Monday February 15, 2010

Presidents Day

Presidents Day
Today is Presidents Day in our country. It is a national holiday. Actually the federal holiday honors George Washington’s birthday on the third Monday in February which is strange because his birthday is February 22 and President’s Day can’t fall on the 22nd. The official name of the holiday is not Presidents Day but some have combined Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays and came up with the unofficial name.

I remember as a kid we celebrated both Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays. Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday but somehow retailers watered it down to just President’s Day.

At Clemson we celebrate Founder’s Day each April. It is celebrated on the day of Thomas Green Clemson’s death.

It is my opinion that we don’t do enough to celebrate the service of the University’s best president, Robert Cook Edwards and that got me thinking on a different level in this Presidents Day.

We have the nursing building named after him in 1992, so there will always be a building here on campus but I hope one day we can celebrate Dr. Robert Cook Edwards Day each year here at Clemson. Dr. Edwards was born on March 25, 1914, so March 25 seems like a great day to honor our greatest president.

Dr. Edwards retired on 1979, seven years before my freshman year and thirty years before the current freshman class enrolled so I thought I would take a few minutes to write to those who did not know Clemson longest serving president.

Dr. Edwards was born in 1914 in Fountain Inn, SC and came to Clemson as a freshman at the age of 15. He was a good student and landed a good job with Deering-Milliken, a textile company. Dr. Edwards was a successful in private business but he made his big career move at the age of 42 when he returned to work for his alma mater.

It did not take long for Dr. Edwards to climb in this field as well and he was named the school’s eighth president after his predecessor, Dr. Poole died of a heart attack in the summer of 1958. Dr. Edwards was the acting president from June of 1958 until April of 1969 when he the “acting” title was dropped.

He was a no-nonsense man. Dr. Edwards used common sense to guide him. He was also a leader who took control and did not use committees to help him make decisions. Dr. Edwards was confident in his decisions and sold those around him on those decisions.

Dr. Edwards had few detractors for a couple of reasons. First, he was a powerful man that few had the guts to stand up to. He had powerful people in his corner because he could convince them of his cause. The other major reason is because few had the staying power to fight. Dr. Edwards was a man of conviction who would dig in against any opponent because he knew he was on the side of right.

Dr. Edwards was a leader. He could inspire those to follow his lead. Again, he did not have to have a lot of input from others because he knew what he believed in and he had the power to get it done.

There are many examples of this. The Clemson board of trustees in the early 1950s did not stand up for the school and the Army Corps of Engineers had plans to flood 9,000 acres of the west side of campus. Dr. Edwards was not the president at the time but he led the fight to Congress to stop the plans and dams being built to avoid the loss of university property. Dr. Edwards was the key figure in this fight with the opponents being the Corps and United States Congress. Dr. Edwards won and in turn Clemson won.

In the 1960s, war protestors staged rallies on college campuses all across our country. In some cases education was a secondary activity to the distractions of the protests. Dr. Edwards would have nothing to do with that. He had a policy that any student that took part in the destructive protests were promised a one-way ticket home. Many college presidents thought the same thing but Dr. Edwards had the power to get it done at Clemson.

Also in the 1960s integration and segregation were hot topics in the South. Colleges and universities across the South suffered embarrassing moments with riots and violence due to the resistance to civil rights and desegregation. Dr. Edwards wanted no part of that and told those on campus that we would show the world how to desegregate with class and dignity. Clemson became the state’s first college to desegregate and it went down without the first incident. The reason was Dr. R.C. Edwards. Other college presidents had the same ideas but Dr. Edwards had the power and respect to get it done at Clemson.

For 21 years Dr. Edwards was the president of Clemson. In those 21 years he missed one Clemson football game. The last game of his presidency was the South Carolina game in 1978 where I still remember Dr. Edwards running down the hill.

I first met Dr. Edwards in the spring 1987 in the press box of a Clemson baseball game. He would sit up in the press box and listen to the game on the radio as he kept a scorebook. Over next 21 years some of my fondest memories are of Dr. Edwards. I spent many afternoons with him in that press box and I was probably the only guy in the stadium that would look forward to rain delays because it gave me an opportunity to ask him questions and try to benefit from his wisdom.

One of my fondest memories took place in the President’s home about five years before he died. I was inquiring about his memories of when he and his wife Louise lived in the house. Like so many times, a 15-minute story followed. I was always amazed by his recall. Even after the age of 90 he was a master at recalling dates of history in his life.

So, on Presidents Day as we celebrate our nation’s finest presidents, I am also reflecting on Clemson’s best president. I think of the lessons learned from a man made sound decisions but also earned the power and respect to enforce them. I think of the leadership skills of a man who had few detractors. I think of a man who was able to convince others of his conviction. I can’t help but to think how Clemson was so much different under his leadership and cringe to think where we would be if he had not decided to return to his alma mater in 1956.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family, Cason Palmer, Candace Fallaw, Scott Jackson, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle familty.