Reed, William B. "Chief"
(born: 1912 - died: 1996)William B. Reed, born in Paris, KY, was the last principal of the segregated Western School for Negroes. The Paris City Schools were fully integrated in 1966. Reed would become the first African American Assistant Principal in the Paris City School system. He was also the first to become a city commissioner in Paris.
Reed had been a star football and basketball player at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and coached the Western High basketball team to a national championship in 1953. He was also the school's football coach.
Reed was the first African American elected to the Paris City Council in 1977. The William "Chief" Reed Park in Paris is named in his honor.
For more see "William Reed, Retired Educator, Coach, Dies," Lexington Herald-Leader, Obituaries, 10/11/1996; and "Mayor, 45 councilmen are black city officials," in 1978 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Fifth Report, by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 22.