Dan W. Evins graduated from Castle Heights Military Academy, enlisted in the Marines, attended Cumberland University, and served on the Cumberland University Board of Trust. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in this same space for outstanding business leadership and many years of community service. He came from a family of prominent Tennesseans, including State Senator Edgar Evins and U.S. Representative Joe L. Evins, who attended Cumberland School of Law in 1934. He was associated with the birth of the Cracker Barrel brand and is remembered by family and friends as humble, kind, hospitable, and visionary.