President Harry Truman had some advice for aspiring politicians about the rigors of politics: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Saturday night at the Vicksburg Convention Center, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was in the kitchen, and he was the main course.

He had the honor of being the “victim” for the inaugural Randy J. Naylor Memorial Foundation’s celebrity roast to benefit the organization founded in 2014 in honor of Vicksburg police officer Randy J. Naylor to provide events and opportunities for local youth. Naylor’s son, Randy Naylor Jr., the foundation’s president, said about 110 people attended the event, which raised $7,000 for the foundation. The event also included a silent auction.

“I’m pleased with the turnout,” Naylor said. “I think we’ve got a great crowd, and the feedback from the people who are here are really enjoying themselves and finding out a lot about the programs the foundation is trying to do in the city. It’s a lot of hard work and prayer, and what keeps me going is that my father who is no longer here is proud of me so I continue working as hard as I do for the kids.”

He said Flaggs always supported him when it came to helping the local youth.

“When I told him it was for the kids and all the proceeds would go to scholarships and programs that would help the youth, he said he would jump on board,” Naylor said.

And into the oven.

The roasters sitting alongside the mayor Saturday included his son, Elliott, who talked about his experiences growing up with his father, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace and state Sen. Kenny Wayne Jones, D-Canton.

“This is the first time ever I’ve gotten the opportunity to roast him and I don’t want him to disown me, so I’m keeping my jokes mild,” Elliott Flaggs said.

He talked about his father teaching him to swim by putting him in a life preserver and tossing him into the deep end of the YMCA pool, and about playing golf with his father at Clear Creek golf course, recalling the time Flaggs hit a drive that ricocheted through trees on both sides of the fairway before landing right back where he hit it.

Jones recalled his time with Flaggs in the Legislature.

“I remember the first time I met George,” Jones said. “He was sitting there in that three-piece suit and those boots, and I was like, ‘Can’t trust that guy right there.’ But he had a wealth of knowledge.”

He told the story of Flaggs going on a flight to Callifornia and refusing to leave a first-class seat to go to his assigned seat in the back of the plane. He said several airline employees tried to get him to move, adding Flaggs moved after the pilot talked to him.

When the other employees asked the pilot what he said, Jones added, the pilot said he told Flaggs, “The back of the plane goes to California.”

Pace opened his address with “Mr. Flaggs, I have access to resources,” before pulling out a manila envelop and pulling out a sheet of paper he said was a report on his department’s surveillance of the mayor. Each daily report covering a week showed Flaggs walking to his city-owned SUV in a three-piece dark suit “and expensive boots,” and going to some city-related function. The last report, however, was different.

“Jogging, three-piece dark suit, expensive boots,” then an amendment, “Disregard on jogging, he was leaving City Hall.”

“What happened at the board meeting that day?” he asked Flaggs.

Pace also said he and Flaggs lived in the same neighborhood, adding Flaggs’ son Elliott “rode his bicycle on the same streets I rode on.”

“Before Elliott was even born, or about that time, and that was before all of the jogging, fitness thing was kind of the craze,” Pace said, “George Flaggs was running. You’d see him running at 6 o’clock in the morning running by the house, coming back through … he starts running marathons.

“If you asked him, he said he was in training. We thought training like physical fitness training. He was training to be a politician. He’d been running and having to look over his shoulder in the Legislature. He knew then he was going to run for the state Legislature.”

Pace then talked about his longtime friendship with the mayor, adding, “This is one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met as far as caring for his community, whether in the Legislature in Jackson or as mayor. You may not always agree with him, but I guarantee you in his heart the best interest of the people he’s representing is right there.”

He said the turnout for the roast also reflected on Naylor and his family.

“Randy Naylor was one of the most professional, dedicated police officers I’ve ever known. He could not have been anything other than a cop. He bled blue,” Pace said.

“This (the foundation) is great for our community. It fits right in with the needs of this community, and I think (with) the group that is pushing this you’re going to see this for many years to come benefitting this community.”

The Randy J. Naylor Foundation began June 23, 2014.