![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ece.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ECE_8658-1024x468.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Durham native Irwin Holmes wasn\u2019t sure. But his mother had no doubts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go to this all-white college and I have no idea how I\u2019m going to compete in this new environment,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cIs it really true that blacks aren\u2019t as smart as whites, and I\u2019m not going to do well? Or is it like my mom told me, that I\u2019m as good as anybody?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got there, I found out my mom was more right than the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fall of 1956 Holmes and three other pioneering students became NC State\u2019s first African-American undergraduates, changing the once all-white face of the institution when they enrolled in what was then called the School of Engineering. In their time on campus, the students broke one barrier after another by participating in the tennis, soccer, and indoor track and field teams, and in the marching band.<\/p>\n After completing a distinguished academic and varsity athletic career at NC State, Holmes became the university\u2019s first black graduate when he accepted his degree in electrical engineering during commencement exercises at Reynolds Coliseum on May 29, 1960. Two of Holmes\u2019 African-American classmates graduated from NC State several years later, and the third graduated from North Carolina Central.<\/p>\n \u201cOut of the 220 freshmen that entered electrical engineering with me, 65 of us graduated in four years,\u201d says Holmes, who earned induction into engineering honor society Eta Kappa Nu as a senior. \u201cWhat that proved to me was that it wasn\u2019t color that mattered; it was intellect. That made standing on that stage that day extra special \u2026 because it proved my mom was right in thinking who I was and who I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n Honoring Holmes’ enduring legacy as a student, athlete, and engineering, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering inducted him into the inaugural class of the ECE Alumni Hall of Fame<\/a> in 2015.<\/p>\n When NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson first met Irwin Holmes in 2010 at the 50th\u00a0reunion of the 1960 class, he was moved by Holmes\u2019 perseverance and dedication to overcoming obstacles and breaking new ground in both academics and athletics. Not only was Holmes the school\u2019s first black graduate; he was also the Atlantic Coast Conference\u2019s first black athlete, first black varsity letter winner and first black co-captain of a varsity team. Ever since that meeting, Woodson felt strongly that Holmes\u2019 legacy needed to be honored.<\/p>\n In September 2018, the NC State Board of Trustees approved changing the name of University College Commons to Holmes Hall. This week, as NC State begins its celebration of\u00a0Diversity Education Week<\/a>, Woodson makes the name change public. The building will be formally rededicated during a celebration with Holmes and his family at 1 p.m. on Nov. 1, during\u00a0Red and White Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIrwin Holmes not only fulfilled his dreams at NC State; he boldly broke barriers that would forever change this university and the Atlantic Coast Conference,\u201d Woodson says. \u201cHe was, and will always remain, a role model that helped drive needed social and cultural change at NC State, in North Carolina and far beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud to honor Irwin Holmes in perpetuity with this naming.\u201d<\/p>\n The three-story, 21,500-square-foot building was built in 2007. It is home to the Exploratory Studies program, Study Abroad, four classrooms and University Housing offices for Tucker, Owen, Turlington and Alexander residence halls.<\/p>\n It is located adjacent to Wellness and Recreation\u2019s tennis courts at Carmichael Gym, where Holmes spent so many hours practicing and playing for the Wolfpack when the varsity tennis courts were near that location.<\/p>\n Last month, Woodson and Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Brian Sischo visited Holmes at his Durham home to share the news, catching Holmes a little off guard.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not anticipate that they would name a building after me,\u201d says Holmes, who is already the namesake of the Irwin Holmes and Black Alumni Society Conference Room on Centennial Campus. \u201cI thought maybe a scholarship or something. What I appreciate is not that this is a special moment for me, but that it is a special moment for the university because a long time ago they did something special and they have been doing special things as they relate to race throughout all these years.<\/p>\n \u201cBy doing all of that, they earned the honor of honoring themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n While Holmes spent most of his sports career as a tennis player, he and fellow African-American freshman Manuel Crockett of Raleigh\u2019s Ligon High School actually integrated ACC athletics in a freshman indoor track meet against North Carolina in what is now known as Dorton Arena. They both ran in the 600-yard dash, becoming the first African-Americans to participate in an ACC-sponsored event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t perceive it to be that big a deal at the time,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cWe were probably worried about passing a math exam or something. We thought someday when we were old men maybe someone would make a big deal about it, but we didn\u2019t make a big deal about it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did it for the same purpose as everyone else: just to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that spring, Holmes joined the tennis team, while fellow African-American freshman Walter Holmes (no relation) joined the Wolfpack soccer team and the NC State marching band.<\/p>\n Irwin Holmes admits that, like most pioneers, he did not have a perfect college experience. He believes, however, that there were many honorable reactions to potentially negative events during his NC State career.<\/p>\n He had professors who not only helped him navigate difficult courses but also made sure he and his three other black classmates were treated fairly. One such mentor \u2014 electrical engineering professor William D. Stevenson Jr., an early developer of corporate partnerships for Research Triangle Park \u2014 recommended Holmes for his first job, with RCA in Camden, New Jersey.<\/p>\n Another, tennis coach John Kenfield Jr., happily welcomed Holmes, a nationally recognized junior tennis player while at Hillside High School, onto his team of all walk-ons when Holmes showed an interest in joining the freshman team in the spring of 1957.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach Kenfield was a special man,\u201d Holmes says of the Wolfpack\u2019s tennis coach from 1949 to 1967. \u201cHe must have been raised special. He was ready for all the crazy things that happened after that.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of those \u201ccrazy things\u201d would be unfathomable in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n In his first freshman match, Holmes earned a forfeit victory because his opponent\u2019s coach didn\u2019t want his player to face a black opponent.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, this is great,\u201d Holmes told Kenfield. \u201cIf they keep doing that, I\u2019ll be undefeated.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Holmes wasn\u2019t allowed to compete in South Carolina, which had an unwritten rule barring interracial athletic competition. All matches the Wolfpack played against the University of South Carolina and Clemson were held in North Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach Kenfield arranged to have all those matches here at NC State because he said if you can\u2019t play us with Irwin on the team, we\u2019re not coming down there,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cIt was upsetting to me, because like most athletes, I enjoyed traveling to different places and I never got to go to South Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, just to add a little salt, any time I played someone from down there, I just destroyed them.\u201d<\/p>\n That sentiment of including Holmes in all team activities carried over to his teammates. Once, when coming home from a match at UNC, the team stopped for a meal at a diner outside Chapel Hill. Before serving the team, the diner\u2019s owner told Kenfield he wouldn\u2019t serve Holmes.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach went and told the other team members,\u201d Holmes says, \u201cand they said, \u2018If they are not going to serve Irwin, they are not going to serve any of us. We\u2019ll get in the cars and go home.\u2019 And that\u2019s what they did.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember, this was coming from roughly 10 white peers, all of whom had been raised in the Deep South and in traditional Southern homes. For them to feel that good about me was not a racial statement. It was them saying, \u2018You are wronging our friend and therefore we are not going to participate in it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThat was very special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n When Holmes was elected co-captain of the tennis team in 1960, he was included in\u00a0Sports Illustrated<\/i>\u2019s \u201cFaces in the Crowd\u201d feature for becoming the first African-American captain of an ACC varsity team, a true honor for someone who spent the little money he earned selling Durham newspapers to pay for his annual subscription to the sports magazine.<\/p>\n Holmes went on to earn a master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He met his wife, Meredythe, an elementary school teacher with degrees in early childhood education, while he was working for RCA. During their 54-year marriage, they\u2019ve raised three children and now have three grandchildren. Holmes had several jobs as an engineer before returning to his hometown of Durham in 1979 to work for IBM until his retirement in 1988.<\/p>\n Now 79, Holmes appreciates what the school is doing, less for himself than for the generations that will follow.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery student who comes into State is going to have some relationship with that building because of what is there, if not once but several times during their college career,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cThat\u2019s special.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it is located next to where we spent so much time playing and practicing tennis. It\u2019s almost like that building was built just for that purpose. I know it wasn\u2019t, but it makes this a special honor.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irwin-Holmes-graduation-portrait-embed.jpg\")
\nin electrical engineering in 1960.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Holmes](\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Irwin-Holmes-tennis-racquet-embed.jpg\")
\nwhile at Hillside High School, joined the NC State team in 1957.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n