William Roberts McDaniel personifies the College in mission and in essence. Billy Mac, as he was affectionately known, represents not only the men and women whose lives are touched and changed on the Hill but those who, in turn, influence the lives of others. He began the family legacy--each generation with both a teacher and a graduate of the College.

Born August 11, 1861, the youngest child of John and Ann Wrightson McDaniel near St. Michael’s in Talbot County, Maryland. He had two brothers, five sisters, and two half-brothers and two half sisters. His father married sisters, first Sarah Wrightson and later Ann Wrightson. His father, John Wesley Sedgewick McDaniel, died when Billy Mac was not yet 2 years old.

Student Entered the College as a 16-year-old sophomore in the fall of 1877, and graduated, just shy of his 19th birthday, salutatorian of the class of 1880. He was awarded one of the first senatorial scholarships shortly after they were established by the Maryland General Assembly at its January 1878 session. His personal motto, "There shall be no Alps," was first heard by classmates during his student days on College Hill ? and, for the rest of his days, he would see no mountain as too high for either himself or his beloved College to climb.

His roommate Lewis Jarman remembered the days when both classrooms and student housing were in one building:
"…up in (Old Main’s) number 6, where on wooden slats and hard-and-more we slept, and grew wise under the rays of a coal oil lamp mellowed by a paper shade, and together roasted the old dominick (chicken) from the college roost upon the flat top of a hard coal stove; and where through the upper sash of the only window we beheld the grand panorama of the Blue Ridge."

Alumnus Started the Alumni Bulletin in support of his belief in cohesion and solidarity among alumni of the College, and served as treasurer of the Alumni Association for 50 years. The Association honored him with banquets and testimonials twice ? once in 1915 in recognition of 30 years of service to the College and again in 1930 on the 50th anniversary of his graduation. The Alumni Association presented to the College McDaniel’s portrait, painted in 1930 by William Wirtz, which hangs in the residence hall named for him in 1921 even before the first shovel full of soil was dug. McDaniel rallied his fellow alumni with these words:
"…here is a great and a constantly growing greater company of men and women who are doing things in the world that count and will still do greater things and that these need to be kept in touch with each other and in touch with their alma mater….It is their coworking and fellowship that gives their power to the winds, their weight to the waves and their burning to the sunbeams."

Professor Returned to campus mid-term from graduate school in 1885 to fill in for ailing mathematics professor W.J. Thomas, who died a month later. Young McDaniel was well on his way to his doctorate at Johns Hopkins, studying with world-renowned British mathematician James Joseph Sylvester, when he responded to his alma mater’s call for help. For the next 36 years, he taught mathematics, astronomy and, for several early years, German and his own brand of calisthenics. He said of teaching:
"…in mathematics you strike the eternal verities that change not with the changing years. They are the same not only for 25 or 30 years, but the same yesterday, today and forever. "But while the great body of mathematical truths is the same, I would not have you to believe that the teaching is the same; that would be to reduce the classroom to an intolerable grind and to debase the high profession of a teacher; but each year has brought something new by way of application or interpretation and has kept the fountain fresh and the waters sweet ? at least for me."

Innovator Combined his knowledge of mathematics and music to invent in 1888 a new style of exercise, club swinging to music, after returning from a summer at Harvard learning anatomy, hygiene, and gymnastics. True to his liberal arts roots, he believed physical and intellectual development resulted in a well-rounded individual. His publication, "Club Swinging by Note: A Method of Recording and Teaching Club Swings" was reviewed by the Baltimore American on Oct. 18, 1888:
"He has given particular attention to gymnastics, and has utilized his knowledge of mathematics and music by inventing this remarkably novel and ingenious method of teaching classes to swing a series of movements in unison and to a musical accompaniment. At first sight this would seem inevitably involved and difficult to understand, but a closer examination shows that its simplicity is its greatest charm."

Adventurer Bought a bicycle in 1886 even though he didn’t know how to ride this early version sporting one enormous front wheel and a tiny back wheel. Eventually he started the College bicycle club and led excursions into the Carroll County countryside. His early progress was charted in the College’s Irving Literary Gazette, first in May, 1886: "Prof. McDaniel has purchased a bicycle, which at first got the better of him but he is gradually getting mastery of it, and bids fair to be a good wheelman."
By September, "Prof. McDaniel, who has become quite an expert bicyclist, reports having had a very pleasant vacation on his wheel."

Spiritual leader Organized the first Sunday School on campus and served as its superintendent for many years.

Treasurer Appointed, at the request of College President T.H. Lewis, treasurer of the College in 1894, a position he retained for 48 years until his death.

Editor Read, and scrutinized, all copy before it was printed in the College’s first news publication, and continued to do so until he was confident in the students’ sense of journalism.

Husband Married Ada Smith, daughter of the late John Smith of Wakefield, the College’s first Board president, on November 21, 1895, in a ceremony performed by Pres. Lewis at the Westminster home of the bride’s brother, Joseph Smith. Flower girls were Caroline and Susan Billingslea, daughters of the bride’s sister Clara Smith Billingslea and her husband, Westminster dentist Charles Billingslea. The College built the couple a home on campus, where they lived for more than 40 years. McDaniel House is still in use today as the American Sign Language immersion house, an important facet of the College’s internationally recognized deaf education program.

Father Watched with pride as his only child, Dorothy, was graduated summa cum laude from the College in 1918. Dorothy spent her childhood on campus living with her parents in McDaniel House, a stone’s throw from the president’s house where her playmates, the Lewis children, lived. Before entering the College, she graduated from the Preparatory School in 1914. Dorothy and her husband, Westminster banker Ober S. Herr, Sr., had two sons, retired banker Ober S. Herr, Jr., of Westminster, Md., and retired Southern Illinois University professor William McDaniel Herr of Carbondale, Ill. Dorothy served as College librarian from 1919 until 1924. She was the first woman president of the Alumni Association and served on the College Board of Trustees from 1945 until her death at the age of 77 in 1974.

Vice President/Acting President Named vice president and acting president in 1906 to provide a leave of absence for President Lewis. He served as president of the College during four extended periods, assuming the duties on separate occasions of presidents T. H. Lewis and A.N. Ward. When the Trustees offered him the presidency in 1920, he graciously declined, citing failing health. Still, he had served his College well, as Lynn Meekins, class of 1882 and president of the Alumni Association in 1915, said:
"If it had not been for this Captain of the Ship, (the) College would not be what it is, for whether the Admiral was present or away on duty, the Captain kept her under the right stars and straight on her course."

Trustee Elected for life in 1911 to the Board of Trustees, and granted the College’s first honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his achievements as "a scholar, a teacher, administrator, counselor, and Christian gentleman."

Grandfather and great-grandfather McDaniel didn’t live to see the family legacy continue at the College. Grandson Ober S. Herr Jr. was graduated from the College in 1949 and great-granddaughter Karen Herr Mallonee, a middle school Spanish teacher in Kentucky, earned her bachelor’s in 1976 and her master’s in 1979, both from the College.

Saddened by McDaniel’s death at the age of 80 years and 8 months on April 19, 1942, the trustees--many of whom were former students, colleagues and close friends--ended their touching eulogy with these prophetic words:

"And somehow or other, one feels that the life of William R. McDaniel will be interwoven into the destiny of McDaniel College, as his life has been into every decade of its history. For while William R. McDaniel, the mortal, is gone; William R. McDaniel, the spirit, lives—and motivates the lives of others.

"It will continue to do so till time and eternity meet."

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