黑料专区

Bob Gulledge 鈥�68, the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Alumni Award, keeps coming up with ways to thank Pfeiffer College. He remembers his time on the baseball field and his days in the classroom as pivotal moments that continue, more than 50 years later, to influence his life and his dreams.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 trade my time at Pfeiffer for the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t turned out to be one of the very best things that happened in my life. I met my wife of 53 years (Becky Barkley 鈥�68, an English major) there, along with a lot of my best friends.鈥�

One of those friends, Griggy Porter 鈥�69, said that Gulledge was 鈥渕ost deserving鈥� of the Outstanding Alumni Award because he 鈥渨orks tirelessly鈥� to promote and advance Pfeiffer and encourages others to do the same. 

Gulledge had double majors in economics and business administration and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the , paving the way for a successful career in commercial banking. His first employer was Wachovia Bank and Trust in Winston-Salem, N.C, now part of Wells Fargo. He later worked for First Virginia Bank and then BB&T in Norfolk, Va., when it acquired First Virginia. Now retired, he and Becky live in Camden, S.C.

Gulledge has expressed his gratitude to Pfeiffer in a myriad of ways, most notably as a painter atop the spire of Henry Pfeiffer Chapel. In the late 1980s, he began participating in 鈥淭om Sawyer Days,鈥� an all-volunteer effort in which the University鈥檚 key stakeholders came together to repaint or refurbish every building on its Misenheimer campus. The effort became a meaningful way to re-engage alumni in the advancement of Pfeiffer.

Gulledge took the lead in repainting Henry Pfeiffer Chapel, which had begun to look unattractively rough after an earlier coat of paint started peeling away. Gulledge, then a resident of Winston-Salem, traveled to Pfeiffer on weekends for the better part of a year. He painted the chapel with Gerald Carpenter (鈥�85 Hon.), who was at Pfeiffer from 1983 until his retirement in 2013 and Sheila Prevatte (鈥�94 Hon.), who served as Pfeiffer鈥檚 Director of Health Services from 1987 to 2004.

Carpenter, an Assistant Professor of Business and, between 1989 and 1993, the VP for Advancement, praised Gulledge for being 鈥渂rave enough to risk getting into the rented lift to paint the tallest campus structure.鈥�

鈥淏ob was steadfast throughout the entire Tom Sawyer effort,鈥� Carpenter added. 鈥淗e tirelessly recruited participants from his class, fellow trustees, and other alumni and friends. As the effort grew, Bob was always totally involved, and more importantly, as the effort was reaching its goal of totally enhancing the curb appeal of Pfeiffer, Bob never waned in his participation to complete the job of painting the chapel.鈥�    

For more than 50 years, Gulledge has remained loyal in his support of his alma mater. Led by Thad Woodard 鈥�68, their Class President, Gulledge and other Class of 1968 members began working, even before graduation, to raise money for a significant class gift. Eventually, at the request of Pfeiffer鈥檚 administration, the 鈥�68 alumni earmarked a portion of the money they鈥檇 raised for renovations that transformed the Merner Center into the Visitor and Welcome Center, which began operating in the 2017-18 academic year.

Gulledge鈥檚 most recent way of thanking Pfeiffer was inspired by his association with聽Joseph S. Ferebee, Sr., the late coach of Pfeiffer鈥檚 baseball teams from 1956 to 1987.聽Ferebee, who remains the winningest coach in North Carolina college and American Legion history, coached Gulledge when he played second base for Pfeiffer behind Porter.

Gulledge conceived of His Field, Our Dreams: A Lifetime of Baseball with Legendary Coach Joe Ferebee (Palmetto Publishing), in which 67 of Ferebee鈥檚 former players and friends pay tribute to him through remembrances. Gulledge and Gary Weart 鈥�71, who nominated Gulledge for the Outstanding Alumni Award, compiled the remembrances for the book, which was edited and proofed by Margaret Whitt 鈥�68. Larry Monaghan 鈥�68 joined Gulledge to promote the team鈥檚 effort throughout the region. 

His Field, Our Dreams has attracted positive attention in the press, and has been the subject of several news articles. Proceeds from sales of the book have benefitted Pfeiffer鈥檚 baseball program. What the book鈥檚 contributors wrote 鈥渟ays something about the quality of people who were at Pfeiffer then, and I suspect, still are,鈥� Gulledge said.

Gulledge also honored his former coach by joining forces with several other Pfeiffer alumni to fund an endowed scholarship honoring Ferebee. Between the 2007-08 and the 2016-17 academic years, $25k in aid was awarded to seniors on Pfeiffer鈥檚 baseball team.

The criteria for the Joseph E. Ferebee Endowed Scholarship changed in 2017 when Pfeiffer became a DIII school and, thus, could no longer award athletic scholarships. The fund now supports students who have academic merit and financial need and who exhibit the qualities of a campus leader.

And, as Weart pointed out, Gulledge orchestrated many alumni events around birthdays and activities for Ferebee before his death in 2020.

Gulledge, who  the 1990 Distinguished Alumnus Award of Pfeiffer College, has also served on Pfeiffer鈥檚 Board of Trustees (1991-2004), provided financial support for its baseball program, and served as President of the Pfeiffer College Alumni Association. He is a member of the Falcon Club.

Gulledge believes he has many reasons to be thankful for his experience at Pfeiffer.

He came to Misenheimer on a $3k scholarship from  in Salisbury, N.C. His capability and diligence as a student soon found favor with Ret. Col. James Williams (U.S. Air Force), a Professor of Economics who chaired Pfeiffer鈥檚 Division of Economics and Business Administration from 1961 to 1971. Williams knew the admissions director at Wharton and told Gulledge he would help him gain acceptance if he applied. Gulledge views this as a foundational component of his successful banking career. 

Gulledge had played second base at East Rowan, but he wasn鈥檛 on Ferebee鈥檚 radar before he graduated high school, and he had no plans to play at Pfeiffer. His plans changed when Art Small 鈥�67 went through Plyler Hall, Gulledge鈥檚 dorm during his freshman year, encouraging people to come out for fall ball. Gulledge had been enrolled for just a couple of weeks. He didn鈥檛 have a glove, but he went to the diamond anyway.

After a few weeks of practice, Ferebee, sensing that Gulledge was in it for the long haul, ordered his newest second baseman a coveted , which replaced the one he had been borrowing. An A2000 cost $19.95 in 1964; it now costs $279.95. Gulledge still has his Pfeiffer glove — which 鈥渇ielded a lot of my memories of playing baseball.鈥�

He would come to credit Ferebee with imparting a number of life lessons. One of the most important would be the value of hard work: Ferebee would hit grounder after grounder to Gulledge and others with the goal of ensuring perfectly executed double plays.

鈥淎ll that was more than about baseball,鈥� Gulledge said. 鈥淭he older I got the more I realized that this practice-makes-perfect stuff doesn鈥檛 make you perfect, but it makes you a lot better than you would have been otherwise. I trace that back to Coach Ferebee.鈥�

---

Ken Keuffel, who authored this article, has served as Pfeiffer鈥檚 Assistant Director of Communications since December 2019. He welcomes story ideas from Pfeiffer鈥檚 faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends. The form for submitting story ideas is at聽Story Idea/News Item Request Form.