Fit for Battle: The Story of Wake Forest's Harold W. Tribble

By Jenny R. Puckett

The most turbulent period in the history of Wake Forest University (1941-1967) was also the most startlingly productive. This era began in eastern North Carolina, in the decade of the 1940's, when the school came perilously close to extinction, but it fought to survive. In 1946, a stunning offer to revive the school was accepted, but Wake Forest knew that the massive changes ahead would require a type of leader as yet unseen in its 116 years of existence. In 1950, a singular man was chosen to build a new campus and lead the march westward, transplanting the entire campus from rural Wake County, North Carolina, to the bustling city of Winston-Salem. Those who knew this man are still telling stories about him. Harold Wayland Tribble was the man who would keep Wake Forest in the forefront of the local and national news reports for decades, and whose public disputes ignited passionate reactions from across the state and nation. His life story, as told to the author by his family members, his personal papers, friends, rivals, and other sources, was as fascinating as were the changing times during which he served Wake Forest. This volume contains numerous untold stories of a controversial leader who fought many battles on behalf of the people and institutions that he loved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463426231

Jenny R. Puckett

Jenny Puckett graduated from Wake Forest University in 1971. After completing her Master of Arts degree at Middlebury College, she taught Spanish for many years on the high school and college levels. She has been a lecturer in Spanish at Wake Forest since 1995, where she has made the history of her alma mater into an avocation. Since 2005, she has worked closely with the student-led Traditions Council, which undertakes projects to educate the student body on Wake Forest lore, history, and traditions. In October of 2008, she was chosen to deliver the dedication speech at the unveiling of the Demon Deacon statue at BB &T Field. In April of 2009, her “Last Lecture” sparked student interest in Harold W. Tribble, which led to the writing of this book. In her spare time, she reads biographies and attempts to train a recalcitrant beagle and an exuberant English Springer Spaniel. She and her husband Jody live in Winston-Salem, NC. They have one son, Lee. All three members of the Puckett household are Wake Forest graduates and proud Demon Deacons.

Book preview

Contents

PROLOGUE:

I will not let us fail.

CHAPTER ONE:

The Fork in the Road

CHAPTER TWO:

Henry Wise Tribble

CHAPTER THREE:

Estelle

CHAPTER FOUR:

The World As Learning

Laboratory: 1917 – 1939

CHAPTER FIVE:

Pivot Point:

Years of Change in Louisville: 1940-1947

CHAPTER SIX:

Climbing the Hill: 1947-1950

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Tribble and the Battles Over Sports: Into the Fire: 1950-1967

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Tribble and the Baptists:

Losing Battles and Winning Wars: 1950-1967

CHAPTER NINE:

Tribble and Students –

Some Stories

CHAPTER TEN:

Our Lines Have Fallen in Pleasant Places

EPILOGUE:

The Last Battle

SKU-000469833_TEXT.pdf

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book was made possible by the people and resources of Wake Forest University. Funding for the research was provided by the William Archie Fund for the Arts and Humanities, and assistance in publishing was given by the Research and Publication Fund of the Office of the Dean of Wake Forest College.

The family of Harold W. Tribble was essential in creating the narrative of the 10th president of Wake Forest. His daughters and sons-in-law gave generously of their time, material, and guidance: Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett, and Barbara Ann Tribble Holding and Harvey R. Holding. They provided a wealth of new and invaluable source material from their private collections. In the same manner, Tribble’s niece by marriage, Byrd Barnette Tribble, offered priceless family photos and historical information. My heartfelt appreciation goes to all of them for their factual contributions, but I am thankful in much greater measure for their friendship. It has enriched my life more than they know.

The incomparable professional staff of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library of Wake Forest University exhibited endless patience and creative solutions to multiple challenges of researching articles, journals, books from other libraries, letters, and archival photos: Vicki Johnson, Megan Mulder, Katherine Gill, Julia Bradford, Joy Gambill, Cindy Good, Giz Womack, and Roz Tedford. Diana Yount was my able guide through the archives at Andover Newton Theological School. Thank you all for your skills and professionalism, but most of all for the generous spirit in which you welcomed my questions.

Many other people from Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem community sustained this work as it advanced: Molly Rawls from the Forsyth County Public Library; all of the interview subjects who told their stories with relish, detail, and good humor; my colleagues in the Romance Languages Department of the university, and many other friends across the campus and the city.

Finally, my guides and daily editors throughout the creative process of writing have been my husband Jody and son Lee. They have cheerfully borne my absence from many of our normal family routines (such as dinner) while work was in progress, but most of all, they share one trait: their unselfish love for me and for the family of Wake Forest has been my constant inspiration.

They are my north star.

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover photo: Wake Forest College President Harold Tribble, 1954. The game was held at Bowman Gray Stadium, between Wake Forest College and Maryland: Courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection

Epigraph: The grayscale photo of Wait Chapel and the Quad, rolled after Wake Forest won the ACC Championship football game, was photographed on December 3, 2006 by Jenny R. Puckett. Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1. Smith Reynolds standing in front of WACO 10 airplane, 1928: Courtesy of Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

2. The map of Smith Reynolds’ flight from England to China in 1931, reproduced from the Log of Aeroplane NR898W: Courtesy of Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

3. Henry Wise Tribble with academic medal from Richmond College in 1885, the same medal won in 1919 by his son Harold Wayland: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

4. The Tribble family in Virginia: from left, adults Henry Wise, sister-in-law Mattie, and wife Estelle; children from left, Lewis, Bessie Claire, Stella, and Henry: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

5. The Tribble children and cousins; back row: Stella Carlton, Henry Rawlings, Charles Emerson, cousin Flora Rucker, Bessie Claire, and Lewis Herndon; front row: Harold Wayland, cousin Mildred Rucker, and Mary Belle: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

6. Henry Wise Tribble, pastor of Charlottesville Baptist Church and president of The Rawlings Institute, circa 1900: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

7. The student body of Columbia College in 1912, the year of Henry Wise Tribble’s accidental death: Courtesy of Stetson University Library Archives, Stetson University, Deland, Florida

8. Estelle Rawlings Tribble with lace collar: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

9. Estelle tatting lace in Lake City, Florida: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

10. Estelle with puppy in Lake City: Courtesy of Byrd Barnette Tribble

11. Harold in his student days: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

12. 1931 passport photo of Harold, during his first period of study with Karl Barth: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

13. Harold Tribble in his classroom at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

14. Harold Tribble at his desk, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, circa 1935: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

15. Postcard advertisement for a week of preaching, 1943: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

16. Boys playing marbles at Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas, photographed on November 17, 1942 by Tom Parker: National Archives photo no. 210-G-E316, Item from Record Group 210: Records of the War Relocation Authority, Still Picture Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration

17. View of barracks at Rohwer Relocation Center showing drainage ditches, photographed on December 9, 1943 by Gretchen Van Tassel: National Archives photo no. 210-G-B993, Item from Record Group 210: Records of the War Relocation Authority, Still Picture Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration

18. Tribble’s inauguration at Andover Newton Theological School on November 19, 1947; from left: Dean Vaughn Dabney, Nelle Tribble, Harold Tribble, and Dr. Everett Herrick: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

19. Nelle and Harold in front of the president’s house at Andover Newton, during the big snow in the winter of 1947-48: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

20. Dean Vaughn Dabney, Harold Tribble, and Herbert Gezork, 1947: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

21. The Tribble family in the living room of the president’s house at Wake Forest College, 1950: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

22. Messengers to the Convention stand to vote in favor of the controversial Wake Forest trustee proposal, which fails to gain passage by only 194 votes, November 13, 1963: The Howler, Courtesy of Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

23. The student body turns out en masse to greet President Tribble on his return from Wilmington, turning defeat into a paradoxical victory. ~The Howler, 1964: Courtesy of Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

24. Hat in hand, an exhausted Tribble addresses the student body from the balcony of Reynolda Hall after the defeat at the Baptist State Convention, November 13, 1963: Courtesy of Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

25. Nelle and Harold Tribble celebrating his retirement on June 30, 1967: Courtesy of Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

26. Tribble reads to his granddaughter Amy Barnett, from a book sent to her from London, England by her father, Richard Barnett: Courtesy of Amy Barnett, Betty May Tribble Barnett and Richard C. Barnett

LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED

Marjorie Angell

Betty May Tribble Barnett

Richard C. Barnett

Dr. Gray Boyette

Rebecca F. Brown

Murray Greason, Jr.

Dr. Walter Harrelson

Dr. Ed Hendricks

Barbara Ann Tribble Holding

Harvey R. Holding

Dr. Gene H. Hooks

Willie Hughes

Albert R. Hunt

Adrian King

Harold S. (Pete) Moore

Marina H. Nowell (2008)

Dr. Henry S. Stroupe (2008)

Byrd Barnette Tribble

Dr. Edwin G. Wilson

Diana Yount

PROLOGUE:

I will not let us fail.

The younger man was puzzled; it seemed that with every new semester, fresh controversies were arising to roil the new campus of Wake Forest College and its president, Harold Wayland Tribble. The latest conflict had been particularly acrimonious, public, and disheartening. Dismayed by the turmoil, the young professor felt compelled to ask of the president, How do you tolerate what people are saying about you? Why do you fight so hard to defend your positions?

Before walking away, Tribble replied simply, "Because I will not let us fail."

On that day in the mid 1950’s, Harold Tribble was still in his first decade as Wake Forest’s tenth president. He had already accomplished the near-impossible: he had led a college through its final days on an old campus beloved for 124 years, raised enormous sums of money, planned and supervised the building of a new campus, negotiated governance issues with a strong denominational convention, and straddled the competing expectations of numerous interest groups. But what lay ahead was uncharted territory: Tribble was now forced to make calculations which were completely different from those of his predecessors or successors. Over the years, the decisions he made were seldom neutral, and never universally popular, but he fulfilled the task for which history chose him.

The twentieth century had seen the most turbulent period in the history of Wake Forest University, yet also the most startlingly productive. Beginning in the 1930’s, the school underwent massive and wrenching changes, ultimately resulting in the transplantation of the entire campus from rural Wake County, North Carolina, to the small but bustling city of Winston-Salem. At one point, in the early 40’s, the future of the school seemed uncertain, but it scrapped and fought to survive. Ultimately, the future of Wake Forest was secured when Harold Tribble was chosen to move the college to Winston-Salem in 1956.

The presidency of Wake Forest College was never by its nature a war; there was nothing to be vanquished except failure. However, the choreography of managing a vastly complex new creation, with many different factions and interest groups, could be likened to that of directing a large battle. The battle had several fronts and a variety of adversarial groups, some of which were skirmishing simultaneously. Ironically, the general at the top of this chain of command was a seminarian, a noted theologian and Baptist minister, who came at a time when the college and the society in general were rapidly becoming more secular.

Harold Tribble was never averse to hardship nor did he avoid conflict. In his youth he had witnessed his own father’s experiences as a Baptist minister who led schools imperiled by lack of funding. Tribble saw the sacrifices of his father Henry Wise, his mother Estelle, and eight siblings as they faced frightening times of war, death, and hardship. But he came to adulthood undeterred, with a plan to follow in his father’s footsteps.

He was fit for battle.

CHAPTER ONE:

The Fork in the Road

Retrospect has been exceedingly kind to Harold Wayland Tribble, much more so than were his own times. When he retired in 1967, Tribble was not a rich man, but he had amassed true wealth in the honors and gratitude offered to him by a newly minted university. His was the most tumultuous presidency of modern Wake Forest history, yet it was the most startlingly productive. Those who look back on the Great Removal Program, which brought a good regional college to Winston-Salem so that it could become a first-rate national university, marvel that it ever happened at all. If the college had not found the right leader at the right time, the school’s greatest gamble would have failed. Today, many who knew Harold Tribble or who witnessed the events of his years in office say that a lesser man could never have met the multiple and enormous challenges that faced Wake Forest’s 10th president in the school’s most critical era of transition. Fortunately, if success depended on sheer determination and a thick skin, Tribble had those qualities in abundance.

This chapter traces the events that led the school to select Harold W. Tribble as the 10th president of Wake Forest. To understand the significance of his pivotal role in the history of Wake Forest, it is necessary to revisit the era of radical change which preceded his presidency by twenty years. World and local events in the years between 1930 and 1946 culminated in the search for a president who might be capable of taking on unprecedented and multiple tasks which would alter the very future of the college. In those years, the beloved old campus faced rapid changes, some of which were benign and hoped-for, and others which could only be called calamitous. The decisions made in each case brought Wake Forest to its most important choice and biggest gamble: should it leave the town of Wake Forest, its home for over a century? And who would build the college a new home in Winston-Salem and lead it there?

The trials of the Thirties: the beginning

After the retirement of William Louis Poteat in 1927, Francis Pendleton Gaines was named as president of Wake Forest. His ambitious plan for the college was to make it into a gentleman’s school; toward that end, he advocated smaller class size, increased tuition, raised admission requirements, and instituted higher grading standards. In 1928, with unfortunate timing, the trustees ordered a beautiful new president’s house to be built on Durham Road, a structure which became another millstone around the neck of the college when the stock market crashed in 1929. Following what was thought to be his professional aspiration, Gaines resigned in 1930, in order to accept the presidency of Washington and Lee College in Lexington, Virginia.

Soon thereafter, Thurman Delna Kitchin, a physician, science professor, and dean of the Wake Forest medical school, was chosen as the next president, an office he would occupy for 20 years. One of Kitchin’s first decisions was to lower the tuition to its previous level, so that Wake Forest matriculation could remain competitive with Duke and UNC. But the times were more than unfriendly to the college’s economy; in fact, the entire decade became increasingly difficult. Even as the Great Depression became a dreary reality, in 1933 and 1934 a series of mysterious and devastating fires broke out on campus and in the town of Wake Forest, which had no fire department. On the night that the College Building (Wait Hall) burned to the ground, May 5, l933, the first flames were spotted by the engineer on a train passing near the campus. He immediately telegraphed the Raleigh fire department for help, but the trucks came too late to save it. Students who lived in the wings of the building escaped the fire, and watched along with the faculty and townspeople as it burned to the ground. The next year, at midnight on Valentine’s Day of 1934, Wingate Memorial Hall burned, destroying the campus’ only chapel and physics labs. Although a few relics from the lab were saved, one of the incalculable losses was a group of historical portraits on the second floor: "…portraits mostly in oil