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Forever Blue Hose: Joe Nixon '62
Joe Nixon was a student at PC from 1958 through 1962. Then, all freshman and sophomore males who were physically able were required to take ROTC. Mandatory daily drills in ranks and uniform at 8 a.m. and before regular classes were part of being a PC student. Although ROTC was mandatory, the experience prepared Nixon to be the leader he would become.
“Military discipline was designed to test and refine certain aspects of character in order to prepare us for leadership,” he said.
Nixon played on the Blue Hose football team too and was a member of the 1960 Tangerine Bowl team. He was also a captain on the 1961 team during his senior year.
Nixon completed ROTC requirements and then received a commission as second lieutenant in the Army in 1963. He went on to serve as a company commander at Fort Benning, Ga. He thought about extending his Army career, but instead returned to PC as an assistant football coach and head track coach when Assistant Coach Billy Tiller offered him the positions.
After coaching for four years, Nixon began serving the College as an administrator when he accepted the call to become admission director. Those early morning drills and ROTC courses prepared Nixon for his coaching and director positions.
“Though I probably didn’t recognize or live up to them at the time, Army core values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage were consistent with leadership qualities required in my job at PC,” Nixon said.
While serving as admission director, Nixon earned his master’s degree in student personnel services and higher education at the University of South Carolina.
He continued to serve in the Army National Guard, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general. Nixon’s military service spanned 28 years.
In 1977, Nixon became dean of students, a position he would hold for 25 years. “Action Joe,” as the students dubbed him in a comic strip in the 1981 PaC SaC, served the College during long evenings at student events, early morning discipline sessions, countless staff meetings and honor council events.
Jean Brock, Nixon’s mother-in-law, established the Bessie Copeland Nixon Scholarship Fund in 1992 to help students in the ROTC program while also honoring Nixon and his mother.
In 1996, Nixon retired after a 28-year military career from the South Carolina Army National Guard with the rank of Brigadier General. He continued his work at PC and was named PC’s vice president of student life and dean of students in 2001. He held the position for two years until his retirement.
– Joe Nixon ’62
In 2002, the South Carolina College Personnel Association honored Nixon by establishing the Joseph O. Nixon Award for Chief Student Affairs Professionals. The award is presented annually to a college or university professional who has made outstanding contributions to his or her campus and to the field of student affairs has shown a commitment to students and has demonstrated leadership for student professionals in South Carolina.
Also in 2002, Nixon’s wife, Mica, and their children, Tracie ’89 and Bryant, honored Nixon’s leadership qualities by establishing the Joseph O. Nixon Leadership Award.
The award recognizes a graduating senior who, over the course of his or her PC education, has demonstrated superior qualities of leadership on behalf of the College community.
Nixon was inducted into PC’s ROTC Hall of Fame in 2011. PC bestowed the title vice president of student life and dean of students emeritus for his loyal service to the College in 2013.
“I have been blessed to find and refine my true strengths within the context of two institutions where I learned by discipline and example,” Nixon said.
