Dr. Adron Doran, who served as MSU’s seventh president from 1954 to 1977, is considered by many as the father of the University in modern times.

Athletic facilities at MSU improved tremendously during Dr. Doran’s presidency. Jayne Stadium (football), John “Sonny” Allen Field (baseball), Wetherby Gymnasium and the Academic-Athletic Center (basketball) all either opened or were planned under Doran’s direction.

He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the integration of non-traditionally black mid-southern institutions. In 1958, Marshall Banks, also a member of the Eagle Athletic Hall of Fame, became the first African-American scholarship athlete in the OVC, paving the way for conference-wide integration.

Doran became a charter member of the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 1977.