Actor and comedian Neil Flynn, a 1982 graduate of Bradley University, addresses a crowd at the Renaissance Coliseum recently after receiving a distinguished alumni award from the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament. (Photo by Elise Zwicky / for Chronicle Media)

Along with 1,000 students who traveled to Bradley University recently for the national collegiate speech tournament was a well-known Hollywood actor and comedian who once competed on the Bradley speech team.

Neil Flynn, perhaps best known for his roles as the hilariously menacing Janitor on “Scrubs” and the comically grumpy dad on “The Middle,” received the distinguished alumni award from the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament.

Flynn was the second recipient of the AFA-NIET award, which recognizes alumni who’ve gone on to make significant achievements in their field. A 1982 Bradley graduate, Flynn was part of the university’s three-time national championship speech teams between 1980-82.

Flynn was recruited by Bradley after winning an Illinois High School Association state title in humorous duet acting while attending Waukegan East High School.

He told the crowd at the Renaissance Coliseum that he hadn’t given college a thought until the late George Armstrong recruited him to the Bradley speech team by telegram.

“A telegram is like a text but so much cooler,” he said dryly. “To send it you have to go somewhere and to receive it you have to have someone read it to you. So it’s really very efficient. I don’t know why it faded away.”

Flynn said he eagerly came to Bradley on a partial scholarship, though he had no idea at the time what he would do with his speech major.

“It was here where I got my feet wet,” Flynn said in an interview prior to receiving the award.  “Participating in speech led me over to the theater department, and by the time I was done with school I had the idea that I might want to try this professionally. It was a pretty risky thing to do, but I had a great start here.”

The strongest memories Flynn has of his years at Bradley revolve around the camaraderie of the speech team and the life-long friends he made through fraternity life.

Prior to the awards ceremony, Flynn spent a few hours meeting with Bradley students and taking selfies with them. “It was absolutely fun,” said the actor, who hadn’t been back to campus since he graduated 35 years ago.

He advised anyone with a passion for acting to take advantage of the improv scene in Chicago.

Flynn trained as a Second City performer in Chicago before heading to Hollywood. He’s appeared on the big screen in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and played Lindsay Lohan’s dad in “Mean Girls,” among other roles.

He has been in numerous productions with both the Steppenwolf Theater and the Goodman Theater.

He played Janitor on “Scrubs” for eight years and was nominated last year for a Critic’s Choice award for best supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as Mike Heck in ABC’s sitcom “The Middle,” which he has starred on for the past nine seasons.

Having grown up in Illinois, Flynn said the comedic spotlight “The Middle” shines on life in the Midwest rings true for him.

“From reading the pilot script, I thought: I know these people. I think the writers who grew up in this area as well have a pretty good grasp of what family life in the Midwest is all about,” he said.

Asked if he contributes any of his own Midwestern storylines to the show, the 6-foot-5 actor said he fact-checks the way the actors pronounce certain words, such as “route” and “roof.”

“The only thing (the writers) did for me that I can recall is I had affection for a cat and they found that surprising about me and my character, so they gave me a cat at the quarry,” Flynn said of his character on “The Middle.”

Flynn asked the crowd—after receiving a standing ovation—if there was anyone who didn’t know who he was. After a few hands tentatively went up, he quipped, “I want you out of here. You will not ruin my special minute.”

In the awards ceremony that followed Flynn’s short speech, the Bradley speech team claimed fourth space in the national team sweepstakes with two individual champions. Junior Sarah Brashear won in after dinner speaking and senior Jerome Gregory won in persuasive speaking.

The University of Texas at Austin took first place in the tournament, which had more than 1,000 participants from 76 schools from across the nation.