The Oldest "Y" College Alumni (June 13, 1936)

An All-American Yale player, Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965) brought football to Springfield College and coached the institution’s first team in 1891. In The Fireside Book of Football, Edwin Pope describes Stagg as “football’s Ben Franklin, Alexander Bell, and Thomas Edison all rolled into one.” Herbert W. Fison, previously of the Brooklyn Public Library, began working as a librarian at the public library in Malden, MA in 1912. He also worked as a Librarian and Curator at the Malden Historical Society. After graduation, Milton K. Merin served as the Physical Director of a YMCA in Danbury, CT, and then became a Reverend at the Auburn Theological Seminary. James M. Ropes was the Lieutenant of Company H (Springfield) of the Naval Brigade Band. William Henry Ball was Stagg’s teammate and classmate, and is credited as having brought Basketball to Montreal. He went on to work at the Y.M.C.A. in Montreal, Canada, served from 1916-1917 as a representative of the YMCA on the Joint Committee on Basketball Rules, and wrote an article titled “The Spirit of the Game” for Spalding’s 1917-1918 Official Basket Ball Guide. James Huff McCurdy (1866-1940) is credited with the creation of the YMCA’s Inter-Allied Games, the biggest international sports event that had ever been held at that time. Attended by 25,000 people, the games were a huge success. Frank N. Seerley (class of 1890) was an alumnus and faculty member of Springfield College, as well as the Head of the Department of Hygiene at the YMCA headquarters in France. Among many other accomplishments, he earned his M.D. from the University of Vermont, taught animal mechanics, physiology and hygiene, and served as Dean at Springfield. Willard S. Richardson was a Springfield College Tarbell Medallion Recipient in 1938. He studied at the University of Rochester, worked at the YMCA Training College in Springfield, MA, worked at Columbia University, and received his B.D. from the Union Theological Seminary in 1897. From 1894-1909 he was assistant pastor at a Baptist church in New York City. He later joined the advisory staff to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and was secretary for the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial in New York City. Richardson served on the Board of Trustees at the YMCA Training College and the American Institute of Christian Philosophy.

The photograph shows some wear around the edges and minor creasing; Attached to the back is a clip of the photograph as published on June 13, 1936 for an article about the oldest "Y" College alumni.

This photograph shows early alumni of the YMCA Training School, now Springfield College, in Springfield Massachusetts who returned to the college in early June, 1936. The photograph was used in a newspaper article printed on June 13, 1936 about these "oldest 'Y' College alumni." In the front row, from left to right, are: Herbert W. Fison, ’91; Milton K. Merwin, ’91; James M. Ropes, ’91; and William H. Ball, ’91. The back row, from left to right, shows: Amos Alonzo Stagg, ’91; James H. McCurdy, ’90; William F. Daum, ’90; Frank N. Seerley, ’90, and Willard S. Richardson, ’91.