UNA honors first Black student on 60th anniversary

FLORENCE - The University of North Alabama honored its first Black student Monday on the 60th anniversary of his admission to then-Florence State College.

Wendell Gunn was admitted on Sept. 11, 1963, following a federal court order demanding the university enroll him. During a ceremony Monday, Gunn said he believes then-President E.B. Norton had supported an end to segregation when Gunn arrived on campus to apply.

"I believe Dr. Norton was waiting for me," Gunn said.

He said he received threats leading up to his admission, including one phone call from someone who said, "You show up on that campus, there's going to be rifles pointed at your head."

However, once he enrolled, Gunn felt welcomed, and even was the subject of a boisterous standing ovation on career day during the spring semester of his first year when he received the Physics Achievement Award on Honors Day.

"That was their way, six months later, of officially welcoming me on campus," Gunn said. "That day I became just another student."

Gunn went on to have a stellar career that included two stints in White House positions. He was executive secretary of the cabinet council on commerce and trade under President Ronald Reagan and chief of staff for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp during the George Bush Sr. administration.