1. Skipper Bowles enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1937 fall semester and briefly lived as a roommate of Terry Sanford.
23 Facts About Skipper Bowles
1. 2.
Skipper Bowles led a dance band in which he played the trumpet, wason the university's honor council, and was a staff member of the student humor magazine, The Buccaneer.
3.
Skipper Bowles served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945, being discharged at the rank of corporal.
4.
Skipper Bowles sold his interest in the company in 1958.
5.
In 1956 Skipper Bowles started the Skipper Bowles Realty and Insurance Company.
6.
Skipper Bowles was finance director for Terry Sanford's gubernatorial campaign in 1960.
7.
In 1962, Skipper Bowles promulgated an official policy desegregating park facilities.
8.
That summer Skipper Bowles resigned from the directorate of the Department of Conservation and Development to free up more of his time to devote to his businesses.
9.
In November 1966 Skipper Bowles ran for as one of seven candidates for six seats in the North Carolina House of Representatives for Guilford County.
10.
Skipper Bowles placed fourth with 22,670 votes and secured one of the seats.
11.
Skipper Bowles was later elected to two terms in the North Carolina Senate.
12.
Skipper Bowles was sworn-in to the body on January 15,1969.
13.
Skipper Bowles long aspired to be elected governor of North Carolina.
14.
Skipper Bowles was opposed in his bid by Lieutenant Governor Hoyt Patrick Taylor Jr.
15.
Skipper Bowles inherited much of Sanford's old coalition and anticipated receiving strong backing from residents of Guilford County.
16.
Skipper Bowles distanced himself from incumbent Democratic governor Robert W Scott, who had cultivated several political enemies.
17.
Skipper Bowles joked that after he won the governorship his allies would "get the white meat" while the backers of other primary candidates would "get the dark meat", angering Taylor supporters.
18.
Skipper Bowles lost the general election to Republican James Holshouser, leading in much of eastern North Carolina but losing the west, the piedmont, and several metropolitan areas.
19.
Skipper Bowles was the first Democratic nominee to lose a North Carolina gubernatorial race in the 20th century.
20.
Skipper Bowles attempted to unseat State Democratic Party Chairman James Sugg, a key Bowles supporter.
21.
Skipper Bowles later endorsed former state senator George Wood in the primary.
22.
Skipper Bowles later became known for his service to and fundraising for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he graduated in 1941.
23.
Skipper Bowles died on September 7,1986, at his home in Greensboro from complications of Lou Gehrig's disease.