Chapman, Donald Lewis, 1995 December 04

This is a Living History Interview with Don Chapman conducted by Marilyn J. Somers on December 4, 1995, at his office in Kennesaw. The subject of this interview is student life at Georgia Tech. Mr. Chapman grew up in Atlanta and says he chose Tech mainly because it was cheap. He started Tech in 1957 in Industrial Management, but ended up graduating in Industrial Management. He remembers going to an overnight Freshman Camp in north Georgia. He lived at home at first and later moved into the Beta Theta Pi house. After a disappointing first year academically, Mr. Chapman enrolled in summer school as well as a "How to Study" course from Jim Strickland, a counselor. This course ended up being the thing that saved his academic career. His first quarter he took Chemistry 103 with Langford and Drawing with Admiral Bliss. He states that Tech created a work ethic and a sense of discipline in balancing academics, social life, and sports. He remembers when he and a friend tried out for the football team and Coach Bobby Dodd kindly told them that he needed them to work in the afternoons at the Bobby Dodd workshop for mentally retarded people at the Old Farmer's Market. Later, Mr. Chapman would be the president of the workshop for five years. His favorite professor was Carl Biven who taught economics. Mr. Chapman was not able to be initiated into Beta Theta Pi until the fall of 1958 due to his grades. He later became the president during his senior year. Mr. Chapman tells two stories of how he got in trouble during his career at Tech. During his junior year, one of his fraternity brothers harassed him for being a management major, so Mr. Chapman stole a couple of pieces of Dean Griffin's stationery and wrote this brother a letter telling him that the administration had decided to transfer him temporarily to the college of management after noticing a decline in his grades. This fraternity brother, upon receiving the letter, went straight to Dean Griffin's office, who figured out that it was Mr. Chapman who was responsible for the letter. Later, Mr. Chapman and his roommate, who were in charge of the publication "The Rambler," wrote a "fictitious" article about a dean who had a buxom secretary that could stop traffic on campus. This story came too close to the truth, so Dean Griffin kicked both of them out of Tech. They were eventually readmitted, with the help of Bob Wallace, who was in charge of publications. Mr. Chapman also played in a band at the Navy Air Station at Belk Gallon (??). He later sold his instruments in order to go to Florida and never played again. Mr. Chapman states that he had met his wife in high school and that she attended the University of Georgia. He remembers that rock'n'roll bands were just starting to come to Atlanta to perform and that there was no alcohol allowed on campus so they went off campus for the "good" parties. Mr. Chapman points out that at this time Alexander Memorial Coliseum was almost complete, that the west campus dorms were not built yet, but that parking was already a problem. He relates a story about the Starr Twins, two girls from Alabama who decided that they wanted to be Tech's first majorettes. They and their mother, all of whom were quite tall and large, intimidated Dean Griffin into convincing the band leader to let them march in front of the band. As Mr. Chapman puts it, "they were hooted off the field," never to do it again. They both ended up graduating with honors in Chemical Engineering. Mr. Chapman also says that freshmen were in trouble if they didn't attend all of the home football games. He remembers basketball players Roger Kiser and Dave Denton. Mr. Chapman tells a story about a punter that Bobby Dodd recruited with a scholarship, then decided he didn't need, so he arranged with another coach for that player to attend that school with a scholarship. The coaches at this time were also considered faculty members, so they taught physical education classes or sometimes other classes in addition to coaching. Mr. Chapman remembers eating at the Varsity, the Yellow Jacket, and the Pickrick restaurant. He says that a big challenge was to eat $1.00 worth of food at the Varsity, which was difficult since hot dogs were two for $0.25. Mr. Chapman believes that the professors were more accessible during this time. For instance, he points out, T. P. Hall, who taught Cost Accounting, was always there. Mr. Chapman's graduation was held at the Fox Theater at 8:00 a.m. on June 10, 1961. On that same day, at 11:00 a.m. he got his Air Force commission and at 7:30 p.m. he married his wife, Beverly. He fulfilled his military service, worked for Shell Oil, Oxford Industries, and did consulting work for Tom Newberry and Jim Edenfield of MSA before beginning his career of buying and selling businesses. He met Tedd Munchak, who provided the financial resources and they began buying companies, implementing strategic plans, and selling the companies once they had improved. Over the next 20 years they bought and sold 18 companies. Of those, only Tug Manufacturing, where his office now is, remains. Tug manufactures ground support equipment specialty vehicles for the air package industry world wide. They also founded one company, Opti-World, in 1983, which they sold in April of 1995. Mr. Chapman currently owns two other companies and is and has been very active in community service. He was the first person to receive the Dean George Griffin Community Service Award. Mr. Chapman concludes by talking about his family, which includes two daughters, one son, and two grandchildren.