“Tell Them I Didn’t Take No Sh*t,”

Harry Cicero Alford Jr. — An Undefeatable Spirit

Is what dad told us days before he passed away from natural causes in his Washington, DC, home on December 6, 2021 (of course, Monday Night Football was playing on his TV). As his sons, we can certifiably say he didn’t take any sh*t! He continued to say, after a pause, “but tell them I was fair and strong.”

Dad was the son of a truck driver-turned farmer (Harry Cicero Sr.) and double amputee homemaker (Christine Brown). Born on Valentine’s Day in Oxnard, California, Harry spent his summers fishing and running down old dirt roads with his little brother, John Ray Alford, on the family farm near Haughton, Louisiana. When it was time for high school, Dad matriculated to Oxnard High School, making a name for himself as a Ventura County football star. He then enrolled at Ventura Community College and took his skills to the next level by playing and being known as a ferocious linebacker for the University of Wisconsin on an athletic scholarship. He would go on to graduate in 1970.

From there, dad earned top honors as Company Commander in the Army’s Officer Candidate School class (OC3–72). He…