Old school approach: Dr. Dennis Felder reflects on 42 years at Winston-Salem State

There was no way I was going to be late for my interview with Dr. Dennis Felder at the Anderson Center on the campus of Winston-Salem State.

I had heard plenty through the years about Felder's promptness with his students in the sports management department. When he needs a student to come to his office at 7 a.m., it's best if you are there in the 6:45 a.m. range.

For Felder, 74, he's heading down the homestretch of one of the longest teaching careers in school history. He'll be at his final graduation on Friday morning at Joel Coliseum and he will be ready for the hugs.

"Every one of those 35 students (from his department) are going to get one because they've earned it," said Felder, who doesn't mind bragging on his students.

Also, he doesn't mind talking about his approach to being rather old school. If you want to make excuses to Dr. Felder, it's best that you don't even try.

"Accountability is big," said Felder, who is an Alcorn State graduate with a master's degree from Kansas State. "And I'll be honest. I've kicked out a lot of kids who were not on board with what I needed from them."

A lifelong passion

Felder's father, RD, and his mother, Katherine, raised their family in a small town in Mississippi where Felder's father was a Baptist preacher. Felder and his twin brother, Kenneth, had everything they needed.

"It's a small town called Magnolia, Mississippi," Felder said of his hometown which boasts a population of 1,700. "Back then, we had about 150 people living there but now, there are at least three stop lights."

He and his brother were born on a farm and grew up with that work ethic that if you didn't get up and help out, you didn't get dinner that night. And he's been getting up early ever since those days.

"I will admit that when I do retire (on June 30) I'll be able to sleep in some," he said with a wry smile.

He agreed that much of what he saw his father do as far as preaching and helping people get through life is really all he's tried to do as a professor at WSSU.

"There were times where other schools called but I wasn't going anywhere," said Felder, whose official title is associate professor and program coordinator of the sports management program.

His wife, Pamala, who died in 2012, arrived at WSSU at the same time. They had met as students at Alcorn State and married in 1976. But Felder is adamant that they weren't a package deal. Pamala worked as a teacher in the childhood education department.

And they raised their two children, D'Antwanette and Demetric, in Winston-Salem.

On Friday morning at Joel Coliseum there will be 905 graduates with 35 of them in sports management.

For his final graduation as a professor, where he is once again on the commencement committee, the total number of students he's guided over that graduation stage is just over 1,500.

"I couldn't save them all, but I tried my best," he said, referring to the students he's had to boot out of the major.

What he'll miss most

It shouldn't be a surprise to his many students that the one thing he'll miss the most is "giving them hell." In other words he was never about excuses when it came to dressing for internships, dressing appropriately for his classes and being a polite citizen all the time.

"I just asked them to do what I wanted them to do, and if they did that, I had no problem with them," Felder said.

He chuckles when reminded that more times than not, he's pulled out his phone and on speaker call a parent of one of his students in the middle of class.

"Oh yeah, I've done that," he said. "That's why right here in these files I have all the students' numbers and the numbers of their parents. It's amazing how much kids will listen if you get their parents involved."

There have been times where students landed internships at various places in North Carolina but were not doing their part to uphold what Felder wanted.

"I know one time, he drove to Raleigh and pulled the kid out of his job and drove him back to Winston," said L'Tona Lamonte, who works now as a fundraiser in athletics and is the former women's basketball coach. "The kid wasn't dressing for the part, and Dr. Felder wasn't having any of it."

Felder was persistent

Lamonte, a Winston-Salem native, arrived at the school in the mid-1990's and wasn't sure what she would study. She played softball and basketball, and was later the WSSU women's basketball coach, but it was Felder who was persistent.

"I did not want to major in sports management, but he stopped me on the street to talk to me on campus," Lamonte recalled. "And I'm so glad that he did because he made sure his students were cared for."

Lamonte, who graduated in 1999, also recalls what it was like to register for classes back then.

"It was all paper back then, so Dr. Felder told us we had to be there at 4:30 a.m. to get the classes we wanted," Lamonte said. "And if you weren't there, you were out of luck in getting the classes you wanted."

As part of that major, students work at the various sporting events on campus and in 1999, the CIAA Tournament was at Joel Coliseum. After the Rams lost in the afternoon, Felder told Lamonte what she had to do next.

"So he goes, 'OK, you better change because you are working tonight,'" she said. "I was so mad at him, I couldn't see straight. But I will tell you he shaped my life and I'm proud of what he taught me and others."

Felder didn't devote all his time to WSSU, but it just seemed that way for his students.

He's a board member for The Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina and the Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Commission and is involved in the Kiwanis Club and works with the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club.

Felder won the Board of Governor's Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008, and in 2007 was named the Sport Management Professional of the Year for The North Carolina Alliance For Athletics, Health and Physical Education.

"You have to give back to your own community," he said.

A clean look to his office

As we sat in Felder's office, there wasn't much indication that he had been at WSSU since Ronald Reagan was president, and gas was $1.13 a gallon.

Felder shakes his head when asked about how students have changed through the years. It's the times that have changed with technology and cell phones and everything that comes with it.

He stays off social media but does answer e-mails and has a computer. But he's proud of the fact that he's had the same cell phone number for as long as cell phones have been around.

"All the students have my number and they know they can call if needed," Felder said.

And there have been students who have called at all hours. He admits a couple of them even called in the middle of night from jail.

"They were afraid of calling their parents, but that didn't happen a lot," Felder said. "But when they are my students, I take pride in trying to help as much as I could."

In his office near his computer, he had about 25 yellow sticky notes to remind him of various meetings or chores. He says that's a lot better than a calendar reminder on his phone.

Another reason for he and his late wife coming to WSSU was the fact that Alcorn State took a chance on him. He's a big believer in what an HBCU can do for anybody.

"I think what I tried to convey to the students all these years is what an opportunity you have to earn a degree from here, and have a successful life," he said. "But when you are 18 to 21 years old, you think you know it all, when in reality you know nothing."

It's been 42 years of teaching

Through the years, athletes have flocked to the sports management major, and coaches through the years have loved the dedication Felder shows to the students. Just because they are athletes doesn't mean Felder cuts them a break.

In fact, it's almost the opposite because Felder holds them even more accountable.

"I just have always made sure to hold these youngsters accountable," he said a couple of years ago. "They may not like it at times, but - guess what? - life isn't always easy either."

Just how far Felder will go for the students who are athletes? He's a stickler about showing up for his classes. He's driven up on the old practice field near the Gaines Center for football practice to ask a student why he wasn't at his class. He also would show up at basketball practice when a student missed his class.

"I didn't care how embarrassing it was for the student, but if you can go to practice in the afternoon, you can come to my class in the morning," Felder said.

Felder was around for a lot of Big House Gaines' legendary career. Gaines, who died in 2005, coached until 1993 and always told his athletes that once you get out of college, nobody owes you anything.

"Big House always said that, and I use that as well because once you get into the real world, there's no shortcuts," Felder said. "So, I guess trying to prepare the students for that world is a big part of why I do this."

Felder's also not shy about his faith and his upbringing as he tries to relate to colleges students from nearly five decades.

"In order for a student to be successful, they must know how to read and write, how to walk, how to talk, be a critical thinker, know how to relate to anybody and everybody," Felder said regarding the generations of kids he's taught. "That has not changed at all. And if they develop those skills, they will be successful out there in that working world."

Felder shaped Tory Woodbury

When Tory Woodbury arrived on campus in the mid-1990's, he was a walk-on quarterback. By the time he was done playing after the 2000 season, the Winston-Salem native was the all-time leading passer in school history with nearly 5,000 yards. He won two CIAA titles, but his academic record wasn't as stellar.

"I threw Tory out of the program, and he begged me to let him back in," Felder said. "But to his credit, I did let him back and he proved that he could do it."

Woodbury, who went on to play in the NFL for parts of five seasons, came back to school and got his degree in 2006. He's now the head football coach at WSSU and he says Felder helped shape who he is.

"Good ole Doc," Woodbury said when asked about one of his mentors.

Woodbury said besides his grandmother, Doretha, who raised him, nobody did more to help Woodbury along than Felder.

And remember that time Felder drove up on the field during football practice?

"That was for me because I had missed his class that day," Woodbury said. "Doc didn't care if you were a star athlete or a freshman just getting to college, he treated everybody the same. It was his way or the highway."

As Woodbury takes on his first head coaching job, he said there's little doubt that he will preach a lot of the same things Felder told him years ago.

"You talk about athletics and Big House Gaines and Earl Monroe and Cleo Hill, but when it comes to academics and what Dr. Felder did here, he's just as legendary," Woodbury said. "I'm truly going to miss him."

There's also a somewhat vague story that on one Saturday morning, Felder drove to Bowie State in the early 2000's because another star football player had missed his classes all week.

The story goes that Felder drove up there and Coach Kermit Blount got word from Felder that the player hadn't gone to class all week. So that player didn't get to play.

"True story," said Blount, a 1980 graduate of WSSU. "That's how dedicated Dr. Felder was to his students. We had a good relationship, and he was the only one to walk on the practice field to discipline a kid."

Different eras run together

Lamont Watkins, who lives in Raleigh, is a 1991 graduate of WSSU and after he got out into the real world has worked with parks and recreation and also ran a Boys and Girls Club.

Watkins said what stands out about Felder was his directness.

"He's going to say what is on his mind and you know where you stand with him," said Watkins, who one year was the equipment manager for the football team. "He treated you fairly and it was out of love."

Watkins said Felder's faith and belief system was also at the forefront.

"He was and still is a man of God," Watkins said. "And he's been a minister to all of us who ever encountered him. I can't thank him enough for what he did for me."

For as long as he can remember, Felder has given his students $20 every time they make all A's in a semester. He joked that its his little NIL (Name, Image Likeness) program.

Zachery Groce is one of the 35 students graduating on Friday. He grew up in Germanton and attended Gospel Light and came to WSSU and played on the golf team.

Groce says it's an honor to be in last class of Felder's career.

"That means something to me because Dr. Felder is somebody I'll remember the rest of my life," said Groce, who is already working as an assistant pro at a golf course in Alabama. "He's one of those guys that doesn't take BS from anybody. I could tell right away when I got to Winston-Salem State that he cared about his students."

Groce said he didn't get all A's this semester but did before but never collected the money from Felder.

"That's pretty cool that he does that, and I think that's a small gesture on his part that he's paying attention to what we are doing," Groce said. "He's just such an all-around good guy and you could talk to him about anything. I'm glad I got to know him."

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