60th Anniversary Timeline: 1960s
Posted on December 12, 2024 by USA Marketing and Communications
The region’s higher education dreams finally come true. State Rep. Clara Stone Fields of Mobile coins the name University of South Alabama: “‘USA’ just has a good ring to it.” Visionary young President Frederick Whiddon (pictured at top right), appointed in October 1963, oversees rapid growth. Enrollment rises from zero in spring 1964 to 4,526 by fall 1969. Outside class, students hang out at the administration building’s basement snack bar and enjoy excellent cafeteria food from Pete Zitsos, later of Zitsos Cafeteria downtown. In celebration of the University’s 60th Anniversary, South Magazine features selected moments and memories from our first six decades, drawn from yearbooks, contemporary records and alumni recollections.
1964
Building a Foundation
South opens with one building (now the Frederick Palmer Whiddon Administration Building)
and an annual budget of
$869,000.
Instant Success
Classes begin June 8 with a 27-member faculty and 276 students. Fall quarter enrollment hits 928, almost double expectations.
1965
Play Ball
Mel Lucas becomes the first athletics director and first baseball coach. Today, men and women compete for the University in 17 Division I sports.
Roar!
South adopts a mascot: the jaguar. The jaguar’s coat inspires the University colors of black and gold. Trustees switch to red, white and blue in 1967.
1967
Home Sweet Home
South opens its first dormitories, in the Alpha complex, housing several hundred students. Around this time, it also buys homes in the neighboring Hillsdale Heights development for student housing. It exits Hillsdale in 2009.
THE FIRST Commencement sees 88 diplomas awarded downtown at the Mobile Municipal Theater (now the Mobile Civic Center Theater).
SOUTH ADDS the College of Education and the College of Business and Management Studies.
TRUSTEES officially recognize fraternities and sororities, though they had operated since shortly after the University opened. L.W. Brannan Jr. worries about Greek organizations “getting control of the institution” and votes no. Sigma Chi, founded in October 1964, is South’s first fraternity. Other pioneers are Phi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon (all 1965) and Theta Chi (1966), and for women Phi Mu, Kappa Delta, Delta Zeta (all 1965) and Chi Omega (1966). The annual Sigma Alpha Epsilon Bed Race and Chi Omega Songfest quickly become campus traditions.
1968
Hoops, Bytes, Degrees
Men’s basketball debuts with a win over Millsaps.
Trustees authorize $342,000 for an IBM 360 mainframe computer. Total memory: 4 megabytes.
South bestows its first six master’s degrees.
The University receives accreditation.
1969
On the Map
Eddie Stanky becomes baseball coach and puts South athletics on the national map. The three-time major league All-Star compiles a 488-195-2 record in 14 seasons. Known as a fiery player, he mentors patiently as a coach. In 1980, the University opens a new baseball stadium named Stanky Field. Steve Kittrell succeeds Stanky in 1984 and goes 1,052-644-1 in 28 seasons.
ALL ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA