Trustee Spotlight: Terry L. Dotson '72

By Michelle Goff

A Johns Creek High School graduate, Dotson spent his formative years in a five-room log cabin in Feds Creek. His dad Herman owned a motorcycle shop. His mom Olive taught school and ran a small grocery store.

“Growing up, I didn’t do anything well, but I played a good trumpet,” explained Dotson. “In 1968, Vietnam was going on. I didn’t want to go, so I went to Pikeville College, where I received a $300 scholarship and studied music.”

Although he says he was not a great student, Dotson advanced through college and was elected president of the student government association his senior year. By that time, Dotson, who had started working at his father’s motorcycle shop at age 13, was working three jobs to support himself, his wife, and their two children.

Before graduation, he began a pursuit that he has continued to this day – fundraising for the college. In doing so, he also set the trajectory of his life.

“I called on the company I now own to sell them a $50 ad for a gymnasium wall to raise money for the spring formal,” recalled Dotson. “The owner asked me ‘Terry, what are you going to do after graduation?’ I graduated May 9, 1972, and went to work for them in Bluefield, W.Va., on June 15.”

Dotson started working at Bluefield Mack, the sister company of East Kentucky Mack. The companies later became known as Worldwide Equipment. His first job was running errands, but he worked his way up to salesman and eventually became the company’s owner. He now serves as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board. When he started working there, the company owned four stores.

Today, Worldwide Equipment, one of the largest truck dealerships in the world, operates in seven states and has 22 full-service dealerships, 17 leasing locations, four satellite parts stores, one customer fabrication shop and more than 1,000 employees.

Dotson credits many professional and philanthropic mentors with helping him throughout his career.

“Everybody has somebody who helped them. I had a lot of somebodies,” he said.

The late West Virginia coal operator James “Buck” Harless was one such mentor.

“I met him in a restaurant in Gilbert, W.Va.,” said Dotson. “I drove a couple hours, from Bluefield to Gilbert, to be there every morning so I could accidentally meet him. I made my first big sale to him. I gave him the quotes for five trucks. He asked if I had any more. I told him I had five more. He said I’ll take those, too. That was the conversation. I was 23.”

Just as important are the lessons Harless imparted to him about philanthropy.

“Buck was born an orphan and died a billionaire and gave away more money than anyone I ever knew,” said Dotson. “He told me ‘I was an orphan, my aunt raised me. God has given me a huge opportunity. He’s given me a means. When presented with the opportunity to help, if the opportunity is reasonable, I think I should help.’”

Dotson also recalled the philanthropic message from a then Pikeville College commencement speaker.

“His name was Charles F. Trivette ’31. He was a coal operator who gave money to the college. As I listened to his speech, I thought, ‘I wish I could do that.’ It changed my thinking,” said Dotson.

By the mid-1980s, Dotson had become involved with his alma mater and in 1987 he joined the board of trustees. Busy with his growing family – he and his wife Judy would have four children – and a growing company, when then-college President Bill Owens called and asked him to head up a capital campaign, Dotson declined.

“I told him I didn’t have time,” said Dotson. “After I hung up the phone, my son, who was 3 or 4 at the time, brought a book to me and said, ‘Daddy, read to me.’ It was the Bible. The page was open to Luke 12:48. ‘Unto much is given, much is required.’ I called Bill and said, ‘I’ll do it.’”

“I’ve seen the hand of God more than once,” he added, noting the many times a higher power looked out for the university.

Dotson also credits all the people who have contributed to UPIKE’s success.

“A university is made up of buildings, but it’s people that make the university. It’s not the people at the top or the bottom. It’s a collective,” he said.

Although he describes UPIKE as “the single most valuable asset east of I-75,” he encourages more alumni to become involved with their university. “We should leave things better than we found them. We all stand on the shoulders of others.”

“We’re there to educate and give people the opportunity to be successful. A lot of people go to college to get a degree in strange things like music,” he said with a smile, “and don’t go into that particular field. But they learn other things at college. They learn how to get along with people. The education piece is what you get a degree in. College is a melting pot. It’s where people mix.”

“The kid who becomes a teacher is just as important as the kid who becomes a doctor,” he added.

To illustrate this point, Dotson shared a conversation he had with Bill McCloud, former associate professor of music at then Pikeville College.

“I said to him, ‘Why do you work so hard? You don’t make a lot of money.’ He said, ‘Terry, I’ll never die.’” McCloud went on to explain how the lessons he imparted to students would last forever in their works and deeds and in what they imparted to others.

Dotson characterizes his association with UPIKE as “one of the greatest experiences of his life.” During his tenure as chairman, the school has established the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Kentucky College of Optometry and the Coleman College of Business and recently announced the launch of a dental college and the acquisition of 220 acres of property that will house its outdoor athletic facilities.

Just as he did all those years ago when he sold that $50 ad, Dotson is still fundraising for UPIKE. He recently donated a building valued at $3 million to the university and encourages others to make investments in the school and its students.

“I want people to know that if you give to the university, the money will be invested properly,” he said.

The same could be said for human investments like Dotson.