History of Durham Rotary Club
On November 9, 1915 George W. Harris, the noted
photographer of Washington, D.C., traveled to
Durham. His enthusiasm led to the formation of the
Rotary Club of Durham which was chartered on January
1, 1916 as club no. 196. Durham was the fourth
Rotary Club chartered in North Carolina. The first
District Governor of what is now District 7710 was
M. Eugene Newsom of Durham who served in 1924-1925.
Eugene Newsom then served as president of the Rotary
International in 1929-1930 and much later in
1967-1968, Luther Hodges, then living in Chapel
Hill, also served as the president of Rotary
International. Thus, District 7710 can claim two
very distinguished sons of Rotary. In addition,
James M. Bates, Jr., Frank Jarman, H.C. Cranford,
Jr.,, R. Haywood Hosea, and Art Christakos, all were
District Governors of 7710 from the Durham Rotary
Club. Joe Hackley, a former member of this club
served as District Governor for 2002-2003.
Several projects throughout the years have been
special for Durham Rotary including the formation of
Rotary Park in Downtown Durham, the establishment of
the Durham Rotary Community Fund, the buying and
installation of an exercise course for the Lenox
Baker Children's Hospital at Duke University and the
successful Polio Plus campaign. The club has
sponsored the construction of Habitat for Humanity
housing and awarded thousands of dollars in
scholarships for college-bound Durham students. In
addition, Durham Rotary is the annual champion for
the Salvation Army bell-ringing program at
Christmas.
In tribute to the club's 75th
anniversary in 1990, the club rehabilitated the band
stand at Bennett Place, which had been given by the
club to the City of Durham in 1916, at which time
the structure was located in a downtown park.
Durham Rotary has sponsored and helped organize
the other three clubs in the city: The North Durham,
Southwest Durham, and Durham Sunrise.
The Nicholas B. Fagan
Award
This award was established in 1985 to honor the
memory of Nick Fagan, a long-time Rotarian and
Secretary of Durham Rotary. Nick's always-positive
attitude, warm encouragement of his fellow men
during bad times and good, his own labor and
financial contributions on behalf of those less
fortunate, and his tireless efforts on behalf of
Rotary International exemplified the motto of
Rotary, "SERVICE ABOVE SELF." The Fagan Award may be
presented once each year to a member of Durham
Rotary whose deeds embody this motto.
Recipients of the Nicholas B. Fagan Award: 1985
J.B. Brame, 1986 H.C. Cranford, Jr., 1992 Marcus E.
Hobbs, 1997 Arthur C. Christakos, 2000 Franc Barada
& Reggie Ponder
