State

The State Magazine's North Caro¬ linian of 1969 is a man who would cer¬ tainly have been chosen for the honor at least once during the past 18 years, except for the fact that during that time he was the man in charge of the choos¬ ing. Bill Sharpe. To be candid, we think the commit¬ tee of judges who urged Bill Sharpe's posthumous selection was largely prompted by its personal affection for the man. But even more, the judges were moved by certain knowledge that few, if any. men have been more closely identified with North Carolina, and none in quite the way that Bill Sharpe was. much of a handicap because they didn’t know what they wanted cither." Bill was not then an experienced press agent, but he was a newspaper¬ man from his head to his toes; and that, as it turned out. was even better. Within two years the news bureau was getting favorable North Carolina stories into out-of-state papers and magazines at the rate of 500 a day. Story-writing teams from the country's top publica¬ tions. shepherded about the state by Bill Sharpe, were becoming a familiar sight. In addition. Bill’s office — now estab¬ lished as a clearing house for North Carolina information — had published promotional literature, established files The North Carolinian of 1969 There has never been another Tar Heel identified uitli \orth Carolina in quite the way Bill Sharpe was. IS if BILL WRIGHT The Year of 1969. when North Carolina's travel industry (now ranked very close to the state's second largest) reached an all-time high of 38 million visitors and 750 million dollars, cli¬ maxed an era of unprecedented devel¬ opment. The era started when North Carolina first undertook its state advertising and promotion pro¬ gram; before that, many Tar Heels had never thought of their state's travel attractions as of sufficient economic importance to constitute an “industry." The era dates, spe¬ cifically, from the time when Bill Sharpe moved his typewriter into the Sir Walter Hotel room which served as a makeshift first office of the Advertising Division for the State of North Carolina. It was 1937. The state legislature had passed a law authorizing the Advertis¬ ing Division, and Governor Clyde R. Носу had given Bill Sharpe the respon¬ sibility for making it a reality. After Bill left his newspaper job in Winston- Salem and came to Raleigh, he related, “I had a quarter of a million dollars to spend, and didn't know the first thing about what they wanted; but that wasn't of pictures and information, and set up correspondence which served key per¬ sons throughout the nation. Bill Sharpe directed North Carolina's publicity and advertis¬ ing under four governors, and be¬ came one of America's lop pub¬ licists, a fact of which many Tar Heels were proudly aware; and the legend grew. Less well-known was that Bill had received many invita¬ tions to publicize other states at a large increase in salary. Bill invariably declined the of¬ fers. "There are some things here that are worth a lot more than money,” he told us one time. In its issue of January 22. 1949, The State Magazine — then published by its founder. Carl Gocrch — named Bill Sharpe "North Carolina's Man of the Year for 1948," selecting him over such nominees as John Umstcad. Spencer Love. Sandy Graham, Dr. Hugh Ben¬ nett. and Governor Kerr Scott. In announcing the honor, Carl ex¬ plained that Bill’s selection was based on a considered judgement of "the man who had rendered the greatest service to the greatest number of people in North Carolina." Quoting from the citation: "Because of Bill Sharpe's work, large numbers of additional tourists and visitors have come to North Carolina, spending mil¬ lions of dollars. Industrialists have be¬ come interested in the state, and have investigated opportunities here. Many families have become permanent resi¬ dents. . . . "The effect of Bill's work has been spread from one cud of the state to the other. It has been of benefit to more people than the work of any other man we know of.” Those benefits, now compounded by 20 years and a succession of good men who have added their talents to the work which Bill Sharpe started, were at hand and in evidence more than ever before in 1969. "Not only that." said the man-of-the- ycar announcement, "but as a result of Bill Sharpe's articles in the magazines and newspapers of our own state, he has helped to make our own people better acquainted with our resources. THE STATE, JANUARY 15. 1970 9