Where Are They Now?: Dolph Pulliam

Former Roosevelt football and basketball star Dolph Pulliam has been as much a part of Drake University as the Des Moines school's famed track relays.

He is the university's director of commuity outreach and development. He also is an analyst on the men's basketball team's radio broadcasts.

"We are an urban school and my job was to help clean up the neighborhood around the university," Pulliam said. "We worked with the police and community groups to make the area better.

"I think that is a part of the university's role. We helped stabilize and improve the area around Drake University."

Pulliam graduated from Drake in 1969 after leading the Bulldogs to a Final Four appearance, where they lost to UCLA, then beat North Carolina for third place. His teammates included Roosevelt stars Willie McCarter and Larry Wright.

He had a chance to play for the Boston Celtics or the Dallas Cowboys, but said the Des Moines business people had a plan for him.

"Tom Landry came and saw me and so did Red Auerbach," Pulliam said. "I loved the Dallas Cowboys and the Celtics were my favorite NBA team and I always wanted to play for either of them."

But he said legendary Drake coach Maury John told him to meet with some community leaders.

"They said, 'Dolph, your destiny is here in Des Moines,'" Pulliam said. "They told me I was going to be a trailblazer, 'You are going to be the first African American television broadcaster in the state of Iowa.'"

Pulliam started at KRNT (Channel 8) in Des Moines and thought he got his break the first day on the job.

"A hostage situation broke out and I had my camera, shot film, put together my story," he said. "I had the lead story on the news. One of the reporters told me, 'Your career is going to take off.'"

He said the phones rang off the hook the next day, but it was not positive.

"They wanted me off the air and I knew why," Pulliam said. "A few said they were gonna kill me. The next thing I knew, I was talking to two guys from the FBI. They followed me around, checked out my apartment, my car. I admit, it was nerve-wracking.

"I would not quit, and the station supported me and kept me on the air."

He said he had a friend in then Iowa governor Robert D. Ray.

"He told me to come to the state capital building and I went right to his office," Pulliam said. "He asked, 'What is going on?' and I said, 'I am what is going on.' He assured me this would stop. He said I would go with him to different places and introduce him and he would tell stories about me."

Pulliam said it worked.

"I realized some people in Iowa had never seen a black person in person and once people came up and talked to me about me, they realized I wasn't going to hurt anyone," Pulliam said. "One guy came up to me and said, 'You are not a bad person.'"

Pulliam was born in Mississippi, but moved to Gary when he was quite young. His family first lived in the Dorie Miller housing project, then with relatives, settling at 24th Avenue and Prospect Street.

"I still love the city (Gary),' Pulliam said. "I still have family there and I had a good upbringing. We learned a good work ethic and I think that is from our relatives working in the mills. People from Gary are not afraid to work hard and are good people."