Burrell, Deloye Ray, 2010 November 09

This is a Living History interview with Deloye Burrell, class of 1965, conducted by Marilyn Somers on November 9, 2010 at his home in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The subject of the interview is the interviewee’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech.

Mr. Deloye Burrell was born in Roxboro, North Carolina in 1943. Mr. Burrell’s father was in a power line construction company with his family, a job that required Mr. Burrell’s family to move around a lot. By the time he entered high school, Mr. Burrell had been in fifty-three different schools. In general, school was fun for Mr. Burrell. However, he was usually academically ahead of other students, so he was often bored in class and had some trouble when he began attending a new school. Mr. Burrell’s family decided to settle in Orlando, Florida, so that he could attend only one high school; he was placed in Project Orange, a program for gifted students. Mr. Burrell started working as a sports photographer for his school’s yearbook, which is when he discovered his calling in photography. In the fall of 1961, Mr. Burrell began his college career at Georgia Tech, the year Tech integrated its student population. Mr. Burrell chose aeronautical engineering as his major. He began writing for the Technique, which allowed him to make some extra money in addition to his scholarship. He was also in the Air Force ROTC for his first two years at Tech. By the end of his second quarter, Mr. Burrell was running low on funds and found that photography paid better than writing, so he went out and bought a camera. He began his photography career by taking pictures of fraternity parties and Tech parades for the Blueprint, Tech’s yearbook. Mr. Burrell also wrote for the Rambler, worked on the Alumni magazine as a photo editor, and was the president of the Tech Photo Club for two years. Mr. Burrell became the official sports photographer for Tech after the sports information director found University of Georgia pictures Mr. Burrell took as a freelancing photographer. In his senior year, Mr. Burrell transferred to Georgia State University to study journalism. He graduated in December 1965. He married his wife Diane around that time. He worked at the Marietta Daily Journal before he quit for a six-week stint at State Wholesalers, a liquor store. He was still doing photography work on the side. On the sixth week, Mr. Chinkes of Crown Camera in downtown Atlanta called Mr. Burrell to ask him if he would like to work in his camera store. Mr. Burrell ended up becoming a manager after two years and worked in the store for a total of twelve years. His reason for leaving the store was the new owner was attempting to use the store to defraud the state, a crime for which Mr. Burrell testified when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found out. Mr. Burrell was taking pictures for Southern Accents magazine when he, his wife, and their son Michael moved to Birmingham, Alabama for Mrs. Burrell’s career. During his twenty-five year stay in Atlanta, Mr. Burrell was the at-home team photographer for seven years. He also helped a few politicians campaign, and worked with Dr. Dan Urry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to publish over two hundred peer-reviewed journal articles on molecular biophysics in nine years before working on the hospital side for ten more years. During that time, Mr. Burrell still did freelance photography work. At the time of this interview, Mr. Burrell was heavily involved in community volunteering and archiving his Georgia Tech memorabilia.