for July 18, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro. That kind of recurring event helps the museum do more than commemorate the past: it keeps drawing attention, money and civic legitimacy to one of downtown Greensboro’s most visible institutions.
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