Some of the first students to receive undergraduate degrees from the department were Lou Suitt Barnes, Floyd H. Brown,
Althea Godley, and Jean Henderson.
In 1948 the foundation was laid for a graduate program in physical education, and in 1951 Haywood A. Allen and James
E. Wynn, both undergraduates of NCC (then North Carolina College) became the first to receive Master of Science
degrees in physical education.
With the departure of Burghart, McLendon sought and secured the teaching services of two of the most outstanding physical
educators in the country, Dr. Jesse Feiring Williams and Dr. Jay B. Nash, both of whom were on the faculty at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. However, McLendon's staff nucleus consisted of Dr. LeRoy T. Walker and Dr. James W.
Younge, and two graduate professors, Dr. Ross E. Townes and Dr. Raymond Hopson.