Billy Gamble

William "Billy" Gamble (born 1924 in Pine Mountain) was a Navy veteran who served in a submarine during World War II and went on to become a business instructor at Samford University.

Gamble grew up on a farm in the Pine Mountain community of Blount County, near Remlap. Needing money, he enlisted in the Navy and volunteered for higher-paying submarine duty shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During a training exercise in Long Island Sound in 1942, Gamble's submarine was mistaken for a German U-boat and came under attack by Marine fighter craft. After firing a colored signal flare the misguided attack was halted.

After the war, Gamble returned to Alabama and married his high school sweetheart, Stella Ingram. He returned to the Navy and retired in 1963 as a chief warrant officer and returned again to Alabama. He joined the Samford University phyisical plant staff as superintendent and began working on a college degree. He graduated in 1974 with a master's in education, and went on to earn a master's in business administration in 1978. He was hired as the university's first full-time instructor of business information systems and stayed on until 1988.

References

• Bryant, Walter (November 10, 2008) "Hoover man recalls close call, old friendship as WWII submariner." Birmingham News