B. F. Riley, in his brief years as president of Howard College, managed to keep the institution open and supplied with students. A published letter of the period heaped praise on Riley and set overly optimistic expectations for his successor. "It seemed to have been necessary from unavoidable environments and the decree of a benignant Providence," B. H. Crumpton wrote of Riley, "that he should have commanded the ship and planned the voyage, until his youthful, symmetrical and brilliant successor, A.W. McGaha, D.D., one of the grandest sons of his honored Alma Mater, like some luminous star, arose in the wane of departing night, to herald the advance of day."
Arthur Watkins McGaha, the son of a Marshall County, Alabama, farmer, was the first alumnus president of Howard College. After earning his Howard degree in 1881, he attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, pastored two churches and accepted the call to lead Ruhama Baptist Church shortly after Howard College relocated to property adjacent to the church. This was a critically important time in the lives of both Howard and Ruhama, and the institutions bound together their fortunes. The church provided a spiritual home for the college as well as a deep well of leadership from which to draw staff, faculty and students. Likewise, Howard College brought to East Lake scholars who served Ruhama Baptist Church as well as they served the college.
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