Gerald Dupree
Class of 2007
Gerald Dupree’s story blends leadership, service, and a lifetime in baseball. A Monrovia High standout, he played both basketball and baseball, earning five All-County nods in hoops while serving as class president, team captain, and Boys State representative. From 1956–60 he attended Jacksonville State on scholarship, competing in both sports, captaining the basketball team as a senior, and graduating seventh in his class with a Business Administration degree.
In 1958 Dupree signed with the Kansas City Athletics and played a season of professional baseball before returning to Jacksonville—and to Sarah Yeager, whom he married. Commissioned through ROTC, he entered active duty as a second lieutenant, serving with the 101st Airborne Division and playing shortstop on a team that won the 1961 Third Army Championship. He later coached the 24th Infantry Division baseball team to the 1964 Seventh Army title.
After the Army, Dupree came home to Huntsville and began a distinguished civilian career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, twice receiving the Corps’ highest civilian award. JSU honored his impact in 2004 by naming its Baseball Coaches Office for him—a tribute to a two-sport captain whose influence outlasted any box score.
Ask Dupree about credit and he spreads it around: to his mother, Zuba, for teaching perseverance; to high-school coach Troy Hinton, for teaching how to win in sport and life; to his wife, for love and unwavering encouragement; to college coach Tom Roberson, for believing a skinny kid from a small school could shape a university; and to friends Charles Clark and Jimmy Green, for lessons in friendship and integrity. Above all, he points to faith.
Gerald and Sarah raised two children—Ron and Elizabeth (Cobb)—and celebrate six grandchildren. Athlete, officer, coach, engineer, mentor: his titles changed, but the standards never did.
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