| Alabama Governor James E. Folsom (left) installed Dr. Ralph
B. Draughon as Auburn's tenth president in May 1949. The trustees
had named Draughon acting president after Dr. L.N. Duncan's death and named
him president in October 1948. At the installation ceremony, Trustee
Frank P. Samford, Sr., sat at the viewer's far left. Dr. Frank B.
Davis, at right, grand marshal at commencements for many years, wore saddle
oxfords. Construction was proceeding on the stadium's east stands.
Draughon, third alumnus to serve as president, guided Auburn in the growth-packed
years after World War II from being API to being Auburn University.
In Draughon's seventeen years as president, Auburn awarded 11,153 more
degrees (including its first doctorates) than in its previous ninety years.
This president engaged in an unending struggle for funds needed to take
care of growing enrollment. -- Photo: AU Archives |
