Donors Revive School's Once-Great Debate Program

The Dallas Morning News
Belo Corporation

December 19 , 2007

Last week, Sam Wyly and Joe Kirven went to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, for the premiere of Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters.

The two Dallas businessmen have more than a passing interest in the movie, which opens in theaters on Christmas Day. They are helping resurrect the debate program that brought national glory to this small black college in 1935.

The movie chronicles the journey of Melvin Tolson (played by Mr. Washington), a brilliant but volatile debate coach who transformed an underdog group of students at Wiley into a powerhouse team that won a national championship.

But the team disbanded after Dr. Tolson left Wiley in 1947.

Now it looks as though Wiley will have word warriors debating as early as this fall, thanks to scholarships set up by Mr. Kirven and Mr. Wyly and a just-announced $1 million gift from Mr. Washington.

"We're going to make sure they get some young, bright students who want to debate," says Mr. Kirven, 75, a 1953 Wiley graduate.

Wiley president Haywood Strickland couldn't be more jubilant about the happy turn of events, even though the movie star hasn't given any details about his donation.

"It's overwhelming to have people really look at the story of what Wiley did for those young people and commit their resources so that that kind of quality education continues," Dr. Strickland says.

The college, which has just 922 students, is "going full steam ahead" on its debate program, he says. "By next fall, we intend to have at least some fledgling-type debates that will evolve as quickly as possible into real debates."

Two years ago, another friend of Mr. Kirven's donated $25,000 anonymously to start a scholarship fund in his honor. This summer, Mr. Kirven asked Mr. Wyly to bolster the scholarship fund.

"I was hesitant to ask Sam because you don't like to prey on your friends," Mr. Kirven says.

"But my wife, Gloria, said, 'You're not asking for yourself. You're asking for people who would not otherwise be able to go.' So I bought into that idea."

Mr. Kirven figured Mr. Wyly was probably good for $25,000 but was stunned when Mr. Wyly's administrative assistant called to say her boss wanted to kick in four times that amount.

"That rocked me pretty good," says Mr. Kirven, a private investor who owns J&S Chemical & Supply Co. on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

So you can imagine his euphoria last Wednesday when Mr. Wyly upped his donation to $300,000 after being told that the school wants to renew its debate program.

"I tell you, I had to sit down," Mr. Kirven says. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack. We're talking about real money now."

"Let's just say Joe's a powerful advocate, and it's a great idea that resonated with me," says Mr. Wyly, who was a college debater at Louisiana Tech University in the '50s.

Besides, Wiley is pronounced just like his last name. And he has a soft spot for Mr. Kirven. "This was a 'Wow! I've got to do this,' " says Mr. Wyly, 73.

Beginnings

 

Mr. Wyly writes about his relationship with Mr. Kirven in his autobiography, 1,000 Dollars and an Idea, which is due out this spring.

Mr. Kirven attended Wiley College on an athletic scholarship, graduating with a science degree in 1953.

The only debating he did was with his football and track coaches, and the polite graduate of Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School didn't do much of that.

Mr. Wyly's story of creating University Computing Co. in 1963, one of the first computer services companies in America, is legend.

The men met in 1968 when both were named Outstanding Young Texans by the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

In 1969, Mr. Wyly became chairman of a presidential advisory commission on black capitalism and brought on Mr. Kirven as a member.

"When I first had some bucks out of the computing business, I started investing in a few start-up black businesses through a foundation I set up," Mr. Wyly says.

"My activity drew the attention of the White House because part of Richard Nixon's campaign pledge was to define and encourage black capitalism.

"When they actually won the election, they had to say, 'How do we do it?' "

Wiley College was founded in 1873 by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to educate "newly freed men." Today most of its students come from families who earn less than $30,000 a year. Almost all of them need scholarships and loans to attend.

"The thing about a school like Wiley is a lot of times the people you help are the first in their families to go to college," Mr. Kirven says. "If they go, then their siblings are more likely to go."

He uses himself as an example. An aunt, two uncles and four cousins attended Wiley before him.

The premiere

 

Thursday night was the first time Mr. Wyly had visited the campus of small red-brick buildings. But the crowd was so thick at the premiere that the two businessmen never saw each other.

Mr. Wyly had a quick encounter with Mr. Washington but had to head back to Dallas before seeing the movie.

Mr. Kirven never met the star but loved the film.

"I think when it debuts on the 25th, some people are going to be surprised," Mr. Kirven says. "It's a pretty darn good movie."

And it's based on a pretty good tale.