Coleman Had VMI Roles

Actor Attended School, Led Major Fundraising Effort

Actor Dabney Coleman, who died last Thursday at the age of 92, was known for his roles in “9 to 5,” “Tootsie” and “On Golden Pond.”

But he was also known locally for his ties with Virginia Military Institute, which he attended in 1949 and 1950, following in the footsteps of several of his family members.

Col. Keith Gibson, director of the VMI museum system, this week spoke of the impact the institute had on Coleman and Coleman’s continuing contributions to it.

“Dabney Coleman came to VMI from Texas. He had several family members, including his father, who were VMI alumnus, a couple of uncles, cousins, so there was a knowledge of VMI and of Lexington,” said Gibson.

“He arrives in the class of 1953 as a rat, and stays through two years, his rat year, freshman, fourth classman, and his third class or sophomore year,” he said.

After his second year at VMI, Coleman entered the military, serving in the United States Army for two years.

“Korea, I think, was the opportunity awaiting him there,” Gibson said. “He doesn’t go to Korea per se. He serves stateside, and when he gets out, he is then looking at perhaps coming back to VMI.”

However, with his classmates having graduated, Coleman chose to complete his education elsewhere.

“By this time it’s 1953, his brother rats, his class that he matriculated with, they had graduated. There’s less incentive then, because you’re not going to be with your brother rats, which as you probably know, is a very important aspect of attending VMI,” Gibson explained.

Coleman attended the University of Texas at Austin, and began making connections to the film industry.

“He instead goes to a college in Texas, near home, where the family was living at that time, and through his first wife becomes acquainted with some actors in TV and theater,” Gibson said.

“And in a sort of epiphany moment, a light bulb comes on, and he thinks, ‘I might be able to do this. This might be something that would be fun an enjoyable.’” Coleman would go on to appear in over 60 movies and television shows.

Though he did not graduate VMI, Coleman remained connected to the institute for much of his life.

“He remained a very loyal and interested alumnus, as so many of our non-graduate alumni do,” Gibson said.

“In the 1980s, he takes on the rather daunting challenge of being the national chairman of really the first major fundraising effort by the VMI Foundation. Their goal was to raise what at that time seem an impossible $50 million,” he said.

“They exceeded the goal of that campaign and have gone on to increase it far further than that, but Dabney was actually the national chairman of that annual giving effort that was part of that campaign,” he said.

Coleman also represented a scholarship in the name of Colonel Glover Johns Jr., his cousin who graduated VMI in 1931.

In 2009, Coleman made a memorable visit to the institute, presenting one of the recipients of this scholarship with a class ring.

“[Hannah Granger] was a recipient of that scholarship, and in so doing had become acquainted with Dabney, and finding herself without a date, an escort for ring figure, called him up and said, ‘Would you be interested?’ And he did, made a trip from California to be with her and present her her ring,” said Gibson.

This symbol was important to Coleman, who wore a VMI class ring in several television appearances.

“The ring is a very important symbol of your cadetship. It’s that tangible reminder of your brother rat experience that you receive when you are a second classman, or junior,” Gibson explained.

“And in fact, Dabney Coleman never had a 1953 ring because he left before ring figure, but the college ring that you see him frequently wearing on film is a VMI ring of his uncle, who was in the class of 1915 from VMI, so he’s wearing a ring that represents his legacy and his family to VMI.”