You Know the Building and It's Name. What About the Man Behind It?

Many will pass by the building, many may see the name but few to none knows the man behind it. Not many have heard the story behind it or even bothered to learn. Despite this, the Harold Crawford Engineering Technology Building is more than just a place that communication classes are held. It was named after Harold Wakeling Crawford, a previous student and dean of what is now called, South Carolina State University.


Harold "Crip" Crawford was born on January 6, 1903 in Laurens County, South Carolina and later moved to Calhoun Falls.  He attended elementary school at Haines Institute in Augusta, Ga. In his adult life he was considered a decent sized man weighing in at about 200 pounds and he was also 6'2". 

 Crawford later attended the academy and college at South Carolina State where he received a B.S. degree in mechanic arts in 1927. He attended Kansas State on a Rosenwald Scholarship where he earned his second baccalaureate degree in Automotive Engineering and General Science in 1932. He received the M.A. degree in Administration and Supervision from New York in 1944, and from Wayne State University of Detroit in 1959. He did further study at the University of Chicago and New York U. As you can see he had a lot of schooling.

Crawford of course attended the School of Industrial Education and Engineering Technology at South Carolina State College (South Carolina state University). He later joined the faculty in 1932. He left in 1945 to work as Chief with Veterans Administration Guidance Center at the College, but returned to his position as Dean in 1947 until his retirement in 1969.

An acquaintance of Crawford, Dr. William Hines came to SCSU to give a brief overview of what Crawford might've been like back then.

"He seemed to be a kind of reserved individual" as Dr.William Hines said, "kind of a little on the shy side."

Hines told us that Crawford was a player and an assistant coach in football during his life.

He also went on to say, "He was always interested in athletics. In the 50's until he retired he remained in the athletic program."

At one point Crawford was among 5 people the board of trustees were considering for President. The board wasn't really leaning towards Crawford because they didn't know where he stood on segregation.

The purpose of the building we now call Harold W. Crawford Engineering Technology Building was for trades. Afterwards it was to replace the original mechanical building.

Crip Crawford died in 1980 and the nameless building was named after him.

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