King, Aaron Lafayette, Jr., Dr., 2007 April 18

This is a Living History interview with Dr. Aaron King, Georgia Tech Team Dentist from 1965 to the present, conducted by Marilyn Somers on April 18, 2007 at his home in Atlanta, GA. The subject is the interviewee’s life, and experiences at Georgia Tech.

Aaron King, Jr. was born at Georgia Baptist Hospital, now Atlanta Medial Center, in Atlanta. His father and grandfather were dentists in Anderson, South Carolina. His mother was the first person in the state of Georgia to survive with agranular cytosis. Dr. King attended Highland Grammar School, Bass Junior High, Boys’ High, and Bass High School. He was fascinated by the fighter planes and bombers of World War II and loved to watch planes take off and land at Candler Field, a military re-fueling base at what is now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He began taking flying lessons at Candler Field when he was sixteen and received his piloting license when he was eighteen. Dr. King was a brother of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Emory University, where he was in dental school. He enjoyed serving in the dental clinic at Fort Fucker, Alabama. In 1959, Dr. King joined his father’s office where he worked until 1970. He first became involved with Georgia Tech athletics in 1960 when he made mouthpieces for Bobby Tharpe and Eddie Jordan, two of his patients who received football scholarships to Tech. Several other football players requested a mouthpiece from Dr. King, and he began attending football practices regularly. In 1964, Coach Dodd asked Dr. King to be the team dentist. He has equipped the team with custom-made mouthpieces for forty-three years. Dr. King has worked under Bud Carson, Bobby Cremins, Paul Hewitt Bill Fulcher, Pepper Rodgers, George O’Leary, Bill Lewis, and Chan Gailey and has befriended and witnessed many talented players. Dr. King became interested in air racing in 1946 when he heard the air races in Cleveland radio broadcast. In 1950, he was made the official photographer of the Professional Race Pilots Association. He later became the chief starter and judge of the all-sanctioned air races.