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On August 17, 1964, Northwest Florida State College hosted its first day of classes.
The college wasn’t in its current location, though. Instead, Okaloosa-Walton Junior College, as it was known when it opened, held classes in a building that now hosts the Northwest Florida Heritage Museum, just off Perrine Park in Valparaiso.
The state voted to approve the planned college in December of 1963 with a plan to open within two years.
The two counties, Okaloosa and Walton, “joined together to agree to sponsor a college, citing a need created by their expanding populations and rising levels of personal income – and believed they could provide about 800 students to populate the facility. The College began life under the purview of the Okaloosa County School Board Superintendent, but would later be made independent of the board.
The school expected roughly 150 students in its first year to sign up – and instead got more than 1,300 enrollees in at least one program. Roughly 175 students were full-time.
The state authorized $30,000 in planning money to get the college started, provided it started in the temporary digs to operate out of. Okaloosa-Walton was one of many junior colleges and state universities that got the green light from the state legislature in the 1960s to accommodate the education of a rapidly growing population of Floridians.
The first day of classes for daytime students took place on the 20th. Four days later, on Monday, August 20, the night students would take their first classes.
By 1965, Congressman Bob Sikes had secured a land swap deal with the Department of Defense that gave the budding college more than 260 acres of land, where it is presently located, for use as an educational facility. The land transfer had to survive multiple attempts to kill it in the cradle – including a final amendment in the United States Senate offered by an Oregon Senator that would have required the cities of Niceville and Valparaiso to pay for the land.
In its earliest incarnation, the junior college provided mostly technical programs for students, but quickly made room to include courses for those looking to earn their bachelor’s degrees eventually. Dr. Ed McCracken, the first and longtime leader of the institution, partnered early on with the University of West Florida to allow students at the college to take classes in philosophy, psychology, literature, and business at the school.
McCracken, an ex-Air Force Weather Service officer during the Second World War, would serve at the helm of the school until he retired in 1988.
In the years since the beginning of the college, the institution has expanded rapidly. NWFSC now offers Certificates, associate and Bbachelor’sdegrees in everything from welding to acting.
In addition, the institution has had significant athletic success. The Men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the baseball and Softball teams, have all won national championships and sent players to the highest levels of their sports. NBA player Chris Duarté played four years in the NBA after his time at NWFSC. Three former pitchers for the Raiders are in the big leagues now. Cam Sanders (Baltimore Orioles), Beck Way (Kansas City Royals), and Eric Orze (Minnesota Twins) play in the big leagues as of 2026.
