$10 million for Shaw University

Ebony, Oct, 1992

IT is no secret to anyone even remotely

acquainted with millionaire attorney Willie E. Gary of Stuart, Fla., that he is eternally devoted to his alma mater, Shaw University. Engage him in conversation for more than 10 minutes and invariably Gary, one of the nations most successful trial attorneys, will wax wistfully about his indebtedness to the 127-year-old historically Black institution in Raleigh, N.C.

Shaw, as Gary proudly likes to tell anyone in earshot, took him in when he was but a poor migrant farm boy and offered him opportunity and hope when other avenues to higher education and upward mobility seemed closed. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Shaw," says the 45-year-old malpractice and personal injury specialist who is revered nationally for his skill at winning multi-million dollar awards for his clients.

So as a gesture of gratitude to his beloved alma mater, Gary, who is senior partner in the firm of Gary, Williams, Parenti, Finney and Taylor, has pledged to give the university an unrestricted gift of $10 million over the next five years. It is the largest gift ever bestowed upon Shaw and the largest donation made by an alumnus to any historically Black college or university.

For his part, Gary refers to the gift merely as "a small downpayment on the very big debt I owe Shaw."

But on the grounds of the century-old Raleigh campus, news of Gary's generosity was anything but small. "Students were saying, 'Dr. Shaw, we're rich,"' says the university's president Talbert O. Shaw (no relation to the family for whom the university is named). 'There was just this tremendous infusion of confidence and pride in the students and the faculty. They were all pleased to see what an alumnus has done for Shaw."

The windfall has brought other dividends too. It has attracted a bonanza of free publicity that has done wonders for student recruitment. It has also stimulated an outpouring of interest--and dollars--from corporations and other prosperous alums. Shortly after the announcement of Willie Gary's gift, another $1.2 million in alumni donations was pledged to the university.

"This gift has placed us in a new light," President Shaw says. "It has enhanced our profile with the corporate community and with our alumni. It has demonstrated that we are on a trajectory of growth."

More importantly, says Gary, the gift is a way of saying to the world that Black people intend to be at the forefront of the movement to save Black colleges, many of which are perilously close to permanently shutting their doors. "I hate to see us always having to beg the government and major institutions for help," Gary says. "The truth is, Black folks have not been giving back to Black colleges the way we should have. And we have got to start doing that if we want to have a say in how our children are educated.

"Of course everyone is not in the pesition to give $10 million," he continues, "but I would ask people to do what you can. If 10,000 people give $100, we can begin to make a major difference."

The difference in Willie Garys life began, to a large extent, at Shaw.

Born in Eastman, Ga., Gary is the sixth of the 11 children of Turner and Mary Gary, who were sharecroppers when Willie was born. But shortly after Willie's birth, Turner Gary lost his farm--due, somewhat, to the medical expenses incurred during the complicated delivery--and the family moved to South Florida and began the hand-to-mouth life of migrant farm workers. They cut sugar cane and picked beans and corn in the fields in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Gary, who joined his family in the fields at age 9, attended school during the day and worked the fields in the afternoon. His schoolwork suffered, but his enthusiasm for learning never dimmed. He studied assiduously on the way to and from the fields and dreamed of going to college. Football, he hoped, would be the vehicle that carried him there.

Though only 5 feet 7 inches tall-- small even for a high school football player--Gary brought a fierce determination to the football field where he played a variety of defensive positions. His determination on the field and in class impressed both coaches and teachers many of whom encouraged him to try out for an athletic scholarship. He had tryouts at several schools'including Bethune-Cookman where he spent a week going through drills-but got no offers.

On the advice of his high school coach, he went to Shaw in a last ditch effort to win the financing that would enable him to fulfill his dream of earning a college degree.

He literally showed up unannounced on the doorstep of the university in the fall of 1967 with $13 in his pocket. Unfortunately, the football team roster had already been filled and Gary was turned away. Undeterred, he stayed on campus, slept in dormitory lounges (where football players smuggled him food from the cafeteria) and ingratiated himself to the Shaw football coach by dreaming up the locker room while the team practiced.

His industry so impressed the coach that when a defensive lineman was injured during drills, he called Gary in to substitute. In a scenario that seemed to come straight out of a "B" movie of the 1940s, Gary miraculously made the team and won a scholarship.