UNT Debate Alumni/William DeMougeot
Scholarship Fund
The UNT Debate Alumni/William DeMougeot Scholarship Fund was established by former debaters at North Texas to honor the memory of Dr. William R. DeMougeot, the director of debate at North Texas from 1954-1970.
William Robert DeMougeot
1921-1985
Dr. William R. DeMougeot, known simply as Dr. De to most of his
students, was born in New York City and received his doctoral
degree from Cornell University. He served in the United States
Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946.
Dr. DeMougeot began teaching and coaching debate at North Texas
State University in 1954. He built the NTSU debate team into one
of the best in the nation. In 1964, Dr. De coached NTSU to the
NBC Television National Debate Championship, and his team
defeated Oxford University in an international televised debate.
During more than 16 years as debate coach, his teams competed
in more than 5,000 debates compiling a 62 percent win record.
In 1962, Dr. De was the recipient of the Graham Award for
outstanding teaching, and he received an outstanding teacher
award from the NTSU Alumni Association in 1977. In 1982, he
received an outstanding service award from the Texas Speech
Communication Association, an organization which he served as
Executive Secretary.
The honors and awards bestowed upon Dr. De are too numerous to
mention. He had a profound impact upon the careers of hundreds
of public school teachers and college professors in the state of
Texas and throughout the nation. He will be remembered as the
outstanding gentleman and scholar which he was.
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