Edwin E. Rawl

Edwin E. Rawl. Image Source: Buccaneer, 1959.

Edwin E. Rawl’s contributions to the growth of East Carolina College, and especially its athletic programs, were monumental. A native of Batesburg, S. C., Rawl moved to Greenville in 1922, after graduating from The Citadel. He initially worked in the automobile business, but came to be associated with Carolina Sales Corporation, serving as a director and executive vice president for the company.

Active in the community, Rawl served as lieutenant governor of the Kiwanis International and president of the Greenville Kiwanis Club. Rawl was also one of the founders of the Pitt County United Fund, and was serving as its first president when he passed away on July 8, 1958. Rawl was a former president of the Greenville Community Chest, and a member of the executive board of the East Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was also a member of the board of deacons of the Memorial Baptist Church in Greenville.

At East Carolina College, Rawl was founder and first president of the Pirates Club. In 1953, he led the fund-raising campaign that enabled the college to build its first football stadium, College Stadium. At the time of his passing, Rawl was a member of the board of trustees at East Carolina College, having served on the board since 1953. On the board, Rawl held various positions including vice chairman, member of the executive and scholarship foundation committee, and chairman of the budget-building committee.

In 1959, the board of trustees voted to name the new classroom building south of Wright Building in honor of Rawl. The building, housing the departments of art, business, education, and psychology, was dedicated in March 1960. At the dedication, President Leo Jenkins praised Rawl’s work for “furthering the progress of the college.” Dr. Robert Lee Humber, North Carolina state senator, described Rawl as a man who had a “natural quality of creative leadership,” and was “devoted to good causes, a true lover of his fellowman.”

A portrait of Rawl was formally unveiled and presented to the college by family members. The portrait, by local artist, Georgia Pearsall Hearns, was to be permanently hung in the main corridor of the building. J. Herbert Waldrop, chairman of the college board of trustees, accepted the gift.

Sources

• “Building at East Carolina Named for E.E. Rawl and Dr. Paul Jones.” East Carolina College News Bureau Release, January 27, 1959.
• “ECC Building is named for Greenville leader.” The Evening Telegraph (Rocky Mount). March 15, 1960, p. 6.
• “ECC Buildings are named for two Pitt County men.” The Evening Telegraph (Rocky Mount). January 28, 1959, p. 9.
• “Ed E. Rawl.” The News and Observer, July 10, 1958.
• “New ECC Buildings Named for Dr. Jones, E. E. Rawl,” Daily Reflector (January 27, 1959).
• Records of John Decatur Messick’s Tenure as President of East Carolina Teachers College and East Carolina College. UA02-05. University Archives, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
• “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, for Edwin E. Rawl.” The National Archives at Atlanta, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; North Carolina World War II Draft Registration Cards; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975, RG 147; Box: 304.

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