Long before he became the iconic Archie Bunker, Carroll O’Connor was a student at Wake Forest University, where he experienced a less-than-stellar academic career but created lasting memories that he fondly recalled decades later. Thirty years before captivating audiences as America’s favorite loudmouth bigot on the groundbreaking 1970s TV show All in the Family, O’Connor was a struggling student on the Old Campus.
O’Connor himself admitted to being a poor student, often found in Shorty Joyner’s pool hall in downtown Wake Forest rather than in class. He dropped out before completing his freshman year. However, his time at Wake Forest left a lasting impression, as evidenced by a letter he wrote to then-senior H. Walter Townshend (’73) in the summer of 1972.
All in the Family was just entering its second season when Townshend invited O’Connor to participate in Challenge ’73, a campus symposium on higher education. “We found out that he had attended Wake and thought it would be a great coup to get him to come speak,” Townshend recalled. Despite turning down the invitation, O’Connor’s letter offered a captivating glimpse into his time at Wake Forest.
“I am delighted that some of your colleagues remember me from the days (three wars ago) of the old magnolia campus at Wake Forest, though I was seen far less on campus than in Shorty Joyner’s pool hall in the town,” he wrote. O’Connor, a native of Queens, N.Y., had enrolled at Wake Forest in the fall of 1941 at just 17 years old. His reason for choosing the college was simple: a close friend planned to attend, and O’Connor wanted to join him. When his friend changed plans, O’Connor’s mother insisted he stick with his decision.
At Wake Forest, O’Connor spent more time honing his pool skills than focusing on academics. “I was a wretched student – utterly disinterested in the classroom learning situation,” he admitted. Despite his lack of academic enthusiasm, O’Connor held warm memories of the “old magnolia campus” and its community.
In his letter, O’Connor reminisced about the few girls at the then-men’s college, the futility of falling for a faculty member’s daughter, and his thumb-powered travels to nearby cities. He also touched on the evolving racial attitudes he observed in the South, noting that many whites expressed a hope for the end of segregation.
O’Connor left Wake Forest in the spring of 1942, later attending the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and serving as a civilian seaman during World War II. His last visit to the Old Campus was in 1945 when he stopped by Mrs. Wootten’s guesthouse and roamed the town, greeted warmly by those who remembered him.
Years later, Bob Mills (’71, MBA ’80), an assistant vice president for University Advancement, invited O’Connor to visit the new Shorty’s in the Benson University Center. Though Mills never heard back, O’Connor included his letter and the one to Townshend in his autobiography, I Think I’m Outta Here: A Memoir of All My Families, providing more details about his time at Wake Forest.
O’Connor’s journey from Wake Forest to Hollywood stardom is a testament to the unexpected paths that life can take. His legacy as both Archie Bunker and Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night remains a significant part of television history, but his early days at Wake Forest offer a fascinating glimpse into the man behind the characters.