S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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2 5
The 1960s
M O B I L I Z I N G A G R E A T R E S O U R C E
it. We’re training people for industries that are making millions
of dollars and all we’ve got to do is ask them. And thereafter, we
were spending at least a million a year giving tuition away. We
never, never turned anybody away.”
During those days of classroom musical chairs, Tom “Black
Cat” Barton made a vow: someday Greenville Tech would be
a household name. He succeeded far more than he imagined.
Greenville Tech became a name known across the country. That
technical training center—the state’s first—helped build the mo-
mentum that would propel South Carolina into the modern age,
and the nation would take note. People who once had a bleak
future would play key roles in bringing new industries to South
Carolina.
While the technical training system and its centers were being
built, Hollings and company were recruiting industries to South
Carolina. “We Southern governors knew how to carpetbag the
North for industry. We balanced our budgets, we got technical
training, we prepared the local communities, everything.” South
Carolina’s efforts often mirrored North Carolina’s. After all Gov-
ernors Hodges and Hollings were friends, but ... they were also
competitors.
“Luther and I had been lieutenant governors together,” said
Hollings. “We’d meet as lieutenant governors in Tryon, North
Carolina, at the Blockhouse Races every year, and the press
would always look at me and say, ‘What did the governor of
South Carolina say to the governor of North Carolina?’”
“Not a damn thing, we don’t talk to those damn Yankees.”
AGENT 007 WOULD APPROVE
Hollings’ quip contained truth. He didn’t tell Hodges some
things. South Carolina imitated North Carolina’s approach in
recruiting industry, but it added a touch of James Bond to the
mix—espionage. Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flat-
tery. North Carolina wouldn’t have been flattered had it known
what Hollings knew.
Hollings remembers his time working with the state’s first
development board director, Walter Harper. “One day, Walter
Harper got Hodges’ list of industries to recruit,” said Hollings.
“I’ll never forget it. We didn’t have any master plan. We went af-
ter all industry.”
That list proved crucial. Hollings and staff attended a confer-
ence where many of the leaders on the list would be convening.
“When we got that list, I canceled everything the next week and
ErnieWright, Francis Hipp, and I went up a week ahead of time.”
As the men entered the convention center Hollings mumbled
“Governor Hollings, Carolina” and conference officials thought
he said, “Governor Hodges, Carolina.”
Members of the SC State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education
Pictured from left to right
–
Jesse Anderson, Boone Aiken, Stan Smith, Sapp Funderburk, and Clarence Rowland, Sr.
