Distinguished Alumni
Enos S. Stockbridge, Class of 1904
Enos S. Stockbridge ’04, born May 3, 1888, enrolled at Boys’ Latin School along with his brother Henry Stockbridge 3rd ’04 in September of 1901. The Stockbridges lived on North Calhoun Street in Baltimore when they entered BL. Although Henry was two years older they both entered as freshman. Enos’ father Henry, Jr. was a Baltimore lawyer who was elected as a Republican to the 51st Congress (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1891), but declined to be a candidate for re-nomination in 1890. Henry Jr. later served as United States Commissioner of Immigration for the Port of Baltimore from 1891 to 1893 and then became the presiding Justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals. The Stockbridge family was well known in the Baltimore community. Enos and Henry were the great-great grandsons of David Stockbridge of Massachusetts, who fought as an officer in the American Revolution.
Enos was a strong student. His best subjects were math, Latin and Greek. During his junior year both he and his brother took accelerated classes - Enos taking nine classes and Henry taking eight - including Algebra VI and Greek Prose. Both obtained enough credits to graduate from BL and in June of 1904 the boys were admitted to Amherst College in Massachusetts. Enos, a member of the Chi Psi fraternity while in college, graduated from Amherst College in 1908.
He returned to Baltimore in the summer of 1908. In the fall he enrolled in the University of Maryland Law School and graduated in 1910. Shortly thereafter he passed the Maryland Bar exam and began to practice law. His first job was with the firm of France, McLanahan, and Rouzer. He later became a partner with the firm Mullikan, Stockbridge and Waters which in 1953 merged with Miles, Walsh, O'Brien & Morris becoming known as the firm of Miles & Stockbridge, which to this day is one of Baltimore’s finest.
According to the Miles & Stockbridge firm official history, Enos Stockbridge’s practice ranged from corporate securities to municipal finance and from counseling major corporations to administering personal estates. He was a director of ConChemCo and served as a director of and counsel to the Black & Decker Corporation. His legal demeanor was very relaxed – “on Friday afternoons, he often "held court" from behind his desk for one or more lawyers within the firm, mixing good conversation with good spirits, and was fondly remembered for doing so.”
Like his partner Clarence Miles, Enos Stockbridge believed in giving back to his city of Baltimore and to his community. In 1944, he was chosen by Governor Theodore R. McKeldin to head the Baltimore City Charter Revision Committee. The end result was the adoption of the first complete revised charter for Baltimore in nearly fifty years. He was rewarded for his hard work when in 1946 he was named as the Advertising Club's "Man of the Year."
Enos Stockbridge loved his city of Baltimore and the legal profession and practiced law with vigor right up until his death in December of 1963.
J. Carroll Mansfield, Class of 1916
James Carroll Mansfield ’16 was born on January 4, 1896 in Baltimore. According to the BL archives he first entered the BL halls on Brevard Street in September of 1913. He was a good student, especially in history, but he did have difficulty with Latin - finishing last in his Latin class and Latin Prose class. In the 1914 Boys’ Latin School catalog Carroll Mansfield is listed as honorable mention 'Best Boy' in English and History. His transcript, however, does reveal his true passion. It reads: “Remarkable talent for drawing.” One can surmise that Carroll did a lot of doodling while sitting in his classes. Carroll left Boys’ Latin after his junior year to pursue his love for art. Again his BL transcript reads: “Went to art school in New York.” Art school records could not be found, but it was apparent Carroll wanted to pursue an art career and somehow incorporated into his work his strong interest in American history.
World War I interrupted his art studies. Carroll served in the 7th Infantry in Europe and afterwards he co-authored with A. Wilmot Jacobson a history of the regiment, titled 'The Blue and Gray - a story of Battery D 110th Field Artillery.' His illustrations were an integral part of the piece. He later worked as a free-lance artist for the Baltimore Sun.
In the early 1920s he returned to New York City and worked in advertising. He continued to draw and became interested in comic strips. On November 17, 1924 his 'High Lights of History' daily comic strip debuted for the Bell Newspaper Syndicate. In 1925 he published a junior high school textbook called 'High Lights of History, America 1492 to 1763'.
A full color Sunday feature of the comic strip began in 1926. The content focused on world history and peculiarities. Both the daily and Sunday strips came to an end in 1942 and 'High Lights of History' became the longest running non-fiction strip ever published.
In 1933, the World Syndicate Publishing Company asked Mansfield to do a series of Big Little-type Books called 'The Highlights of History Series'. 'Pioneers of the Wild West' began the series that first year and that book was followed by 'Kit Carson'. In 1934, 'Daniel Boone', 'Winning the Old Northwest' and 'Buffalo Bill' were published. Each book presented a sequence of historical events and a number of biographies. The book titles were somewhat deceptive in that they did not convey the range of topics included. For instance, the book entitled 'Kit Carson' contained sections on California in the days of the Padres, and 'The Adventures of James Pattle' (an American hunter and explorer.)
During his entire career Mansfield was an accomplished painter and the Maryland Historical Society has many of his works. He painted mainly for family and friends often including detailed information about the event on the back of the painting.
In the early 1940s he moved to Orlando, Florida where the First National Bank commissioned him to paint a mural on the wall of its new main office building. The mural was entitled 'The History of the Citrus Industry in Florida'. He continued his advertising career through the 1940s. In the early 1950s he retired to Atlanta, Georgia where he died in 1957.
Carroll Mansfield always considered himself a Boys’ Latin man and came back to the school many times. In 1933 he delivered on a promise to draw an Inkwell 'Merry Christmas' cartoon and drew the '100 Years BLS Tradition' cartoon that was in a 1944 Inkwell. In 1935 he received the Boys’ Latin 'Success in Life Award.'
John Sharpe Dickinson, Class of 1909
John S. Dickinson ’09 was born on February 24, 1894 on the Eastern Shore near Trappe, MD. John was an only child and until nine he was taught at home. In September of 1903, after his family moved to Baltimore, he entered the halls of Boys’ Latin School. John was a brilliant student. From his first day until his last he was ranked the number one student in his class. His transcripts reveal a note on his character: "the most brilliant boy that ever attended Boys’ Latin School.” John took all of the most challenging courses at BL. He began taking Latin as a seventh grader - never averaging below a 95. It was written that John had the good fortune of being Edward L. 'Whiskers' White’s favorite student. He was studying German IV in the eighth grade as well as studying French through his senior year. John also studied Greek, Greek Prose, Latin Prose, and Ovid in his last year at BL. His senior year, John was selected as class valedictorian with an overall average of 96.88.
After Boys’ Latin, John enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University. It was obvious that John had a future in government work when he graduated from Hopkins in June of 1913 and was given the Tocqueville Medal. The medal was then awarded annually by Baron Pierre de Coubertin of Paris to the Hopkins student who excelled in French History. John won the award for his essay entitled 'The French Conquest of Mexico'. John graduated from Hopkins at the age of 19 with a 99.2 four year average and was president of the Johns Hopkins student body his senior year.
From Hopkins, Dickinson went to the newly established graduate college at Princeton University where he devoted himself to the study of history, political science and law. WWI interrupted his studies for two years during which time he served as an economist on the War Trade Board and as a First Lieutenant attached to the Army General Staff in Washington. In the fall of 1919 he enrolled at the Harvard Law School, completing the three year program in only two years. For the next few years law jobs took him to New York and Los Angeles but he eventually settled back at Princeton and became an Assistant Professor of Politics. His work publishing law books flourished and grabbed the attention of the legal profession and in 1928 he accepted an offer from the University of Pennsylvania to be a Professor of Law. He held this position until his resignation in 1948. At Penn, Dickinson continued to write articles on law and he quickly became quite famous in the legal profession.
John eventually became a member of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration. When his close friend, Daniel C. Roper was selected in 1933 to serve as FDR’s Secretary of Commerce he asked Dickinson to serve as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce. He served in Washington but continued to teach law at the University of Pennsylvania, commuting two days a week to Philadelphia. In 1935 he resigned his Commerce Department position to become Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division at the Department of Justice. During his tenure he argued cases frequently in the United States Supreme Court. In 1936, becoming disgruntled with politics, Dickinson returned to Philadelphia permanently to take up private practice and to devote more time to his teaching and writing.
He was a frequent visitor to Boys’ Latin School after his graduation. According to a 1935 Inkwell, John Dickinson received the first special award from the school for 'Achieving Success in Life.' At the BL 1944 Commencement Day ceremony Dickinson had this to say to the graduates: “…what impresses most about the boys who went to the (Boys’) Latin School in my time, as I look back on them, is their spirit of personal independence and individuality. They had characters of their own. There was no striving for a school pattern of personality, no effort to sink to a level of conformity, and above all no hero worship with its surrender of personality to the will and tastes of others…Each youngster was himself…The Boys’ Latin School has had a long history. It is now crossing the centennial mark, a span of life which is most unusual for a preparatory school in this country of rapid changes and few traditions. It owes its longevity not to buildings or athletic prowess or to sentiment, but undoubtedly to the soundness of its methods, the intelligence of its purposes and the sincerity and integrity of those who have been connected with it, whether as masters or scholars. There will always be a need for these things in the future as in the past. The life of the school will be prolonged while it continues to supply them. May we all hope that will be for a very long time indeed. For another hundred years at least.”
His death on April 9, 1952 in Baltimore of an embolism after a successful operation for a non-life threatening malady was both sudden and unexpected. He was buried on his native Eastern Shore only a few miles from his family home at Crosiadore, where his ancestors had settled nearly three centuries before.
The following was written in the October 1952 edition of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review by George L. Haskins: “The death of John Dickinson on April 9th of this year has brought to a close the career of one of the most brilliant and distinguished men of our time. Seldom has anyone combined such unique versatility and competence in so many fields of learning and endeavor. A scholar of world repute and a leader among men and in affairs, he died in the prime of his life , the fullness of his course not run. For nearly twenty years he taught at the Law School as Professor of Law, despite a busy career as a public servant, a practicing lawyer, and a corporation executive. And he added immeasurably to its reputation by the quality of his teaching, the brilliance of his writings and the scope of his educational ideas. He was a man of rare culture and profound learning, not only in the law but in history, in politics, in economics, and in legal philosophy.”
Dr. Arthur L. Bloomfield, Class of 1904
Arthur L. Bloomfield ’04 was born May 30, 1888 and entered Boys’ Latin in the fall of 1898. He was an excellent student, finishing number one in his graduating class in 1904. Bloomfield took a rigorous load: Latin, French, and many Greek Classic classes. (The Greek Classics classes were taught by renowned expert on Greek culture Edward Lucas White, affectionately known as 'Whiskers' White.) After he graduated from BL, Bloomfield entered Johns Hopkins University, where he received his A.B. degree, and then entered Johns Hopkins medical school, graduating with an M.D. degree in 1911.
He was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Hopkins until 1922 when he left to become a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. In 1926, Bloomfield became Professor of Medicine and Executive Head of the Department of Medicine at Stanford until his retirement in 1954. He died in San Francisco in 1962.
"Dr. Bloomfield’s contributions to the world of medicine are many. He had an early interest in influenza due to the 1918 epidemic that hit his hometown of Baltimore hard. He was asked to be a consultant to the Secretary of War and became an expert in the field of infectious diseases. He was a pioneer and expert in the use of penicillin, becoming one of the first medical professionals to use penicillin in the cure of patients with bacterial endocarditic, a previously fatal disease. He also studied influenza and the common cold and studied voraciously, becoming an expert in peptic ulcers of the stomach and duodenum. Stanford now has the Arthur L. Bloomfield Chair of the Medical School named in his honor and each year gives out the Arthur L. Bloomfield Award to recognize excellence in the teaching of clinical medicine.
It is reported that Bloomfield’s best teaching came at the bedside, where it was a memorable pleasure to watch him at work. Dr. Bloomfield’s profound knowledge of medicine was always accompanied by his quotations of famous writers like Shakespeare and O. Henry; no doubt a love that developed while a student at Boys’ Latin School. Bloomfield’s wonderful bedside manner and his love for his patients is best summarized with his famous quote: “…there are some patients whom we cannot help…there are none whom we cannot harm.” Bloomfield’s stature in the world of medicine paved the way for his selection as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigations and becoming one of the recipients of the Doctor of Science Honorary Degree from the University of Southern California.
Dr. Bloomfield’s father, Maurice Bloomfield, was an internationally famous Sanskrit scholar at Johns Hopkins University. Maurice Bloomfield was born in Austrian Selisia, what is now part of Poland, in 1855 and came to the United States in 1867 eventually becoming an expert in Sanskrit after studying at Yale University.
Alexander K. Barton, Class of 1910
Alexander K. Barton ’10 was the youngest son of Major Randolph Barton, an officer in the Confederate Army, who was wounded seven times during the American Civil War and on one occasion given the opportunity to command a regiment at age 21. Major Barton was one of three officers chosen by General Robert E. Lee to surrender to General U.S. Grant’s Northern Army at Appomattox.
Alex Barton took a lively interest in Boys’ Latin activities and was an excellent student. Boys’ Latin won the City Prep football championship in 1908 and Alex wanted to play football for the 1909 Latinist team that eventually lost the City Prep Championship game to Gilman 17-11. Unfortunately Alex was too light to play on the team, however, coach Hank Brennick approached Headmaster James Dunham and asked if he could award Alex with a team letter based on his managerial participation and great interest in the team. Brennick described how Alex’s enthusiasm helped pull the team together. Dunham agreed.
After graduating from BL, Alex attended Johns Hopkins University. His writing ability helped him become editor of the school newspaper. After graduation he decided to enter the ministry and also took the examination for the Rhodes Scholarship. In 1916 he was appointed as one of the 32 Americans given a Rhodes Scholarship each year to study at Oxford University in England. However, World War I was raging and Alex decided to postpone his scholarship to become an artillery officer in the 42nd (Rainbow) Division.
After the War was over Alex spent two years studying at Oxford. After Oxford, he had the opportunity to return to Baltimore as an assistant minister at Christ Church. He was an excellent preacher and many of the vestry hoped he would consider taking over as rector of the church, but he had made up his mind to work with students and he went to the University of California, at Berkley, to teach. At Cal, he picked out students whom he considered future leaders. He would meet with them and instruct them in how to influence others to lead an exemplary kind of Christian life. It was during this time that Alex unfortunately became inoculated and died of an infection in 1922.
This year’s Alexander K. Barton Award, given to a BL student with strong character, high ideals and effective moral leadership went to Sean Page ’10.
According to a 1924 issue of the Inkwell, “Alexander K. Barton stands among the most distinguished of our Alumni, and stands to the people of Baltimore for courage, steadfastness, self-denial and self-sacrifice. Alexander Barton crammed into his short life a fullness of experience and accomplishment that is equaled by few. Both as an artillery officer in the Rainbow Division and as a minister of God, his influence shone on those around him, inspiring them by example. The depth that this was appreciated was shown by the mourning following his tragic death recently in California.”
Robert B. Craven, Class of 1961
Robert B. Craven ’61 entered Boys’ Latin School in the fall of 1955. According to the 1961 Maroon & White, Bob traveled each day to school from Aberdeen by train when the school was located downtown. He immediately established himself at the head of the class academically. Academics were not his only strengths as Bob was also a member of the football, basketball and lacrosse teams. The BL yearbook also reported that Bob was planning on taking a pre-med path in college. Bob was a 1966 graduate of the University of Virginia. After his years in Charlottesville Bob attended, and in 1970 graduated from, the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore.
Bob became an expert in the field of infectious diseases. He worked for the National Center for Infectious Diseases and eventually became the Chief, Epidemiology Section - Arbovirus Disease Branch for Infectious Diseases. He retired as a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service after 32 years. Dr. Craven traveled frequently to investigate disease outbreaks all over the world, including in Sierra Leone, where he was field director of the Lassa Fever Research Project. His last assignment was as chief of the epidemiology section of the Centers for Disease Control in Fort Collins, Colo.
Dr. Craven wrote many study papers including Colorado Tick Fever: Current Approaches to Diagnosis and Treatment. Bob discovered and warned physicians that they should be aware of the possibility of Colorado tick fever (CTF) in patients who have returned from the western US and Canada with symptoms including abrupt onset and initial features of high fever, chills, joint and muscle pains, and severe headache. Another research article written during the summer of 1977 educated the world on an epidemic of rubella that occurred among adults in Hawaii. Bob discovered that the highest attack rate was in women 20–24 years old with almost total sparing of young schoolchildren. A case-control investigation implicated a specific discotheque as a common place of exposure for persons with onset of disease during the epidemic peak. A piano player/singer at the discotheque was the apparent source of the virus transmission. The large number of cases linked to this musician suggested that airborne transmission occurred while he was singing rather than by direct person-to-person contact. A rubella vaccine was given to 6523 women in public clinics held during the epidemic. The occurrence of this epidemic confirmed the changing epidemiology of rubella with respect to age distribution and supported the view that vaccination of young children may not be sufficient to protect adult women from exposure to rubella, especially in areas where a high proportion of adults remain susceptible.
He collaborated with other doctors on many other articles including: 'Limitations of the Complement-Fixation Test for Distinguishing Naturally Acquired from Vaccine-Induced Yellow Fever Infection in Flavivirus-Hyperendemic Areas'.
Bob also wrote an important paper - 'Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response - Recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup'. He documented the U.S. national civilian vulnerability to the deliberate use of biological and chemical agents and highlighted the recognition of substantial biological weapons development programs and arsenals in foreign countries, attempts to acquire or possess biological agents by militants, and other high-profile terrorist attacks. His evaluation of this vulnerability focused on the role public health would have detecting and managing the probable covert biological terrorist incident with the realization that the U.S. local, state, and federal infrastructure are already strained as a result of other important public health problems. Bob wrote that the partnership of representatives from local and state health departments, other federal agencies, and medical and public health professional associations, was needed in order to develop a strategic plan to address the deliberate dissemination of biological or chemical agents. His study contained recommendations to reduce U.S. vulnerability to biological and chemical terrorism --- preparedness planning, detection and surveillance, laboratory analysis, emergency response, and communication systems. Training and research, he argued, were integral components for achieving these recommendations. Success of the plan hinged on strengthening the relationships between medical and public health professionals and on building new partner-ships with emergency management, the military, and law enforcement professionals.
The New York Times employed Bob to answer questions in their Travel Section enlightening travelers as to the potential dangers of infectious diseases while traveling out of the country. Bob passed away June 6, 2006 in his adopted hometown of Wilmington , N.C. after a lengthy illness.
John Knight Waters, Class of 1925
John Knight Waters ’25 (above left) was born on December 20, 1906. He was the son of Arnold Elzey Waters, Sr. and Helen Knight Waters. He first entered the halls of Boys’ Latin in September 1914 along with his brother Arnold Jr., and became a twelve year Latinist. (John’s younger brother Levin also graduated from BL.) John was a fine young man. His transcript reveals he was an excellent student and according to the school records he was the “finest type of boy. “ The 1925 Maroon and White states that “Johnny was one of the finest all around classmates.” For many years he stood at the head of the class and also displayed exceptional abilities on both the football and baseball fields.
After BL, Waters attended the Johns Hopkins University for two years. However, yearning for a military life, he eventually transferred to the United States Military Academy and earned his commission in 1931 into the Calvary. His first year at West Point, he played on the plebe football team. He also played lacrosse while at West Point. In 1931 Waters was named captain of the Army lacrosse team. In 1934 he fell in love with and married Beatrice Patton, daughter of General George S. Patton.
With the United States entrance into World War II, he was deployed to North Africa. He was a task force commander in the battle for Kasserine Pass where he was overrun by the German 10th Panzer Division and eventually captured in Tunisia at Dejebel Lassouda. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and imprisoned in a camp in Silesia in Poland, eventually landing in the German prisoner of war camp at Oflag XIII-B in Hammelburg. In 1945 he was shot by a German guard after attempting to escape. A Serbian physician also interned in the POW camp operated on Waters and saved his life. He was eventually freed a week or so after his escape attempt when his father-in-law General Patton and his Third Army liberated his POW camp in April of 1945. General Patton was heavily criticized because the force that helped liberate the camp – known as Task Force Baum - was under-staffed and under supplied and nearly wiped out. Many believe that Patton sent his men on a near suicide mission going 60 miles behind enemy lines to rescue the prisoners. Patton confronted the criticism stating he didn’t know his son-in-law was even in the POW camp.
Waters returned to active duty in 1946 first becoming Commandant of Cadets at West Point. He was later promoted to Brigadier General in 1952 when he was deployed to Korea as Chief of Staff for I Corps. It was while he was in Korea that General Waters learned of the death of his 42 year old wife Beatrice, who died of a heart attack near West Point. He also spent time as the commanding General for the 4th Armored Division and Commanding General for V Corps, both in Europe, as well as Commanding General for the Fifth Army in Chicago. Other assignments included Chief of the American Military Assistance Staff in Yugoslavia from 1955-1957 and as Deputy Chief of Staff for Material Developments, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He also commanded the army forces in Hawaii and retired as a four-star general, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, Pacific, on August 31, 1966.
He won many major awards including the Distinguished Service Cross for actions leading fellow prisoners, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star with clusters, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart with cluster, and the Korean Service Medal. He was also received the French Croix de Guerre with palm.
General Waters, always proud of his BL roots, died on January 9, 1989.
Robert Graff Merrick, Class of 1912
Robert G. Merrick ’12 was born November 18, 1895. He entered Boys’ Latin in September of 1909 for his sophomore year. He was a good student especially in history, mathematics, Latin, and French and German. Transcript comments accompanying his English grades read either “good” or “very good.” He was an accomplished athlete and The Baltimore News reported he was a member of the gymnastics exhibition his sophomore year. During his senior year he fell ill and was forced to leave school in November of 1911. Merrick did however receive enough BL credits to allow him entrance into Johns Hopkins University where he graduated with an A.B. degree in 1917.
When America entered World War I in 1917, Merrick enlisted in the army as a private and was assigned to the 10th Field Artillery. While serving in Europe he distinguished himself in battle and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre. He became a Captain and eventually a Major in the Field Artillery Branch of the Reserve Corps.
After his military service in France was over he returned to Hopkins and received a Ph.D. in Political Economy in 1922. He then entered the mortgage business and later became associated with the Maryland Mortgage Company. After serving with that firm for a short period, he joined the Maryland Title Securities Company and was soon elected president of that organization. In 1932, he resigned from this post to accept the Presidency of the Equitable Trust Company, retaining the position of Chairman of the Board of the Maryland Title Securities Company.
After Mr. Merrick entered the banking industry he quickly became one of the leaders in the Baltimore financial market. He worked as president of Equitable Trust Bank for nearly 40 years, eventually becoming Chairman of the Board. He grew the bank from a small bank with $20 million in assets and five branches to a $438 million operation with 53 branches in the Baltimore metropolitan area. His philanthropic pursuits grew through his years and many Baltimore institutions benefited from his enormous generosity. Mr. Merrick served on many Boards throughout the Maryland region.
The University of Baltimore’s business school from 1982 -1996 received three major gifts from the foundation Mr. Merrick established and today the UB business school is known as the University of Baltimore‘s Merrick School of Business. According to the University of Baltimore website, “each time a student graduates from the Merrick School of Business, the practical vision of its benefactor becomes a tangible part of the Baltimore community (Mr. Merrick) so loved.
Charles Snowden Piggott, Class of 1911
Charles Snowden Piggot ’11 was born in Sewanee, Tennessee on June 5, 1892. His father was then a professor at the University of the South which is located in Sewanee. His mother, Anne Olivia Cockey, was from Maryland and the family eventually came to Baltimore. He enrolled at Boys’ Latin in September of 1907 as a freshman (Form III). During his first two years on Brevard Street he was a remarkable student finishing always near the top of his class. However, during his last two years he continued to excel in English but had problems with Latin Prose. During the Easter break of his senior year he left BL and the following fall enrolled at The University of the South (Sewanee) in Tennessee. He graduated from Sewanee in 1914 with a B.S. and a B.A. and attended the University of Pennsylvania for two years before finally finishing his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University.
Piggot was a true pioneer in the scientific community for changing and expanding the world of marine biology and oceanography. He has been called the founding father of ocean floor marine research and served as a scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory for twenty two years of his professional life. He first came to the Geophysical Lab in 1925 to conduct research on the importance of radioactivity in geophysical phenomena. He did this by first studying the radium content of the different layers of the earth’s crust. His work revolutionized the way earth scientists now view earth evolution. In the early 1930s Piggot expanded his radium research to ocean drilling projects when he began his research into sediments. He discovered that the samples from the sea floor contained more radium than igneous (volcanic) rocks. Consequently, he not only had to develop laboratory facilities for the measurements, but also had to design and build a coring device capable of obtaining undisturbed cores up to three meters in length. In order to improve his sea floor samples, Piggot had to develop adequate coring equipment, since there were no other ocean drilling projects in motion at the time. Techniques up to that time had been capable of collecting small surface samples of sediments with a grappling device, but often the stratigraphic record within the rock was destroyed even in those limited samples. The samples obtained were only capable of providing present sea basin condition information. And Piggot wanted to tap into the past. He knew that it was the past events that reveal valuable information about geologic processes at work on land as well as in the ocean basins. To do this, he needed to come up with a device that could drill into the sea floor and retain the samples while they were hauled above water.
By 1936 Piggot had his device. The apparatus used a powder charge to drive a steel tube into the sediment and once the sediment was retrieved the tub split in half to expose the stratigraphy. Over the next several years he had assembled a large quantity of samples from the North Atlantic that revealed sediment hundreds of thousands of years old. His work unlocked many of the secrets of the sea floor helping scientists understand more about how the earth functions on dry land. His study answered his original question – is radium simply a surface characteristic? Knowing the answer was “yes,” that high concentrations of radium in ocean sediments did not continue far below the surface, Piggot found exactly what he was looking for and more. A December 1937 Time Magazine article explained Piggot’s discovery that most of the ocean floor has always been under water and for millions of years it has been covered with layers of sediment.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Piggot changed his scientific direction to public service related matters. He helped perfect procedures for the recovery and disassembly of magnetic and other sea mines. He founded military training schools for mine disposal and procedures for disarming dangerous objects. After the war he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his numerous war-time contributions to the Allies. Later the United States Navy awarded him the Bronze Star for his post-war work on 'Operation Crossroads' - the Bikini Island atomic test site.
After the World War II, Piggot moved to London for a few years to serve as the first foreign reserve officer assigned by the State Department. His duty was to promote cooperation between the scientists and the governments of the United States and Great Britain. He returned to the United States in 1952 and became a consultant and assistant supervisor on a navy project at Yale University in New Haven, CT. In 1955, he surveyed and appraised scientific institutions in India for the National Academy of Sciences. He retired shortly thereafter and enjoyed retirement life until his death on July 6, 1973.
Hanson W. Baldwin, Class of 1920
Hanson Weighman Baldwin ’20 was born on March 21, 1903 and grew up at 147 West Lanvale Street. He first entered BL as a fourth grader in September of 1912. Baldwin was a superb student averaging over a 90 point average while in Primary school. (The school was split into two sections at the time – Primary school and Upper School each with Forms I through Form VI.) By his senior year he was ranked number one in most of his classes with a 94 average. His transcript includes notes that read “Good, conscientious student” and “Finest type of boy” and he won the award his senior year as “best boy” – the equivalent of today’s valedictorian. Upon his graduation from Brevard Street he accepted an appointment to attend the United States Naval Academy.
Baldwin loved to write while a student at BL and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Inkwell. After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving his military commitment he landed in New York and started a long career at the New York Times. While at the Times, Baldwin wrote many books about the United States military and earned a reputation as a leading authority on military affairs.
During World War II he eventually was sent to Australia to begin reporting on the Pacific Theatre. In 1943 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his reporting in the southwest Pacific. A 1941 Inkwell reported that Baldin was written up in a national publication regarding the U.S. Air and Naval power. The magazine wrote: ”Among the handful of journalists in the country who are true careerists in the field of military writing, Mr. Baldwin is outstanding. He is best known as the military and naval correspondent of the New York Times and his articles in that paper and the several books which he has written are very well known as authoritative and highly informative writings on the topic which is perhaps of greatest interest to the average American citizen today – national defense.” He wrote for the Times through the War and after maintaining his reputation as a military affairs expert. He wrote many more books and columns eventually retiring to Connecticut where he died in 1991.
Joseph Sedgwick Sollers, Jr., Class of 1947
Joe Sollers ’47 entered BL in 1943. He was a solid student at BL finishing at the top of his class in each year in English and history. It is in lacrosse where Joe really excelled. He is considered one of the greatest lacrosse goalies in the history of the game. As a freshman at BL he made second team all Maryland goalie in 1943 and later earned first team all-Maryland lacrosse honors in 1944, 1945 and 1947. He was the first recipient of the first Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award (pictured above right with the Kelly trophy) as the best lacrosse player in the state of Maryland in 1945.
After the 1945 lacrosse season Joe served eighteen months in the Pacific Theatre of World War II and returned to BL (and the goal!) for his senior year in 1947. Joe’s save ratio in four years at BL was an amazing 76.2%. In 1947 Joe led the Latinists to the MSA Championship game against Gilman (a 7-6 defeat) and that season had a save percentage of over 81%! Overall Joe won seven varsity letters while at BL.
After his BL days Joe stayed in Baltimore and attended Johns Hopkins. In 1951 Joe was selected All-American and won the C. Markland Kelly Award given to the nation’s most outstanding college goalie. He was also named the winner of the William C. Schmeisser Memorial Trophy given to the nation’s outstanding defensive player. Joe came back to coach at BL for a few years after college. He was elected to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1987 and was inducted into the BL Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
Joe’s perseverance on the playing field followed him into his business life. After joining William T. Burton Co. in 1953, he continued on a steady rise to Vice President and General Manager. He later became President and was instrumental in making the company into one of the largest polyurethane producing entities in the country. Joe never lost sight of the dignity of the common man. He knew every single employee at William T. Burnett by name and was fondly referred to as 'Mr. Joe' by his employees.
Joe served on the Board of Trustees at Boys’ Latin from 1960-1961. He later became President of the Alumni Association in 1974. He always believed in returning to his upbringing and giving back the most important thing he could…himself.
Joe’s greatest contribution to lacrosse was his help in developing the modern day lacrosse stick. He also was one of the founders of the STX lacrosse company. And his polyurethane stick, which came out in the early 1970s, has revolutionized the game.
Ral Parr, Class of 1896
Ral Parr ’96 the son of Henry Albert and Harriet A. (Howell) Parr was born on March 3, 1877 in Philadelphia, PA. When he was a young child the family moved to Baltimore and Ral was sent to the Carey School for Boys (Boys’ Latin School.) He attended the Carey School for 8 years and then completed his secondary education at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. In 1896 Ral entered Princeton University.
In February, 1904, most of downtown Baltimore was destroyed by fire. The total destruction and the need to rebuild Baltimore motivated Parr to enter the insurance business with his brother Henry Albert Parr, Jr. The brothers formed the agency Parr & Parr. Both Parr brothers remained brokers at the firm their entire lives. They handled the insurance for the United Railways and for the Western Maryland Railroad. In 1924 Parr & Parr merged with the well established insurance agency Maury & Donnelly and the new combined firm became known as Maury, Donnelly & Parr. The firm is still in downtown Baltimore. It’s current president is BL’s Leigh Brent ’72.
Ral gained a notable reputation in the insurance business but it was horses that captured his heart and where he gained considerable fame. He began to train and race horses locally at Pimlico Racetrack here in Baltimore. His first horse to win a race was Uncle Jake which fetched him a purse of $100 at the Timonium Race Track.
Parr was married in November 1899 to Miss Laura Jenkins, a daughter of George C. Jenkins and Katherine (Key) Jenkins, members of one of Baltimore's oldest and most respected families. Through the maternal line, Mrs. Parr was a great niece of Francis Scott Key. The priest overseeing the wedding was Baltimore’s Archbishop James Cardinal Gibbons. Laura died in 1929 and Ral remarried Sonia Walsh Whitman in 1931.
Ral Parr became quite successful in thoroughbred racing and was the owner of much noted racing stock that won many trophies for his stables. Among his horses was Paul Jones, the thoroughbred that won the Kentucky Derby on May 8, 1920 and Ticket of Leave who established the world's record for two miles in 1914. In the 1920 Kentucky Derby Paul Jones just barely nipped Upset by inches in front of a crowd of nearly 60,000 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Paul Jones led the race from wire to wire and it was considered at the time to be one of the greatest horse races of all time. (Upset, was already famous for being the only horse to ever beat Man O’ War in 1919 and the term “upset” was born and used whenever an underdog beats its opponent in any sport - when no one expects it.) Another horse owned by Parr, Blazes came in 6th in the 1920 Kentucky Derby field of 17. (Man o’ War, considered by many to be one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time, was not entered into the Derby because his owner, did not like racing in Kentucky so early in the year. Man o’ War did enter and win the 1920 Preakness Stakes and the 1920 Belmont Stakes.)
Ral was traveling in Europe in 1939 when war broke out. He and his wife Sonia had to escape the turmoil by returning to the United States in a roundabout way. The extended journey forced him to be hospitalized upon his return to Baltimore. He never recovered and died of a stroke on October 10, 1939 at the age of 62.
William Hollington Skinner, Class of 1976
Bill “BF” Skinner ’76 recently wrote that when he thinks of his days at BL, he gets “sappy remembering the great times I had discovering the new found freedoms of growing up. I remember rides (to school from Bolton Hill) in (my) '66 Dodge Dart and then later in the ‘68 Dodge Van.”
Bill moved to 1502 Park Avenue in Bolton Hill in the early 1960s. His first school was Mt. Royal Elementary School and from there he attended Roland Park Junior High. Mt Royal was one of four "Model Schools" at that time for gifted and talented children, however, Bill saw himself as neither, but the standardized testing said otherwise and he was put in a program for gifted students. At the time he didn’t understand the reasoning behind this sort of segregation and it caused disdain from the other students who were not deemed to be so "gifted.” At Roland Park Bill was part of the morning shift (schools were overcrowded and separated into morning and afternoon shifts) and he went to school from 8:00 am until noon. After school was over at 12:00, Bill, always inquisitive, decided to use the spare time exploring with his MTA bus pass ways to navigate throughout Baltimore City.
One day he traveled to the MTA headquarters on Washington Boulevard and procured all of the area bus line schedules. With the times and bus numbers he then went about riding everywhere in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Early on at Roland Park he met Dick and Joy Martin, a gifted brother and sister who were in his class. Their mother owned a bar on Charles street called The Wig Wam, that had a large teepee shaped sign over the place that read "Grub & Firewater". He and his friend Dick Martin would ride the bus to the Wig Wam after the school shift ended and sit at the bar and eat sandwiches that Dick’s mother Esther would prepare for them. Bill was realizing at an early age the real Baltimore – and he was beginning to know it better than a good seasoned newspaper reporter.
Bill’s mother, Ann, eventually decided that there may have been too much freedom for her son and that perhaps a new school was needed - one that could reign Bill in somewhat. His dad could not afford private school, so his mom started saving money from her job as a realtor to finance a better education for Bill and his brothers. However, Bill wanted nothing to do with private schools. He saw the neatly jacketed and tied private school boys as some sort of “freaks” and was sure they were not riding buses all over town and eating sandwiches next to patrons at bars downtown! The entrance tests at Gilman and St. Paul’s were easy to fail. He recalled recently: “I just answered the questions in the opposite, however, at Boys’ Latin they picked up on my pattern (since they were experts at detecting such tricks) and they figured I scored very high if the correct answers were the opposite of my responses. I had been ‘found out.’ So I was accepted at the Boys’ Latin School. My neighbors Jason Carter ’76 and John Rouse ’77 were already students there as were the Smith boys up the street. No matter, I wanted nothing to do with BL. And to add insult to injury I was held back one year and forced to attend Summer School (the standard policy at BL in those days, coming from the "public" school system). My world was being sent into another universe, but mom was the law and so with my brother's Jon and David, I was sent screaming and kicking to BL’s summer school.”
The first person he met at summer school was Pen Pendleton ’76. Pen showed Bill “the ropes.” Another close friend in the early years was Jack Dott ’76. Bill learned to tolerate BL’s summer school somewhat and eventually enrolled in the eighth grade in the fall of 1971. He fondly remembers the “good times that became great times…..I just didn't know it then.” Bill was not a gifted athlete but he showed his value to the athletic program by videotaping basketball games for Coach Snuffy Gelston ’56 using a state of the art reel to reel video recorder and camera he bought. There were no video cassettes in the early 1970s and he remembers BL being one of the first schools to use this technology as other schools still analyzed games on 8mm film that took days to developed.
Bill, even at the age of 14, was making money with his newly discovered electrical wiring skills. It seemed as if he could do electrical work better than most electricians. Electrical devices just came so easy for him. Bill was good with his hands and everyone knew he could fix anything electrical or mechanical. “Give it to Skinner, he’ll fix it!” people said.
Bill fit well into the Class of 1976. He was one of the more popular boys in the class and he remembers well the day he became “BF” Skinner. “In one of my first days in Fernando Hidalgo's Spanish Class, Senor Hidalgo went through the class asking each of us our names and then assigned a Spanish name or a nickname, depending on his mood. When he got to me he asked if I was related to the great Dr. Burris Frederick Skinner. I replied that I was not but Senor Hidalgo replied, I think we'll call you ‘BF’ Skinner anyway.” The name has stuck and to most he is today affectionately known as just “BF.” Fernando Hidalgo remains his favorite of all his teachers at BL.
It didn’t take long for Jack Williams ’39 and the BL Administration to see Bill’s talents. He helped build the Spanish language lab in the basement of Williams Hall, he wired the middle school for Otis Read, and was called upon at various times to fix the scoreboard in the gym. Near the end of his upper school days his mother grew ill with cancer and could no longer pay the BL tuitions. His brothers were forced to go to public school. But Bill was close to graduating and Headmaster Jack Williams ’39 ‘invented’ an engineering scholarship so he could graduate. Bill writes: ”My last two years at BL were made possible by this great man. I worked at school during the summer to help defray my expenses, even though Jack never requested it.” Bill also worked for Roland Park Country School rewiring scoreboards and the stage lights as well as the school’s audio-visual equipment. His sound gear was also used at early BL Bull Roasts.
Bill became a local disc jockey while he worked at WAYE Radio after school and in the summertime. During the summers while working at BL, Bill was employed by Casper Sipple, Inc. the licensed electricians for BL. Mr. Sipple took an interest in Bill, and upon graduation in 1976 he worked for the company and started his electrician's apprenticeship. Bill became a Master Electrician after a few years, at the same time he obtained a General Contractors License and began the Hollington Contractors Company. The Hollington Company restored Victorian and Art Deco properties, mostly in Bolton Hill so he could be close to home if his mother needed him because she remained very ill. Bill was the master of multi-tasking and was put in charge of all properties for Brown Memorial Church (both locations before they split congregations) and also worked at The Bolton Hill Swim and Tennis Club.
After his mother died in 1981, Bill continued to be a “jack-of-all-trades.” He was employed as operations manager for Tele-Tector, Inc designing and installing CCTV systems for BWI, Lever Brothers, Johns Hopkins Hospital as well as many others. In the mid '80's he expanded his DJ career and became part owner of Spins Inc., a DJ company that supplied other local DJ's with equipment and built sound systems for The Crease and Mt Washington Tavern, as well other clubs in Baltimore and Georgetown. He came out of retirement as a General Contractor in 1986 and oversaw the renovation of the Club Charles which involved digging a basement and jacking up the existing 110 year old structure and dropping it on a new foundation. He continued with Spins Inc. as a DJ and sound engineer, and at the same time started Skinner Systems, a company that built sound, CCTV, control, and electronic systems.
Bill was now married and in 1992 he moved to Louisiana when his wife Susan, a native of the state, was transferred to New Orleans. He worked as a sales Engineer for Intermatic Inc., a Chicago based electrical control company. In 2003 he was laid off due to a company buy out and started Skinner Electronics. This company bought and sold used government electronics. At this time he began toying with the idea of joining the local volunteer fire department. He eventually did so and when the department went to a full time paid department, Bill was asked if he was interested in making it a career. At age 45 he was not sure if he could “cut it,” but he enjoyed serving the public and driving the fire trucks - so he thought why not? Three months of rookie school with 15 young men aged 18-24 proved to be a challenge. He endured hours of pushups and daily 2 mile runs along with long hours in the classroom. All of the hard work paid off and Bill is proud to report that he “beat two of the youngsters in the 2 mile run, lost 30lbs and graduated with the distinction of being the oldest fire-fighter rookie in Louisiana - at age 45!”.
Bill started working 24 hour shifts, and on days off went to EMT school and then later to the LSU/Fire and Emergency Training Institute - one of the best fire schools in the country. After two years of training and enough credits for an Associate’s Degree in Fire Science, he was promoted to Lieutenant in 2006. He is now the operations manager for a 98 square mile fire district with 4 fire stations and 14 Fire Trucks in St. Tammany Parish 50 miles north of New Orleans. Bill writes, ”I love my job…..it is the most rewarding work I've ever done. On my days off Skinner Electronics continues as I expanded the business to buy and sell lights, sirens and radios used by Fire, Police and other Government agencies.”
Bill recalls that his days at Boy's Latin gave him the well rounded education that enabled him to adapt and succeed in the ever changing marketplace, and that Jack Williams ’39 made that all possible with his "Engineering Scholarship." Bill writes, “and for that I shall always be in his debt.”
Calvin H. Goddard, Class of 1907
On February 14, 1929 one of the country’s most horrific crimes was committed in a garage in Chicago. Seven men were lined up against a wall and gunned down with machine guns. The event became known as the St. Valentine’s Day massacre and it galvanized the public against organized crime. The brutality of the murders, and the thought that perhaps corrupt police were involved angered the public. The general population believed the violent crime spree possibly involving the Chicago Police Department and organized crime would have to stop.
Up until this time, without witnesses most gun slayings went mostly unsolved. That is until a Baltimorean and Boys’ Latin graduate named Calvin Goddard came along. Goddard uncovered the technology that today solves thousands of crimes involving the discharge of firearms.
Calvin Goddard ‘07 was born October 30, 1891 in Baltimore. He graduated from Boys’ Latin School in 1907. He was an excellent student and the number one boy in most of his classes. He especially excelled in mathematics and Latin. After his four years at BL, Goddard attended Johns Hopkins University and in 1911 graduated from Hopkins with his B.A. degree cum laude. In 1915 he again graduated from Hopkins, this time as an honor graduate from the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Furthering his brilliant scholastic record, he was numbered among the honor graduates two years later from the Army Medical School in Washington, D.C.
Goddard was a doctor of the Army Medical Corps when World War I broke out and within a year was promoted to major and then eventually became a lieutenant-colonel. After serving abroad, he resigned his commission on June 2, 1920. The following year Goddard succeeded Dr. Arthur J. Lomas as assistant superintendent at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1924 he was called to New York City and appointed the Director of the Cornell Clinic.
Goddard from his early youth possessed a fondness for firearms. This fondness eventually became his hobby. In his early years in medicine he owned a large collection of firearms. In April, 1925 while still in New York, Goddard established the Bureau of Forensic Ballistics with colleagues C. E. Waite, Phillip O. Gravelle, and John H. Fisher. The Bureau was formed to provide firearms identification services throughout the United States as few law enforcement agencies had the capability to provide these services.
Colonel Goddard began to write and speak extensively on the subject of firearms identification gaining him an international reputation as a ballistics expert. On December 14, 1928 Goddard was in Baltimore demonstrating with pictures of microscopic enlargements of bullets and gun barrels that each weapon leaves a characteristic mark on the missile that it discharges. “Science has shown,” Goddard said, “that bullet-markings are as valuable as finger prints of criminals.” This theory was developed from the fact that no two things in the world are exactly alike. Marks, grooves, lines and scratches determine whether a certain projectile has been fired from a particular firearm.
Meanwhile in Chicago, George “Bugs” Moran, the leader of the north Chicago gang was stealing shipments of booze that was suppose to be delivered to Al Capone’s crime syndicate on the south side of town. Capone had an informant in the Moran gang and the insider arranged to have a shipment of whiskey delivered to one of Moran’s garages on Clark Street on the north side of the city.
Capone was hoping that Moran and his top henchmen would all be at the garage when the shipment was delivered so all could be “eliminated” at the same time. Capone’s men staked out the garage and when the seventh man entered the building that morning they thought it was Moran. With Moran thought to be present, the ambush began. Five of Capone’s men disguised as uniformed policemen and plain clothes detectives entered the building, lined up Moran’s men against the wall and opened fire. Eight minutes later the entire ordeal was over.
The public outrage over these slayings and the rumors that the Chicago Police Department was involved led local officials to immediately impanel a grand jury to investigate the killings. The crime scene was gruesome and the pictures of the gore were published in newspapers around the country. Before the bullet-ridden bodies were removed, Chicago’s coroner Herman Bundesen took dozens of photographs and ordered a careful collection of all of the empty shells, bullets and bullet fragments. The bullets were removed from the walls and bodies and carefully labeled in sealed evidence bags. Bundesen knew of Goddard’s work and asked the doctor to come to Chicago and look at the ballistic evidence.
Goddard’s careful examination of the ballistics evidence was significant. Goddard was able to conclusively state that the killers had used one 12-gauge shotgun and two Thompson submachine guns in the slayings. He discovered that one of the submachine guns was fired using a 50-round drum magazine while the other was fired using a 20-round magazine. Because of the rumors of police involvement, all Chicago Police Thompson submachine guns were tested by Goddard against the crime scene evidence. He was able to prove that none of the police guns were used in the killings. Now the public knew that the killings were between rival gangs with no police involvement.
A tip from a person on the street that day led to the arrest of one of Capone’s hit men – Jack McGurn. Others were arrested but eventually all were released on bail or technicalities. Ten months after the massacre, the police received a lucky break. One of the Capone hoods, Fred Burke, was involved in a shooting death of a policeman in Michigan. The police searched the home of the suspect and found two Thompson submachine guns along with ammunition clips. Five days later the confiscated guns were delivered to Goddard. Goddard test fired the weapons and conclusively determined these were the same two guns involved in the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.
Burke was eventually captured and sentenced to life in prison in Michigan. Chicago authorities wanted him as well since they now had evidence directly linking him to the massacre. Michigan refused to surrender him to Illinois. Burke spent the rest of his life behind bars.
The St. Valentine’s Day massacre eventually became a dead issue and there would be no more arrests. However, the event was the birth of firearms identification becoming a vital element in putting thousands of future criminals involved in shootings behind bars when no eyewitness evidence was available.
Goddard later became the Managing Director of the Scientific Crime Laboratory, at Northwestern University in Chicago. During his lifetime and after is untimely death in March of 1955, Baltimorean, Boys’ Latin and Johns Hopkins graduate Calvin Goddard was and is still referred to in the scientific world as the - “Father of Forensic Ballistics.”
Each year the Calvin H. Goddard Award is presented by the Forensic Technology Company to recognize the outstanding individual or group in the area of firearms identification.
Jack B. Dunn III, Class of 1939
Jack B. Dunn III ’39, born October 22, 1921, was a twelve year Latinist having entered BL in 1927. Jack was an excellent student. During his lower school career Jack was always ranked near the top of his class. In Upper School Jack consistently posted grades that were in the 90s. He was ranked third in his class of 21. Jack also excelled athletically as a three star athlete. He was a first team all-MSA “B” Conference football selection in 1938, leader on the basketball team and leading scorer of the lacrosse team in 1939 making second team all-Maryland honors on attack. Jack won seven varsity letters and was selected by his class as the best athlete in 1939. Jack was the recipient of the 1939 Alumni Cup for “Leadership based on Character” and was selected a member of Boys’ Latin School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jack was the grandson of Jack Dunn who owned and managed the International League Orioles to seven straight pennants from 1919 through 1925. Jack Dunn bought the International League Orioles for $70,000 in 1910. According to the book The Home Team by Jim Bready, a sports writer after seeing George Herman Ruth wallop home runs in a few exhibition games in 1914 asked “Who’s that?” “That?” spoke up Coach Henry Steinman, “that’s Jack’s new baby.” Jack Dunn had replaced the St. Mary’s Industrial School as the custodian of George Ruth. And “Babe” Ruth it became. Babe Ruth was sold by the minor league Orioles that same year to the Boston Red Sox for $3,500. Jack’s father Jack Dunn, Jr., who played for his father and along side Ruth, died at an early age in 1923 and when his grandfather passed away in 1928 he left the team to his wife to hold in trust until Jack III was thirty years old.
After his BL days Jack Dunn III attended Princeton. Finally Jack could play the sport he loved more than any other – baseball. While at BL Jack couldn’t play baseball because BL had disbanded the program after the 1931 season. A shoulder injury slowed his baseball career at Princeton down somewhat and he played first base where he would not have to throw as much as the other fielders. He hit about .400 while in college. One year from playing lacrosse for Okey O’Connor Jack was playing baseball in the Mexican League in 1940 for the Mexico City Red Devils and the Nuevo Laredo Owls.
He was just a half year from graduating from Princeton when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a P-51 pilot. “My outfit never got out of the country,” he told the Baltimore Sun in 1949, “because they were always training us in some new tactics.” He finally completed his work at Princeton and graduated with a degree in Psychology. Jack figured his major was the only course that would have a practical application to a career in baseball. He never thought of doing anything else but staying in his family’s business of running the Baltimore Orioles. In 1946, Jack served as president, general manager, part-time manager and player on the pennant winning 1946 Centreville Orioles in the Eastern Shore League. Again with the International League birds Jack worked practically every job with the team including being its manager. In 1949, as team field manager Jack became the third member of his clan to appear in an Oriole Uniform. The Orioles went 63-91 that year and finished in seventh place in the International League. (Pictured above.)
Jack took over full control of the team in 1951 and guided the minor league team as its owner until September of 1953 when the franchise of the St. Louis Browns of the American League was relocated to Baltimore. In December of 1953 Jack agreed to sell his International League franchise, give the name Orioles to the new major league team and received a five year contract to become an official in the new Orioles’ front office.
With the major league club Jack worked as traveling secretary, assistant to the General Manager, public relations director, play-by-play broadcaster, and eventually was appointed Vice President for Business Affairs in 1965. Jack was in the front office when the Orioles won their first World Series in 1966 sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games. Jack continued to work in the Orioles front office until his untimely death in 1987. In 2000 Jack was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.
Thomas J. S. Waxter, Class of 1917
Thomas J. S. Waxter ’17 was born October 13, 1898. He entered Boys’ Latin in September of 1914 and graduated in June of 1917. He was a good student and studied Latin, German, and French along with the core basic subjects. He was a member of BL’s football and baseball teams and was captain of the 1916 football team as a 5’7” 138 pound full back. According to a Baltimore Sunarticle in November of 1916,”Waxter is one of the cleverest gridironists Dunham (Boys’ Latin) has had since the good old days when Edgar Tippett and Mac Speed were in the spotlight.” In the annual big game against neighborhood rival Friends, Waxter kicked the all important extra point and helped BL win the game 7-6. In 1917 he was the starting center fielder on the Baltimore City championship baseball team. In the gym meet that same year he tied the school record with 45 chin-ups. At the 1917 commencement exercises, Tom Waxter was awarded the prestigious Alumni Cup for character based on leadership.
According to the BL archives, after his graduation he joined the Army but was forced to resign on account of eye trouble. He entered Amherst College in 1918 but left after one term to attend officer’s training camp at Princeton, N.J. He eventually graduated from Princeton University in 1921 and was a member of the prestigious Cap and Gown group. He then did a year of post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in political science and political economics and eventually attended and graduated from the Yale University Law School in 1924. He was ranked number one in his class of 430 and was selected as a member of the Order of the Coif, a legal honorary fraternity at Yale.
For the next five years he practiced law in Baltimore. In May of 1929, he was appointed Judge of the Juvenile Court. He retained this position until January 1935 when he accepted the position of Director of Department of Public Welfare for Baltimore City. This was the beginning of his life dedicated to the welfare of fellow Marylanders. Judge Waxter became well known for his social work and his kindness. In 1945 the University of Pennsylvania asked Waxter to speak at their Commencement Exercises. One of the school’s previous speakers was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Tom Waxter eventually became the Director of Maryland’s State Department of Public Welfare in 1953 and remained in this capacity until his death in 1962.
In 1987 the Baltimore Sun declared Thomas J. S. Waxter as one of the “150 People Who Shaped the Way We Lived.” The Sun reported: “There is hardly an area of social awareness in Baltimore that did not benefit from “Jake” and wife Peggy Waxter’s unwavering commitment to improving the quality of life for all Marylanders. As chief of the City of Baltimore and later the State of Maryland’s welfare departments Judge Waxter was the champion for the interests and needs of people that had little or no voice in how government was run or resources were allocated. Among the ideas that he championed during his years in public service were retraining of the unemployed for useful trades, providing programs for drug and alcohol abusers, foster children, and senior citizens.” The Baltimore Sun further reported Waxter saying.” A civilization is known by the way it treats its young and its old people.” The Sun continued its praise of Waxter writing the legacy of Waxter is above all an appreciation of what people can do for themselves and each other if given the resources and opportunities.