Charlotte Optimist Club History
Ralph Dougherty, Club Historian
The oldest Optimist Club in Mecklenburg County and the oldest existing Optimist Club in the state of North Carolina, the Charlotte Optimist Club has served the Queen City for over 87 years.
Although Optimist International was formed in 1919, the first club in the Carolinas was established in Asheville in 1923 (formed by the Knoxville, Tennessee, Optimist Club). Jim White, a young insurance agent, joined the Asheville Optimist Club about 1934, then was transferred to Charlotte in 1937. When visiting Asheville at holiday time the following year, he remarked that the thing he missed most in Charlotte was the Optimist Club. The Asheville club then helped Jim build the Charlotte Optimist Club, chartering it on May 6, 1939, with Jim serving as Charter President, and later Jim was honored by being elected to serve as President during the Club’s 25th Anniversary year. The Optimist International motto at the time was “Friend of the Delinquent Boy”. Optimist International’s first purpose was to help troubled boys.
The club met weekly for lunch on Mondays and immediately set to work to become a “Friend of the Boy”, the Optimist motto at that time. The first project was working with boys at Thompson Orphanage.
Since there were now two Optimist Clubs in the Carolinas, Asheville and Charlotte set out to expand the number, Charlotte forming a club in Columbia, and Asheville forming a club in Greenville, both in South Carolina. These clubs were chartered in 1940. Optimist International designated the four clubs as District 18, and in 1941 the District was organized with Dr. J. B. Anderson of Asheville as Governor, and Jim White as Lieutenant Governor, Jim becoming Governor the following year. Expansion in the Carolinas stopped during the war years, then began in earnest in 1947 as during the next 3 years the Charlotte club helped form Optimist Clubs in Gastonia, Hickory, Lenoir, Concord, North Wilkesboro, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Morganton, and Newton-Conover in North Carolina, and in Rock Hill, Florence, and Sumter, in SC.
For nearly 20 years, beginning soon after the Club was founded in 1939, the club raised funds for its youth projects by sponsoring a baseball game between the Charlotte Police Department and the Charlotte Fire Department, which was held at Griffith Stadium in Dilworth, the home of the Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball team. The proceeds, which reached more than $35,000 in some years, were divided equally among the Optimist Club, the Police, and the Firemen. The police department used its share for operating the Police Athletic League program, while the fire department used its share to fund retirements. Our Optimist Club, in 1945, used its funds to purchase a large tract of land in uptown Charlotte to develop Optimist Park on North Brevard Street, in what was known as the Belmont area, and built ball fields, basketball courts and a club house to serve the inner-city youth. The Optimist Club organized a Junior Optimist Club which met in the Clubhouse and help manage the sports programs. Member of the Charlotte Optimist Club operated teams and leagues and helped the boys with hobbies, took them fishing and generally became the “friends of the boys” in this low-income area. Police officer, Frank Black, and member of the Optimist Club, supervised all of the Optimist Park activities. In the 1960’s the Club donated the Park to the city of Charlotte Parks and Recreation Commission and the Police Athletic League (PAL) took over the Optimist Programs. The condition of the donation was that the property always remain a park for the inner-city youth. However, Habitat for Humanity built its first home in Optimist Park in 1983 followed by 14 additional homes, with former President Jimmy Carter, in July 1987. Today the original Optimist Park is still known as Optimist Park but has changed dramatically.
In 1952, Optimist International commenced a program of recognizing the sponsor club of each new club, and since that time, this club has built more than 20 more Optimist clubs throughout Charlotte and western North Carolina.
The Albemarle club was formed by the Charlotte Club in 1954. Dr. Carl Bowen and J.C. Boone from that club have both served as Optimist International Presidents, Carl in 1964-65, and JC in 1995-6.
One week a year is set aside by Optimism as Youth Appreciation Week. This international program began with our club. On a cold winter evening, Optimist Earl Yarborough and his wife Louise were returning on ice-glazed roads from Morganton where Earl had assisted in organizing a Junior Optimist Club. Earl thought it was wonderful that on such a bad night every boy who had indicated he would join had attended, even though some had to walk a few miles through the bitter weather. He wondered what the newspapers would report about this, nothing, of course, because they report only about delinquent behavior. He told his wife that it was a shame that so much public attention is paid to teenagers who go wrong, and so little to those who don't. Louise suggested that the kids be told in some way that adults believe that they are good kids. Earl and two other Optimists, Harold Smoak and Observer Columnist Kays Gary prepared Earl's plan for a North Carolina Youth Appreciation day. The Club obtained the support of State Governor Luther Hodges, radio stations, newspapers, teachers, church leaders and public officials, which resulted in North Carolina observing the first Youth Appreciation Day on May 22, 1955. The following year, Optimist International adopted the program as a “Youth Appreciation Week” pilot project in 5 states, one of which was North Carolina. It met with so much success that it has been an ongoing project of Optimist International to this day. The sole purpose of the program is the recognition, commendation, and encouragement of the teenagers whose feet are firmly planted on the right track, and from whom will come the adult leaders of tomorrow. As a result of his innovation, Earl was invited to the White House where he received a citation from President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
At the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Charlotte Optimist Club, our speaker was Carl J. Stewart, Jr. Carl told us that he was an underprivileged boy from the mill area of Gastonia. He was constantly in trouble, of a minor variety. While in Junior High, a teacher insisted that he enter the Optimist Oratorical Contest, which he did reluctantly. However, he won the Gastonia Club contest, then the state contest. At that time, Optimist International had a national final at the Optimist International Convention. Carl did well but finished fourth. From all the publicity surrounding his achievement, Firestone (which had a factory in Gastonia) gave him a full scholarship to Duke, being the first member of his family to attend college and earn his law degree. After graduation, he turned to politics, being elected to the NC House, and later becoming the first Speaker of the House to serve three Legislative sessions. Carl credits the Optimist encouragement, Oratorical Contest and coaching to his success in life, stating that without the Gastonia Optimist Club, which had been formed by the Charlotte Optimist Club, he would probably have ended up working in a mill or possibly in jail.
The Charlotte Optimist Club has conducted all sorts of fund-raising activities after the final Policemen - Firemen Baseball Game, including a power boat regatta, selling Christmas trees, fruitcakes, and Christmas wrapping paper, all of which met with only limited success. One of our more successful fund raisers was participating in the World’s Largest Attic Sale, sponsored by WBT at the Merchandise Mart on Independence. For the last 33 years, the Club’s principal fund raiser has been the Optimist Classic Golf Tournament, which has been conducted jointly with other Optimist Clubs, and has been quite successful.
More than 15 club members have served as District Lt. Governors. Our club has provided 11 Governors in 12 of the 85 terms since 1941, and 3 members of the Club have served on the Optimist International Board of Directors - including Hugh Cranford, who served for about 20 years as Executive Director of Optimist International at its St. Louis Headquarters.
We formerly conducted the Oratorical Contest at Sedgefield Middle School (a Title one School) for four years which abruptly ended when the school was no longer allowed to conduct outside programs due to the very poor performance grades.
The Charlotte Club meets at Dilworth Neighborhood Grill at 12:15 for lunch on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month, and we welcome you to visit with us and learn more about what we do for the betterment of our community and our Youth.
The Charlotte Optimist Club has had a long history of service to its community, and we expect that it will continue for many years to come with the help of new members who share our spirit of service to others.
Updated August 3, 2026
