He Brought the Professors to the People

Tillman Hall still bears the indelible stamp of his birthplace, a farm in Appalachia, even though he left it behind when he went off to college more than half a century ago. “I come from Tennessee,” Hall, 77, says in his easy drawl. “If you didn’t have a bunch of imaginative ideas, you’d starve to death.” Hall’s hardscrabble youth may be a distant memory, and the danger of starvation now appears remote--but he still has an abundance of ideas.

After 37 years as a professor of physical education at USC, Hall, a Westchester resident, had to retire a few years ago. That left him with some decisions to make.

“Now, I’ll tell ya, there’s a lot of difficulty determining the best way to use free time,” he said. “How much should be used in satisfying one’s own selfish interest versus how much should be used in advancing present and future generations?” For Hall, the answer was weighted heavily on the side of making a contribution that benefited others, because, as he put it, once you start doing nothing, it’s contagious.

Hall accepted the appointment as director of the USC Emeriti Center in 1989. Until then, the center had functioned more as a resource for retired professors. But Hall had other ideas.

“What happened to these faculty members was that what they have always done well, they didn’t do anymore, and that was a shame,” he said. “We were capable of making additional contributions to society.”

Hall knew there were thousands of senior citizens who craved learning but would never travel to the university to get it. So he began looking for ways to bring the retired professors to the people.

It took him six months to organize a corps of retirees. Of 650 retired professors, 107 agreed to participate, and 21 agreed to serve on the Emeriti Center Council. Collectively, the members on the council have 526 years of teaching experience.

All that Hall had to hear was the word yes , and the rest was something he knew a lot about: hard work and perseverance. “Unless you get off your butt, people lose their independence. When I was growing up, . . . it took everyone to beat the rocks back to make a living. I doubt if my father made $1,000 in one year.

“I was a good athlete--that was my ticket for an education. Couldn’t go to the University of Tennessee because I needed a scholarship. Saw this ad one day in National Geographic. It had two palm trees on it. Church of Christ College in California wanted students. I just took off with a few of my buddies and went west to play baseball and get an education. That college is Pepperdine today.

“I laugh when I think of how the younger generation thinks we’re damaged material. Younger people are so busy trying to make a living they don’t have time to grab the bit. I say let us older folks do it. Life wouldn’t be fun if you couldn’t make things happen.”

Four years after Hall “grabbed the bit,” Emeriti College, a division of the Emeriti Center, has sent its professors to nine senior centers and has reached more than 4,500 senior citizens, teaching courses ranging from “Shakespeare’s Views on Good and Evil” to “Facing the Global Challenges of the 21st Century.” Among the places offering the courses are the senior centers in Culver City and West Hollywood and the OASIS center in the Fairfax District.

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The Emeriti program is the only one in the country, but perhaps not for long. Hall is trying to persuade officials at Caltech, Stanford, Pepperdine and Harvey Mudd College to use their retired professors in the same way. As for other imaginative ideas, Hall’s plate is full: Pre-retirement seminars for faculty and staff, videos of outstanding USC retirees, and an international emeriti association dedicated to enjoyable and creative longevity. Not bad for a country boy.