Carl G. Goerch

Carl G. Goerch. Image Source: From the News and Observer, Oct. 3, 1943, Society section, p. 11.

Carl G. Goerch first served as an ECTC trustee from 1929 to 1933 as East Carolina moved from a decade of growth in physical structure, student enrollment, and faculty numbers, to the beginnings of a decade wherein male students gradually reappeared on campus. He returned as a trustee between 1957 and 1961, during the final years of Dr. John Messick’s (1897–1993) presidency and the opening years of Dr. Leo W. Jenkins (1913–1989) presidency as East Carolina faced, along with the challenges of continued growth, those occasioned by the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation in public facilities unconstitutional. In responding to the latter, Goerch helped lead East Carolina’s early and quite limited approach to desegregation. Goerch’s second appointment as a trustee was, incidentally, made to fill the unexpired term of Elton Aydlett (1902–1988).

In the wake of the 1958 Dave Brubeck concert which, much to the surprise of the ECC administration, included an African American musician on stage, ECC students asked President Messick if African American groups would be allowed to perform on campus. At the February 25, 1958 board meeting, the trustees considered the question, reported by President Messick, could “Negro entertainers, such as all-Negro orchestras, be brought to the campus?” Following discussion, Goerch moved that “Negro entertainers if approved by the president and other administrative officers may be brought to the campus with the distinct understanding that they are paid entertainers only with no lodging or food on the campus.” Goerch’s motion carried 7–2. While lacking in hospitality, at least Goerch’s motion allowed for the possibility of African American entertainers on campus. Even so, during much of Goerch’s second tenure as a trustee, African American applicants continued to be denied admission to ECC without opposition from the trustees. The justification for such bigoty was that East Carolina’s charter stated the school was founded for the education of “white” men and women. Nevertheless, Goerch’s motion did provide for change: that summer, the first African American band, the Cavaliers, performed on campus, sponsored by the SGA. In the early 1960s, coinciding with the end of Goerch’s second term, East Carolina began to accept African American students on campus. Earlier, it should be noted, in 1942, an African American Marine choir from the New River Marine Base in Jacksonville had performed at the YWCA/YMCA Vesper’s service. It had not, however, prompted requests from the student body for other such performances.

Goerch was born and raised in Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York, where he completed his high school education. After graduating from high school rather than pursuing a college education, he traveled to Texas to pursue a career in journalism. The same pursuit later took him to Washington, N.C., where he soon assumed responsibility for editing the Daily News, and then to New Bern and Wilson before returning once more to Washington to edit a paper called Progress.

In 1933, Goerch moved to Raleigh and began publishing The State (later, Our State), a weekly devoted to North Carolina culture, history, travel, and tourism. In it, Goerch focused on stories with local color such as Babe Ruth’s hunting trips to Camp Bryan in Craven County, which called attention to seemingly little-known corners of North Carolina which, after all, attracted internationally known figures such as the New York Yankees slugger.

In 1951, Goerch sold the magazine even while continuing to contribute to it regularly. The same year he founded The State, he began several radio programs — “Carolina Chats,” “Man on the Street,” and “Doings in the Legislature” — broadcast on WPTF in Raleigh. He also authored several books including Down Home (1933), Carolina Chats (1944), Pitchin’ Tar (1948), and Just for the Fun of It (1954).

While himself a journalist/intellectual, Goerch cultivated a downhome wit often conveying good humored anti-intellectualism. In a 1931 piece published in the Teco Echo, he noted “The mere fact that you are reading this stuff [his column] shows that you haven’t got any mentality to spare.” He proceeded to observe how women at ECTC, “approximately 900 girls … are hoping to learn how to teach, but they are praying that they will get married in the next year or two and will never have to teach.” Later, in 1965, Goerch expressed similar thoughts on a grander scale in a News and Observer piece entitled “College Said a Waste of Time, Money for Many,” suggesting that higher education is not necessarily the best option for all young people. In support of his case, Goerch noted how many successful people in Raleigh had achieved their success without a college degree. He concluded his essay by adding, “No, I never went to college, and I don’t consider that I missed a doggone thing.”

In late-June of 1965, Goerch’s energetic promotion of North Carolina tourism, culture, and history prompted the News and Observer to run a feature on him as the “Tar Heel of the Week.” The 1969 state legislature honored his service to the state with a special resolution, and then, in 1971, it went further, declaring him, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, “Mr. North Carolina.” Goerch’s service on the East Carolina board, though no doubt meant to enhance the standing of the school, possibly undermined its pedagogical mission through his outspoken questioning of the value of higher education for young people. Nevertheless, at a decisive juncture, Goerch helped lead East Carolina toward a more desegregated campus

Sources

• "Babe Ruth on hunting trip." 1920–1939. East Carolina Manuscript Collection # 0706-b2-fg-i224. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/3681
• “Carl Goerch Dies at 83.” News and Observer. September 17, 1974. P. 1.
• “Carl Goerch Speaks to Scribblers Club.” Teco Echo. January 23, 1932. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37984
• Carroll, Grady L. E. “Goerch, Carl.” NCPedia. From William S. Powell, ed. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/goerch-carl
• “Cavaliers To Perform Here October 29.” East Carolinian. October 23, 1958. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38611
• Craven, Charles. “Tar Heel of the Week, Carl Goerch: Bubbling with Energy at 74.” News and Observer. June 27, 1965. Section III, p. 2.
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, February 25, 1958.” Pp. 219–221. University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10269
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, May 13, 1959.” Pp. 256–257. University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10263
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, November 12, 1957.” Pp. 215–219. University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10262
• “Fred Sutton with Babe Ruth and others at Camp Bryan.” East Carolina Manuscript Collection # 0706-b2-fg-i145. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/946
• Goerch, Carl. “College Said a Waste of Time, Money for Many.” News and Observer. August 15, 1965. Sect. III, p. 7.
• Goerch, Carl. Ocracoke. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton, Co., 1956. J. Y. Joyner Library. Digital Collections # F262.H9 G6. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/16976
• Goerch, Carl. “Just One Thing After Another.” Teco Echo. November 28, 1931. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37981
• “Goerch Extolls State’s Virtues to Cabinet.” News and Observer. April 28, 1965. P. 11.
• “Goerch Relates Amusing Incidents: Popular North Carolinian Keeps Audience Interested With His Tales From Observation.” Teco Echo. February 26, 1936. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38037
• Hackett, Roger C. “College Isn’t for All?” News and Observer. October 10, 1965. Sect. III, p. 7.
• “Henry Belk correspondence about ECC Integration, 1961.” University Archives # UA02.06.10.35. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/62371
• Lilly, Nancy and Margaret Geddie. “Cussin’ N Discussin.'” East Carolinian. February 13, 1958. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38593
• McDaniel, J. Gaskill. “A Hunter’s Paradise.” The State. February 29, 1936. P. 7. North Carolina Digital Collections. Our State Magazine. State. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll18/id/9975/rec/19
• “Other Assembly Action.” News and Observer. June 11, 1971. P. 9.
• Records of the Chancellor: Records of John Decatur Messick, 1947–1959. University Archives # UA02-05. Series 6: Board of Trustees, 1947–1960, Box 6: Goerch, Carl, Member of the Board of Trustees, 1957–1959. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C.
• Records of the Chancellor: Records of Leo Warren Jenkins, 1960–1981. University Archives # UA02-06. Series 10, Box 37: Goerch, Carl, member of the Board of Trustees, 1960–1961. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C.
• “Trustee Officials OK Negro Entertainment.” East Carolinian. March 6, 1958. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38594

Related Materials

"Goerch with Babe Ruth's Hunting Party". Image Source: From McDaniel, J. Gaskill. “A Hunter’s Paradise.” The State. February 29, 1936. P. 7. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/state/912498?item=912528

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