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PANTHER Page 3
BLAKE - PLAN FOR CHANGE
Continued from page 1
“The faculty appears to be
very strong and
diversified,” he said is his soft,
but stem manner. “There are a
lot of good people with strong
ideas and energh.”
“It appears there are so
many good people- However, a
lot of things I am trying to get
done will tell me a little more
about both the administration
and the facutty. My initial
impressions are very positive.”
On the other hand, Blake
has two impressions of the
students. “One imp
ession is that there is a lot of
fairly active involvement in the
life of the college in regards to
clubs, greek organizations,
athletic activities, etc., he said.
“But another impression
that I pick up could be very
thing in terms of having a very
thin base. There might be some
problems in the feeling of “we-
ness” and “our-ness.”
“I don’t know which one is
more accurate at this particular
time,” he said “A significant,*
number of student feel college
is ba ically a place to get an
education and not be very in
volved in the life of the campus,
he said. “Both could be true, in
that both types make up the
Clark College student body.”
Blake recalk
hi* mSegeday*
Blake contrasted his college
years to the present atmosphere
at Clark. He reminisced that
when people used the rhetoric,
"When I was an undergraduate
of the ‘namily,’ it really had
meaning in the sense that most
of the peole knew each other.
The faculty knew most of the
students.”
He said then things were
on a smaller scale than they are
today.
He added there are a lot
more diversions today than in
the past. Campus movies were
one example. “There was not as
much freedom of access to so
many diversions, so the life of
the campus was much more
important as a way to deal with
one’s social entertainment and
leisure needs for both
residential and city students.
“We went to the campus
movie because it was much like
really going to the movies, and
because you didn’t want to be
bothered with going to the back
door.
“It was much more
pleasant to go to the same
activity on campus. But now
campus movies find it awfully
hard to compete with the
current movies downtown.”
Because of this loss of
interest in campus activities,
Blake plans to make campus
activities one of the goals of the
college.
“I realize this is a different
time, but I am not willing to give
up- ant is people trying
to be _ and to try to figure
out ways of making things
better on the campus. *
“If we try to work on the
quality of what we do, so that
there are a lot more major
events that students preceive as
being things that they are in
terested, we would have a lot
more loyalty of the students.
“ intend to pay more at
tention to events such as
homecoming and various kinds
of awards events and build them
into things that people don’t
want to miss as opposed to just
another kind of thing that .is
going on with a particular group
that is interested. We should try
to have enough major events in
the life of the campus to attract
a large number of students
because they are provocative.
That’s one of the things that
defined in earlier periods, the
feectiveness of black colleges.”
Not only does Blake want to
perk up the campus, he also
wants to create a Clark College
student image.
“I would also like to get a
dialouge going about ‘What is a
Clark College student’ he said.
A composite type description
that would identify a CC
student.
Are there some things that
one might expect. If you saw 10
CC students and you knew
something about Clark College
students, you would expect to
pick up some kind of vibrations
or signals from those students.
That is something we need to
start a dialogue about. That’s
the way you build some kind of
tradition, some kind of internal
caring; some expectations that
students would internalize.”
Sake: A Georgia Bay
Blake’s roots lie deep in
Georgia. The eldest of two
children, Black was bom in
Brunswick. Blake’s parents died
when he and his sister Allen
were young, but before their
deaths they instilled in their
children a desire to obtain a
good education.
“As I look back on my
life,” he recalled, “from the
background and the place I grew
up I’ve discovered that in the
scheme of the times my mother
was relatively well .educated. So
was my grandmother. “Even
on my father’s side.
“In that particular period,
they (blacks) had little or no
education. That was an im
portant factor. So education was
always extremely important. ’ ’
His parents provided him
with the initial spark, but it was
really his high school principal,
J.S. Wilkerson, who motivated
him and encouraged him to
continue his education, Blake
said.
“He in many ways kept me
in school,” Blake recalled, his
voice lowering. “I was not all
that highly motivated to do good
school work or to go to college
when I was in high school
despite my family background.
“I was about an average
student. In fact, I was back
down in Brunswick last spring
and the principal had gotten me
a copy of my transcript. And the
best I can say is that it was not
very impressive, particularly
after grade school.”
After the -death of his
parents, going to college
Dr. Blake sets a tone for
hard, diligent work as he
carries out his duties as
president.
seemed like an impossibility
because of his family’s limited
income. His grandmother
stepped in to rear them and
attempted to provide some
financial support, but it was not
enough.
“There was just no money
around,” said Blake.
With the help of Wilkerson,
however, Blake was able to
attend college. "The principal,”
Blake said, "opened some
doors for me. He was able to
make some things happen.”
Because of his principal’s
efforts, Blake was able to attend
Paine College, Augusta, Ga.
It was the principal who got
Blake in college, but it was
Blake’s hard work and deter
mination that kept him in.
It took work, hard and
strenuous work to pay the
college tuition year after year,
he said.
“You name it, I’ve done
it,” Blake said. “Everything
from dishwashing to waiting on
tables, to custodial work. It
depended entirely on the wage
and dependability-if the job
was going to last a whole
summer. If it paid a good wage,
then it really didn’t matter what
the job was.
“I did all kinds of things. I
went to Conneticut and worked
on a tobacco farm, which was
something a lot of students used
to do. You made good money.”
This hard summer work
prepared Blake for the football
season during which he played
center and linebacker for the
Paine football team.
“I was a good athlete,” he
said matter of factly, adjusting
his 6 feet 5 inch frame in his
chair. “I made all-conference
(the Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic conference was then
the Southeastern Athletic
Conference) in football one year
an honorable mention the other.
“Blake also played center
for the basketball team.
“When I went to college I
was actually a better player in
football than I was in basket
ball,” he said. “Then basketball
came along. “I was a starting
player on both teams, so by the
time I became a junior and
senior, I would say that I was a
good basketball player too.”
After his graduation from
Paine in 1951, Blake was drafted
in the army where he served in
Germany with the adjutant
aeneral’s i corps as a teacher.
Blake taught veterans who were
in danger of being discharged
the basic skills they need to pass
the update army aptitude test.
When his stint in the army
was completed, Blake
matruiculated at Howard
University and earned his
masters degree in education in
1960. Later, he attended the
University of Illinois where he
earned his Doctor of Philosophy
degeee in education.
AT Howard, Blake met
Mona Williams whom he
married in 1962. The Blakes
have two sons, Michael, 21,
from his wife’s previous
marriage and Eli, 5.
After teaching at Miles
College and Howard University,
where he was given an out
standing teacher award by the
Howard College of Liberal Arts
Council in 1964, Blake went
work for ISE for 10 years.
Sake toys no to ail work
Blake said his hardest ask
at ISE was guarding against
overworking. “It was in the
nature of the job, but it was also
in my nature,” he admitted.
“What 1 learned is that you
can’t really be effective if you
work all the time. It’s just not
possible.
I’ve learned that you have
other things that you do. I play
tennis. I play regularly. I used
to stop playing for a long time. It
was like 1 never had time to
play. Then I thought about that
and I said ‘That’s crazy.’
“A person is a human
being, even though his job is
demanding. He still has to find
some way to separate himself to
do something that will give him
satisifeation. That was what got
me back into playing tennis.
One day I went out playing, and
1 was in the car going home.
“I realized that I really felt
good I had not thought about
the job, what personnel actions
had to be taken, who wasn’t
doing what he was supposed to
be doing. I just hadn’t thought
about any of that.”
Tennis, Black said, isn’t his
only' diversion. There’s also
music. “Of course I like music,
mainly jazz,” he said “I guess
my musical tastes revolve
around the modernist era-
bebop. The music that
developed when I was a kid-
during the late 40s and early
50s.
“I like people like Charlie
Parker, Miles Davis, those kinds
of people. It would also be
people like Herbie Hancock
though he’s gone into pop
music. George Benson would be
another. I hope he doesn’t get
too carried away with singing
because he is a very fine
guitarist.
“I also like going to parties.
It comes with the job. I guess
' it’s a part of the lifestyle. It’s
important to have close friends,
people you can feel comfortable
with. To be able to carry on a lot
of what you can
call....foolishness.” ,
Enjoy Malloy
On 36
By Larry Simpson
If you’ve enjoyed his sports
broadcasts on WCLK or wat
ched his smooth play on the
basketball court, you’ll have a
double treat when you see him
on channel 36 at 5:45 p.m.
Monday thru Saturday.
Earl “The Pearl” Malloy, a
senior mass communications
major £ at 1 Clark, is now doing a
15 mintue news broadcast on
WLTA channel 36. Malloy will
continued with his regular
broadcasts of AUC football.
Malloy’s job at WLTA consists
of announcing the sports news
Susan Sherman, a Georgia State
student covers the remainder of
the news.
Malloy was not a “walk-
on” into the job.
Lo Jelks, the executive
producer of the show, gave
auditions for the news, Malloy
said.
“I did an audition and later
got the job.”
Malloy’s job at channel 36
is not very different from his
duties at WCLK.
“We primarily do high
school and college news,” he
said, “I am doing sports from
the Atlanta University Center,
Georgia Tech and Georgia
State. “We want to keep
everything racially balanced by
not doing too much AUC sport
news.”
The transition from radio
news to television has not been
an easy one for Malloy.
“1 am not really used to
doing the sports in front of a
camera,” he said, “You have to
maintain your eye contact with
the audience.”
Since channel 36 is a small
station and doesn’t have
equipment, like teleprompters,
which larger stations have, the
transition is even harder, ac
cording to Malloy.
“On the large stations, like
WSB, the reporters just look at
the camera. Along side it is a
teleprompter which has the copy
on it.”
“The reporter looks at the
camera maintaining his eye
contact and reading material at
the same time,” he said. “They
only glance at their notes.”
So far the feed back
from the audience has been
good and the large stations are
looking at the program.
“If the show comes off
pretty good there’s a chance the
larger stations might want to
use it,” he said.
The primary sponsor of the
show is the Coca-Cola Bottling
company and from all in
dications they are pleased with
the show, Malloy said,
j. “Everything looks pretty
good and the producer Lo Jelks
is doing a tremendous job,”
Malloy said. “As long as the
sponsors back the show we’ll
continue to be on the aij\”