Students, colleagues surprise retired Dr. Dennis Felder with roast and endowment gift in his honor
On June 6, Dr. Dennis Felder thought he was helping a stranded colleague pick up a rental car. Instead, he was on his way to a surprise retirement and endowment roast celebrating his 42 years on the faculty at Winston-Salem State University.
He was duped into entering McNeil Ballroom at Anderson Center, where more than 150 people – most former students in WSSU’s Sports Management Program – waited to greet him.
Felder was sitting at his Winston-Salem home that Saturday morning when Dr. Cynthia Williams-Brown, interim associate dean of education, quality assurance and community engagement in the College of Arts, Sciences, Business and Education, called him for help, telling him her car had broken down on campus.
When Felder arrived to pick up Williams-Brown at a parking lot between Gleason-Hairston Terrace Hall and Anderson, she asked for his help retrieving a dolly in McNeil.
Felder said the plotters needed a good excuse for him to leave.
“They did those key things to get me moving,” said the 74-year-old Felder. “They knew it might be hard to get me there. They had been planning it for seven or eight months. I didn’t know anything about it. I’m old-school. I’m not on social media.”
Felder was presented with a $10,000 gift to support an endowment to help fund scholarships at WSSU for sports management students.
During the roast, he didn’t deny any of the stories told by former students.
“The things they said about me were true,” he admitted. “I said it, and I did it.”
Considered the heart and soul of the Sports Management Department, Felder made it a point to get to know and instruct every student enrolled in the discipline and placed a high emphasis on preparing them for the workplace and graduation in four years.
“I let them know what they were getting into,” Felder said. “I told them that I was their daddy and their mother. If they did what I told them, they would get their degree in four years.”
Felder’s first lessons for students were basic. He instructed new students to always carry an ink pen, offer a firm handshake while looking into someone’s eyes, maintain good posture and arrive early for appointments.
“I need to know you’re prepared for business,” Felder said. “I put an emphasis on those things. I want you to walk, talk and dress the part.”
Growing up on a farm in Magnolia in southern Mississippi, Felder graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education, recreation and dance from Alcorn State University.
An outstanding student who never had to pay for college, Felder was awarded a scholarship to Kansas State University, where he earned a master’s degree. After returning to Alcorn for a few years to work as an admissions counselor and recruiter, Felder returned to Kansas State, earned his doctorate in 1982 and joined the WSSU faculty.
An associate professor, Felder was WSSU’s sports management program coordinator.
At WSSU, sports management students are required to select one of three concentrations — management and administration; marketing and promotion; or sports communication.
Felder, whose last day at work was June 30, taught in each of the three concentrations but specialized in management and administration.
A firm believer in the importance of hands-on experience, Felder is a major advocate of WSSU’s requirement for sports management students to complete a 12-credit-hour internship in their final semester.
“I tell them that what they do with their degree depends on them,” he said. “If you want to be a college athletic director, you need to shadow one or volunteer with an athletic director. You need to volunteer in the field in which you want to serve.”
Felder has been active in the Winston-Salem community, serving as a board member for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Recreation & Parks Commission and the Mechanics & Farmers Bank.
He was president of the Greater Winston Kiwanis Club, chair of the advisory board of the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club and a CPR instructor for the American Red Cross.
In retirement, Felder plans to maintain his Winston-Salem residence while spending more time with family in Mississippi. He looks forward to visiting his son, Demetric, in Natchez; his daughter, D’Antwanette, in Hampton, Georgia; his brothers Kenneth in McComb and Robert in Jackson; and relaxing at his parents’ former home in Magnolia.
