VT Stories Oral History with Eugene Banks, May 21, 2015 (Ms2016-015)

Claire Gogan: This is Claire Gogan, and it is May 21st 2015. We're in the Holtzman Alumni Center at Virginia Tech. What is your name, date, and place of birth please?

Eugene Banks: Eugene Franklin Banks. Place of birth Richmond, Virginia. Date of birth 12/21/29.

Claire: What years did you go to Virginia Tech?

Eugene B: '46 I started and graduated in 1950.

Claire: Great. Can you tell us a little bit about where you were raised and your family and what things were like for you when you were growing up?

Eugene B: I grew up in and was raised in Richmond. It seems that most of my growing up was during World War II when things were quite different. I graduated, I started to school - well my birthday is in December. You were supposed to be 6 years old when you started 1:00the first grade. I was 5 years old that September but they let me enter the first grade, which seemed to make me the youngest person in the class each year because I had entered school at the age of 5. In Virginia at that time there were only 11 years of school. It wasn't until the late 40s I believe that we went to 12 years of school. So I started to school at age 5. I attended school 2:00for 11 years, graduated from high school, so I was 16 years old when I entered...when I went off to college. Now that I have grandchildren who are entering college at 19 and 20 it seems that I was right young, but I was always the baby. Well, I won't say the baby, but the youngest in the class. At that time there why did I, I think back why did I attend Virginia Tech. I wanted 3:00to be an engineer. I remember well in the summer before coming here someone asked me what engineering I was going to take, and I think my answer was I don't know. They said, "Why don't you take electrical engineering and then you can repair radios?" So I did. I signed up for electrical engineering, but I hadn't been here too long when I realized that electrical engineering was a lot more than repairing radios, so I changed my curriculum and graduated in industrial engineering. Do you want to pick up there, where can we go from right there?

Claire: Well I'm curious about - you talked about always being the youngest, so obviously this is something that is important to you in your memory of growing 4:00up. So what did that feel like being...? You said you were always the baby; how was that for it?

Eugene B: Well, I don't know that it created an inferiority complex, but I was - again, I was always the youngest person, most always the youngest person in the class. And of course arriving in Blacksburg for my freshman year I was 16 years old, and at that time many of the servicemen were returning and going to college. So here I was age 16 and most of my class was - well including the servicemen were over 20. I don't think it gave me a complex 5:00or anything, it's a fact of life that I was young when I entered and young when I left, when I graduated.

Claire: So was that something you liked, liked being around a lot of people who were older than you?

Eugene B: I don't know that...by this time it really didn't matter.

Claire: It's just kind of how it was.

Eugene B: Yes. There were some things that you couldn't do or buy until you became 18 years old or 20. And I was always the last one to be able to qualify to buy them. I think cigarettes was one of them.

Claire: So you switched to industrial engineering when you were at Tech from electrical engineering. So tell me about studying industrial engineering.

Eugene B: I don't know that when we say studying about it. At that time it seemed that industrial engineering covered a broader spectrum of job possibilities than to say you would pick out mechanical, electrical, civil, aeronautical, industrial. Industrial covered a pretty broad field. As it turned out I don't know that I ever had a job where industrial engineer particularly applied.

Claire: So why did you choose to come to Virginia Tech?

Eugene B: A very simple way to answer that, because all of my friends were. There was an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch which I uncovered 7:00recently in the last couple of weeks. I had someone, maybe I had clipped it, and the article listed about eight names who were all going off to school at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. We didn't call it Virginia Tech at the time. Well maybe so. So why did I come? Because there was engineering; I knew I wanted to do that, and all of my friends were coming here. Not a very strong reason for coming, but that's why I was here.

Claire: Did most of your friends want to study engineering also?

Eugene B: I would say that yes. We had a person studying biology who became a pediatrician, and we had some in business. As I recall 8:00people didn't come studying business; you found yourself in business after being here a while and learning your way around and moving your curriculum to business, as I moved mine to industrial engineering. But I came because everybody else was.

Claire: So, do you have a first memory of Virginia Tech? Do you remember what it was like when you first got to the campus, like what it looked like or smelled like, how big it was?

Eugene B: Looked I can comment, smell I don't think so.

Claire: You don't remember? [Laughs]

Eugene B: Bear in mind that in the years prior to my coming with the war we had gas rationing, so I had never visited the Virginia Tech campus.

Claire: Oh wow.

Eugene B: Unlike now when you're going off to college you visit a lot, I had never seen Virginia Tech. The time came for me to leave. A friend's parents picked me up and carried my friend and I to Blacksburg. Never before had I ever been here. In the meanwhile, I had shipped my worldly goods and clothes by a footlocker railway express. So that day I got in the car. We came to Blacksburg. My first impression of the school was when we pulled up when what we called the 10:00Student Activities Building. I don't know if that's the title of it now. They put us out the car. We got in line on the steps of the Student Activities Building and waited our turn to enroll in Virginia Polytechnic Institute. And we were told where we were to go, a dormitory, and you found your way. Maybe we had some help; I must have had some help. All of this is to say in answer to your question, my first impression of Virginia Polytechnic Institute was the Student 11:00Activities Building, the line, and me in line waiting to enter college. Then when we got to the room I found my room, dorm room, and I then had to find my footlocker, which was at the railway express office. I won't say in downtown Blacksburg [chuckles] on the road somewhere between Blacksburg and Christiansburg. I had to find - well I found a cab, and I asked the cab driver to take me to the railway express office where I recovered my footlocker and was carried back to my dormitory. And with the help of someone outside the 12:00dorm we carried my footlocker up three flights of stairs. That's my first day at Virginia Tech. It quite frankly didn't have a lot of exciting impressions for me. [Laughs] It was a day of work and looking.

Claire: So you came from Richmond and then you went to Virginia Tech, so what was that transition like going from a more open area to Blacksburg?

Eugene B: In a word confining, because at that time I was enrolled in the Cadet Corps. And upon arriving and placed in a dormitory I was placed in a cadet company. And at that time I was now a part of a crowd, a large organizations, a company of cadets, and I was told what to do, 13:00when to do it, where to do it, and I was under the complete jurisdiction of my upper classmen. In other words, I was part of a crowd real quick. At that time attendance, enrollment membership in the Cadet Corps was required of all incoming freshman who had not been in the military.

Claire: Okay. But for the folks who had been in the military they were exempt from joining, I see.

Eugene B: When Virginia Tech was founded under an Act of Congress or the State - what 14:00was it called, the rules were that you were to be a member. It was BROTC, and you were required to be in the Corps for the first two years. After that it was choice. You could become a civilian and leave the Cadet Corps or you could continue as a cadet and graduate and likely receive a commission in the Army Reserve. But the adjustment, my adjustment to college from Richmond was a controlled environment. Controlled by the Corps of Cadets, which was probably 15:00very good.

Claire: Why do you think that was probably very good?

Eugene B: Well, to arrive at a college, in effect not knowing anybody because all of these friends who I had joined were spread around the campus. They weren't next door to me or across the hall. I was pretty much alone or I was a stranger, or there were nothing but strangers around me in the dormitory. So to find yourself automatically as part of a cadet company I think that was good. Despite the 16:00rules and regulations you had friends, and you soon found that the other freshman on your floor and your company were good friends.

Claire: So what do you remember about the faculty when you were here? Like who are some of your favorite or least favorite professors and why were they important?

Eugene B: I'm afraid my time in the classroom now 65-70 years ago I'm without much of a recollection of my studies or the instructors. Interesting though, the one 17:00classroom I remember was in Davidson Hall, and I think that building is still I believe. In fact they're taking a tour over there this afternoon. I remember one large classroom in my freshman year and that was in Davidson Hall, and the classroom is probably still there. It was more like an auditorium than a classroom, but remembering the instructors I can't. There were no favorites or not favorites. [Chuckles]

Claire: So in that room you remember in Davidson Hall you said it was more like an auditorium. Were there like a lot of students in that class with you? Was it one of those huge classes like we have now or was it kind of...?

Eugene B: I would say and we'll use the word 'huge'. I think it was something like general chemistry. Perhaps it was a required course of everyone in engineering and a lot of other subjects. Yes, it was a large large class. Most of my other classes were a normal size whatever that might have been at the time, and maybe they were a little larger classes then than now 18:00because of the returning servicemen. But of course when I... The enrollment now I understand we are 30,000. What's the enrollment here?

Claire: I think it's about 30...maybe 25 or 30, around there.

Eugene B: Well that's a good round number. Memory serves me that at the time I graduated there was something like 4 to 7,000 enrolled. I can't remember the figure. Our class I'm guessing, our class graduated less than 1,000 that day in Miles Stadium. That's what we called 19:00the stadium. Is that still...? Do we have a name for our stadium?

Female: Casell Crossing? Is that right?

Claire: I guess I don't know. Grad students don't get out much. [Laughs]

Eugene B: Well, the stadium when I was here before you were born is no longer here. I mean that's been replaced by this fine facility that we played football in. But anyway, the enrollment understandably there were a very few students here at that time based on what we have now. You're talking about enrollment now of probably five times what we had at the 20:00time I graduated.

Claire: So I'm assuming that campus overall was smaller then. Because I know a lot of these buildings were built in the 60s or even later.

Eugene B: Yes it was. You walked wherever you were going. I don't know whether that's the case now or not. Do you need to have a ride to get to some of your classes? [Laughs] But yes, the campus extended to Davidson Hall. The campus extended to the West.

Claire: To the west.

Eugene B: To the North the campus extended to I think we called it #1 barracks. There's an old barracks up there that's been there forever, and it is on the south. It extended to the dining 21:00hall and on going towards town. It extended to the Student Activities Building, so picture those four points - Davidson College, Davidson Hall, #1 Barracks, Student Activities Building, and the Mess Hall.

Claire: That's quite a bit smaller.

Eugene B: I'm anxious to see. I'm going to take a ride through the campus. I understand I have to be careful not to get lost.

Claire: Do you have any favorite memories or experiences from Tech that you could share with us?

Eugene B: Nothing stands out as a favorite. When you're looking at four years and saying what was some of the favorite things that happened, if I put down one 23:00it would be finishing my freshman year as a Rat in the Cadet Corps, and what an experience to move up and be an upperclassman. That was probably as exciting as favorite as you could want. You were now part of the gang.

Claire: You say finishing your experience as a Rat in the Cadet Corps?

Eugene B: Your first year in the Cadet Corps was a lot different than it is now. Falling short of hazing it was rough. You were... I want to say punished. [Chuckles] If you did not have your - do the right thing, have your clothes pressed, your shoes shined you could receive penalties. And in order to work off those penalties you had to 24:00walk around what we called the Triangle, which is maybe that is...Quadrangle - excuse me. I don't know whether that's still here or not. But if you misbehaved you were given penalties. In order to get rid of the penalties you had to take so many trips around the Quadrangle. So yes, when you finished your freshman year and put all that behind you I would say that that could have been remembered as...that is remembered as a favorite time.

Claire: So was it just the freshman who were subject to those types of things or did they gradually get better as you moved up in the years or was it just freshman who had to?

Eugene B: I would say gradually get better, because a cadet could be penalized for some misbehavior, gross doing, even as an upperclassman. But you did not get the attention that you did as a freshman. It was called getting your privileges. When you became a sophomore you had your...you were given your privileges, and it was quite an occasion because you would ask... You had to speak to the upperclassmen and call them 'sir' and when you then became a sophomore and got your privileges you would go to the upperclassmen and say, "I would like my 26:00privileges now." At which point they would have you bend over and hit you in the bottom with a broom. [Laughs] That's the way you got your privileges. Is that a favorite time to remember? [Laughs]

Claire: It sounds notable, maybe not favorite. [Laughs] So what are some examples of misbehavior that one of the freshman cadets could get in trouble for?

Eugene B: Well I have to search my mind for this. If you did not keep your uniform pressed, your shoes shined or wear the wrong thing, maybe well just wear the wrong thing. If you - 27:00I'm kind of stretching a point here now, if you left your room at a time perhaps when it was study period that would have been a penalty. Misbehavior is the best way I can answer your question.

Claire: Right.

Eugene B: And there were always those upperclassmen there. [Laughs] Someone would see you.

Claire: So were the upperclassmen the people who were imposing the punishments or like what was the hierarchy?

Eugene B: Well the hierarchy was the officers and non-commissioned officers in your cadet company. They were just like in the military today. I 28:00don't mean here, but in the Army. Your non-commissioned officers and your commissioned officers could penalize you for an act of misbehavior. It was similar, exactly like that.

Claire: Okay. So can you tell us about - before the interview started you talked about Rad Tech, that you lived in I guess auxiliary housing at Radford. Can you tell us about your experiences with that?

Eugene B: Well, experiences - these were... Well, these were rooms. Our presence at Rad Tech was to give us a room and these were in a building that looked like a barracks. By virtue of your being at Rad Tech memory serves me that you had some privileges, that you were permitted to do some things which you couldn't have done on the campus. Don't ask that I recite those. I don't know what they were, but I do recall that it was a privilege, or you were privileged, 30:00given privileges for the inconvenience that you had to live away from the campus. I can't recite what they might be and I don't know that people would have run to sign... Well you didn't volunteer for Radford. You were told that will be your living accommodations, just as today on the campus I suppose a freshman is told where he is going to live. If you don't want to stay on campus you stay wherever you want, but in the Cadet Corps you were assigned to Radford, and the experiences there were made... The inconvenience there was made more acceptable because of some extra privileges. Maybe you could leave your lights 31:00on later at night, what a privilege you know. Memory serves me that we were permitted to visit Radford. What a privilege that would be because that's where the girls were. But I can't think of anything particularly now except some inconvenience to say of Rad Tech.

Claire: But you were permitted to visit Radford. So did you do that? Is that something that you did on a regular basis?

Eugene B: I feel quite sure that people on campus could have visited. These 32:00things that I say to you are all those things that pertained to being in ROTC. We had as many - I think we had as many civilian students here, more than we had ROTC. And as in most colleges today these civilian students come and go as they please. You don't have to be in your room at a certain time. You just don't have the regulations. These things that I'm talking about came because we were members of the ROTC, and there were restrictions, limitations which did not 33:00apply to the civilian students.

Claire: My next question is about difficult experiences you had at Tech. you talked about the indignities of being a freshman, so what are some other more difficult experiences that you can remember?

Eugene B: I suppose that your limitations you were not permitted to leave the campus or go back to your home whenever you... I mean you could quit 34:00school I guess, but your weekends were closed in many occasions. A good thing, when we did get the chance to return home the civilian students, the ex-military had cars and in the post office if you were driving to my hometown this weekend you might put up a notice on the bulletin board 'riders wanted' because you want somebody to pay for the gas. You're going home, and if you can get some folks to go with you it will pay for the gas. So while there were restrictions about how often you could leave the campus, the interesting thing was that it cost me $5 to get a round trip ride to Richmond. And I think Richmond is 100-200 miles 35:00away. A sign of the times and the prices of things. But as far as the inconveniences again being in the Cadet Corps you could not go whenever and wherever you wanted to and do whatever you wanted to do. Those restrictions applied.

Claire: So when could you go home?

Eugene B: It seems to me that we were given so many weekends you were allocated so many weekends off in a quarter. Are we still on the quarter system here?

Claire: We do semesters.

Eugene B: Oh, we were on the quarter system. Memory serves me that I 36:00had permission to go to leave campus, to go on leave it was called. They didn't care where you went I don't think, but you were restricted to so many weekends off in a quarter. And generally you are restricted...you had two kinds of leaves. You had the leave to go on Friday and the leave to go on Saturday. The leave to go on Friday would permit you to miss your Saturday classes, if we had them. You know I don't even remember whether we had Saturday classes or not. [Chuckles] But there were...your trips were pretty well regulated when you were in the Cadet Corps.

Claire: How has your Virginia Tech education played out in your life?

Eugene B: Certainly going to college, and I'm not saying Virginia Tech here at this point, going to college has improved my life. Going to Virginia Tech I left the State of Virginia not many years after graduating from college, so living in another state Virginia Tech did not carry the same 38:00significance as it would have been that I could boast on living in Virginia. I'm quite sure that what I have done, the life I've had has been improved by having gone to college and yes, probably a little more by having had the experiences here. But I could not pick out anything. I didn't get any special privileges for having a Virginia Tech or Virginia Polytechnic Institute diploma on my wall.

Claire: So what was your first job after graduating from Tech?

Eugene B: I went to work for a plumbing supply place. That seemed to have a ring of engineering to it called Crane Company. They were plumbing supply people, and I 39:00became at the bottom of the roll, of the list in the warehouse. And in the period of four, five or six years I worked through the office and became a salesman. That was my first job. It was not intended that way. I had a job lined up at graduation and when the time came the company changed its policies. I don't think they were pointing particularly at me. It was just a change they were not going to do what I had...what they intended to hire me to do. I left 40:00Crane Company and joined with a person who I had met through them and we went into the boiler insulation business for a short period of time. Then I moved to my third job which was in the insurance business and I spent about 40 years in the insurance business. That was my career. These others were just sort of 41:00happenings.

Claire: So was your first job in Virginia?

Eugene B: Richmond. It was in Richmond. My second job was in Richmond. My third job was in Richmond. That's the job that I...the third job was the one that I spent the 40 years with, and I was transferred after a few years in that job to North Carolina. I did not go on purpose. [Chuckles]

Claire: Where in North Carolina was that?

Eugene B: I went to Greensboro.

Claire: Not too far.

Eugene B: I knew that the sun would never shine if I left Richmond, but don't you know it did and we had a wonderful life after we moved. And when I had to move from Greensboro I had the same concern, which was natural, but lo and behold I moved to Charlotte. 42:00Charlotte has been wonderful.

Claire: You currently live near Charlotte?

Eugene B: I moved to a retirement community right outside of Charlotte a few years ago, when I retired.

Claire: So if somebody says the words Virginia Tech to you what do you first think of? What comes to mind?

Eugene B: Probably when are they playing football next? [Laughs] My connection with the school now is principally on a sports basis. I follow their sports. Of late I have developed a 43:00relationship with the alumni office here because some of my friends had things to donate, and I acted as the go-between. So of late I have been handler of donations, but at this point my connection, my relationship living in Charlotte or Mathews is principally through interest in the sports here.

Claire: So just being a fan or are you active in other ways?

Eugene B: Well now I did have two sons who graduated from here.

Claire: Okay.

Eugene B: They graduated in the early 80s, and during that time of course coming up here from time to time I had that connection. I had sons in the school, so yes, that was what I thought of when I heard Virginia Tech. But they have long ago graduated and my interest now is sports.

Claire: So you said that your main interest in Virginia Tech now is sports. Are there any other ways that you're still involved with Virginia Tech?

Eugene B: As I mentioned I have been responsible for some physical gifts, not fiscal but physical gifts. One of my friends had some 70-year-old yearbooks which I have...I've come to know is it Jessica? Anyway, by virtue of getting these to the school I have become acquainted and have a friendship with some of the people in the Alumni Department, but that's the only connection. Sports as an interest, but I don't do anything on behalf of the...other than what I've just said.

Claire: Why do you think so many Virginia Tech graduates stay 46:00involved with the school in some ways? Is it something about the school or...?

Eugene B: I think that we can give the alumni office credit for some of that when they send solicitations and ask you for contributions. [Laughs] Why do they have friends stay in touch with the school? Because they are receiving mail from Tom Tiller and some of the others saying won't you please send some money up here. I think as the years have passed and the connection has moved into the 47:00distance there, there aren't many things or ways that most of us could stay connected. And I am not aware living in North Carolina that there are...that my friends of old what they are doing with Virginia Tech. I'm just not in touch with the others and how they might be involved.

Claire: So what are some changes that you are seeing at Tech over time? Have you been back frequently?

Eugene B: I have been back probably on the Old Guard weekend has been my return, which is every five years for my class. So the answer to your question is no, I have not been in touch other than answering requests for contributions and this last incidence of getting those yearbooks up here. I'm out of touch, and it's 48:00understandable. In a few words, I have very little to keep me in touch now living 200 miles away.

Claire: So when you come back every five years...

Eugene B: I think so. I came to the last one, but I do not have as I said, it's 200 miles from my door to your door, so one does not just jump in the car and make a visit.

Claire: Right.

Eugene B: There are times that I would like to do it and 49:00come to a football game, but again, that distance I'm just too far away.

Claire: Right. Over the course of your visits for the Old Guard weekends what are some changes that you've seen in the school? Are there any changes that really stand out to you?

Eugene B: I could better comment on that tomorrow after I have taken a tour around the campus. The changes would have to be physical. Now I am aware that when I pulled into the building to the inn yesterday something has been torn down across the street, and I didn't know what that was. But no, I am not familiar and I have not made trips to the campus to know of 50:00what changes and I'm anxious to see them when I take a tour.

Claire: I guess kind of breaking things up into three different eras, so between when you went to Virginia Tech and when your sons went to Virginia Tech what changed? Like how did the school change during that time?

Eugene B: Well, the change, when they came they were not in the Cadet Corps, so they lived an entirely different type of life than I did coming here as a cadet. What changes I've seen, my sons were...there are all fraternities here now, social fraternities. That and we were...they had joined social fraternities. What changes I've seen that's 51:00certainly one of them, because the only fraternities we had were professional fraternities. The changes, I could not point out changes now considering that my sons graduated now 30 years ago, and I have not made a social visit... Well that's not social; I have not been up here except on special occasions such as this in all that time. So I'm not a good one to talk about the changes; I'm just not familiar with them.

Claire: You don't feel like you can comment on the changes that have happened between the 80s and today really?

Eugene B: No. Well, I have two grandsons in college and neither of them are attending here. But, by virtue of following their college careers I am aware of many changes that have taken place in colleges. I have learned from them that boys and girls are on the same hall. [Laughs] If there's one change that stands out, if there was...if a girl came near our dormitory the call went out. Now we're talking about you're 53:00living across the hall from a boy.

Claire: So I guess that takes us back to something you talked about before we turned the tape on, that there was a separate women's dormitory when you were at Tech.

Eugene B: Yes.

Claire: Can you talk about that a little bit?

Eugene B: That's probably all I can say because it was off limits. You did not go up and have supper. You might date one of the persons there or walk around the drill field or something, but you - that territory was private.

Claire: So were they cadets also?

Eugene B: No. Their ladies are cadets aren't they?

Claire: Hmm.

Eugene B: No.

Claire: And so I guess comparing that now, you're saying your grandsons are in dorms with women. It's a totally different kind of situation.

Eugene B: You have a way of putting it very nicely. [Laughs] An entirely different situation. I really can't understand it and how it works, but I know that it goes on, that it's different. How are things different? The girls and the boys are on the same floor.

Claire: That is a big change. Okay. What changes would you like to see at Tech?

Eugene B: Not being able to tell you, not knowing what changes have taken place I'm not in a position to suggest other changes. Putting it simply, I don't know what's happened, so it may be just like I would like to have it. I hope so.

Claire: What about at colleges in general? You said your grandsons have told you 55:00some things.

Eugene B: Well we have discussed the thing that stands out most, that the boys and girls are sharing a hall. And of course they are going to school without any military connection. They have a very free life, which was not the case in my freshman year because of the restrictions in the Cadet Corps. Putting it very simply it sounds like a wonderful life going to college now. 56:00[Laughs] I wish it had been like that for me.

Claire: What would you like people to know about you that we haven't already gone over in the interview?

Eugene B: They would probably conclude from what I've said what I'm about to repeat. But what I would like for folks to know is that I graduated from Virginia Tech. I'm very glad that I attended here and that when I put all four years together it was a wonderful experience.

Claire: Okay. Good. So have you been able to remember any other specific good experiences or you just kind of remember kind of a big picture that it was a good experience?

Eugene B: No, to say I can't remember any good experiences we're going back right far to find some particularly good one. But again, I might explain this that when you are in the military in the Cadet Corps your days are pretty well regulated. They are much the same. It isn't like you're doing something brand new each day, so I enjoyed...sitting back now 65 years later I can say that I don't know of 58:00anything that I really disliked. I can't remember any dislike, and I'm very glad that I was here.

Claire: Good. So I guess from your experience what would you like people to know about Virginia Tech?

Eugene B: I am thinking that the biggest, the nicest I would like for them to know is its geography. Virginia Tech is very fortunate in having in its location. When I was up here at some 59:00earlier time I was talking with a staff member and I said to them how fortunate it was that they were surrounded by all this open country up here. And his answer was, "Yes, when we want to build a building we just chase the cows off of it." [Laughs] So back to your question. I think that Virginia Tech is very fortunate in that it is located where it is and the students are very fortunate to be able to take advantage of its location. I have visited other 60:00schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference and some of them are in town locations. You've got a stop light at each corner of the dormitory. I don't know how some of these schools would expand. Back to your question what I would like for folks to know is that Virginia Tech is in an excellent location and you could enjoy being there.

Claire: What do you think people don't know about Virginia Tech that would be helpful to talk about? Positive, negative or neutral.

Eugene B: For me to say what they don't know is an odd question to answer. I think 61:00Virginia Tech could boast of its enrollment. We have just had a talk earlier; one of the speakers mentioned the number of alumni of Virginia Tech. The number over this age and he gave some... I think that when you know that something is popular that your answer to your question is I think that the public would like to know just how many people are here and been here. And it's like anything of 62:00enjoyment, if you hear 'boy that's an awful lot of folks who like that', it is an encouragement. So I'll give you one answer to your question, what will we know tell them of all the folks who have been here.

Claire: Do you feel like the alums of Virginia Tech generally speaking have had positive experiences and would come back and say kind of what you said, that they really enjoyed their time at the school?

Eugene B: Well, I can't speak of what folks are thinking. I can certainly say that I cannot remember hearing someone belittle the school. I don't know that I've heard an awful lot of nice things necessarily. It's not a subject of conversation, but neither have I heard complaints.

Claire: Do you talk to a lot of alums? You said you have been kind of a go-between getting materials to the school.

Eugene B: Not in North Carolina. The university - our universities in North Carolina which are more popular with North Carolina residents if for no other reason you get a residency discount. But I am not acquainted with - I don't think there are many Virginia 64:00Tech alumni in my area. I'm certainly not familiar with them if there are and not in any position to say what they might say or think or do. If I thought real hard I might think of four or five names of fellow alumni living in Charlotte. But folks in Charlotte are more attracted to schools in their state, just as folks here in Virginia are attracted to our states, to the state schools here.

Claire: So I guess back to what would you like people to know about you question. Generally speaking, and this doesn't have to have anything to do with Virginia Tech but it can, I guess if there were three things that you would want people to know about you before anything else what would those three things be?

Eugene B: I think the most important thing would be that they know I am very proud, pleased, happy. They are the three things, to have graduated, to have attended and graduated from Virginia Tech. How about that - proud, pleased...

Claire: And happy.

Eugene B: Yes. I'm glad I went here.

Claire: Do you feel like the fact that you are a Virginia Tech alumni is like a big part of your identity? Like when you introduce yourself to people is that something that you immediately want to talk about or it's just kind of where you went to college?

Eugene B: Very candidly, it's your college, at my age the college you 67:00chose is not a very important item in your life for discussion at this time. What would be more important or what I would hear is, "You are from Virginia aren't you? Because you talk funny." They wouldn't say, "Did you go to Virginia Tech?" So your question is when people are speaking would this come up? No. They would very quickly identify me as someone from Virginia - out and about and all that.

Claire: It's the Tidewater accent.

Eugene B: They would quickly ask me that, but I regret to say that not often do they then ask the second question, "Did you go to Virginia Tech?" That's not an item of interest. Maybe they might ask are you still married? [Laughs] The Alumni Department here does an excellent 68:00job. The connection that I have with the school is principally my interest in sports. However, the Alumni Department does have magazines which they send periodically, and I don't know what the schedule is. You might put down in your notes they have wonderful magazines. They are as nice as any you get. And 69:00if you ever see who publishes them tell them somebody said it's excellent. You could - we won't want to put that on them. [Chuckles]

Claire: I haven't gotten to look at one of those yet because I haven't graduated, but I'm looking forward to it.

Eugene B: When they come I take it, turn it to the last page and go to 1950. You know what's there?

Claire: Uh-uh.

Eugene B: The obits. That's what I first... Of course that's what I do in the morning with the paper too. You have some more questions?

Claire: I just have one more. Is there anything I haven't asked you that you would like to talk about?

Eugene B: No. I compliment you. You have covered a world of things. I hope that the answers that I have given you will serve a useful purpose. And if anyone should ever ask should they be here you can rest assured I would do everything possible to encourage them to do so. It's a wonderful school, and even though I couldn't come up with a lot of memories, now I do remember some dance weekends, but we don't want to discus those. [Laughs]

Claire: To turn the table.

Eugene B: We're not going to discuss dance weekends. No, that can't go public. When I think of those though, the - I want to use the word 'inconvenience,' if I invited you here for a dance you and lived in Richmond it was not an easy task for you to come up here to go to the dance with me. And then where are you going to stay? Well there weren't a lot of places to stay. There was no inn at Virginia Tech at the time. So we won't discuss dance weekends, but they were big events.

Claire: All right. Well thank you very much.

Eugene B: Well I congratulate you too on what you've done. I had no idea that I would have so much to say. Is that your business card?

Claire: This is David Cline's business card. He's the oral historian. We 72:00are working under him.

Eugene B: What is Greg's...? Greg [Fancelor], he is Senior Associates Director of Marketing for Alumni Relations. Well he's not historian is he? Do you know who I'm talking about? He's the one who chased me in here.

Claire: Oh, okay.

Eugene B: Has a blue tie on today.

Claire: Okay, yeah.

Eugene B: A light blue suit, a gray suit. When you see him that is Greg Fancelor. He had called me. Why I don't know, and said here's what we're doing, 73:00would you? And I had no idea and then he sent me...

Claire: He sent you a copy of the questions.

Eugene B: And I looked at that and I said I guess we will be together for about six minutes. [Laughs] Due primarily to the fact that anything I commented on would have happened 65 to 70 years ago. That was before your 74:00mother was born, so what could I remember from that far back? Anyway, this has gone well and I thank you. I'm quite satisfied that when I look at the picture I will say, "Oh my golly is that me?" If you've ever listened to your recorded voice, although particularly a picture of you talking you'll say...ugh.

Claire: That's what I do, yeah. Look at the faces I make.

Eugene B: Yeah. Look at it - oh my God, oh no! Oh me. [Laughing]