Colvard, UNCC leader, 93

An 'uncommon devotion' to N.C

Under Dean Colvard's leadership, UNC-Charlotte built its first dorms and started graduate programs. Basketball and other sports teams began playing under the 49ers banner. Doctoral-trained faculty were hired. Student enrollment grew fivefold, to 8,750.

Colvard, the university's first chancellor, died Thursday at Presbyterian Hospital after a long illness. He was 93.

He is credited with leading UNCC's growth into a major university. "[Founder] Bonnie Cone, in many ways, defined the heart of UNC-Charlotte, and Dean defined the vision," said Jim Woodward, who served as chancellor from 1989-2005.

"He laid the foundation of what was to come," said Ken Sanford, author of a UNCC history. "Each of the following chancellors put layers on top of what he built. But he's the one who prepared the footing."

Dean Wallace Colvard was born July 10, 1913, and grew up on an Ashe County farm in the N.C. mountains. His family was poor, but Colvard would go on to earn a doctoral degree from Purdue University.

He started teaching in 1935 at Brevard College. A decade and a few jobs later, he moved to what is now N.C. State University as a professor of animal science, and later dean of agriculture.

Then in 1960, he took the reins of Mississippi State University -- a position that thrust him into the national spotlight.

At the time, Mississippi schools didn't play against integrated teams, even if it meant turning down NCAA bids. But in 1962, supported by many at the school, Colvard said he wanted the team to go to the NCAA tournament. Their first opponent: Loyola of Chicago, which had four black players.

When a judge barred Mississippi State players from leaving the state, Colvard and others arranged to sneak them out before an injunction could be served.

"I was going to send those boys to that tournament," he told the Charlotte Observer in 2003. "If anybody was going to get in the way, well, I'd be the winner of that."

In 1966, then UNC-system President Bill Friday offered Colvard a chance to return to North Carolina. A year earlier, UNCC became the fourth campus of the statewide university system. A leader was needed to succeed founder Bonnie Cone.

"It was quite clear to me that [Colvard] was the choice," said Friday. "He had done a lot of work with urban universities and he knew the ground work. But most of all, it was his uncommon devotion to this state."

Colvard laid out his aspirations for UNCC early.

"We at Charlotte do not claim yet to have become a fully developed university," he said in his installation address. "On the other hand, let me now make very clear that we intend to build here not only a fully developed university, but as soon as possible a great university."

Colvard spent most of his last years with his wife at The Cypress of Charlotte retirement community. Among their neighbors: Colvard's successor at UNCC, E.K. Fretwell and his wife.

Colvard is survived by his wife, three children, Carol, Lynda and Dean Jr.