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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Burnice Hackney, February 5, 2001. Interview K-0547. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Remembering R.D. Smith and W.D. Peerman

In this brief excerpt, Hackney remembers that R.D. Smith was adept at creating teachable moments on football trips. Smith also acquired the team's bus and had it painted with Lincoln High School's mascot, the tiger.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Burnice Hackney, February 5, 2001. Interview K-0547. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

BG: Any more about RD? BH: The athletic program was among the elite programs. I think the latest article that I saw on W.D. Peerman said that he--of course had been inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, but he was known as the black Vince Lombardi. At a certain point, RD or someone acquired a Trailways bus that was painted orange and had a big tiger on the side of it. We were extremely grateful. We knew that RD had played a big role in acquiring it and getting it painted. He was also our driver. He drove us all over North Carolina really; Raeford, Lumberton, Burlington and so I got to see him outside of the academic confines of the school. We were always, it seemed, getting into situations even among ourselves or with the other communities that we were traveling in were opportunities for counseling and as far as personal development, ways to conduct yourself as men and so this is the thing that I really appreciated most about RD.