Hall of Fame

The Sports Hall of Fame at Dickinson was established in 1969 to recognise those athletes who the College considered to have personified the moral virtue that Dickinson College expected from their students both on the athletic field and in the classroom. The formal committee called to lay down the guidelines for selection and recognition were named on January 10, 1969. They were Athletic Director David B. Eavenson, Professors Joseph G. DuCharme, Donald R. Seibert, and Wilbur J. Gobrecht, together with Mr. Vincent J. Schafmeister, Jr., and Mr. Edward F. Luckenbaugh, Jr.

Three days later the guidelines governing election were established. A permanent committee was put in place to oversee the nomination and selection of members. This committee were to accept nominations from any source, provide a majority vote for election, and elect no more than three new members per year. Eligibility rules stated that before 1946, a student athlete needed to have matriculated Dickinson College for a minimum of two years, and after 1946, to have been a Dickinson graduate. Nominees would be eligible for selection only after ten years had elapsed since graduation so that, the committee stated, that "a nominee's athletic achievements have been worthy enough to stand the test of time.” Above all, the candidate "during his (sic) undergraduate days at Dickinson College should have exemplified desirable personal character traits usually expected of a college athletes and should have performed in competition in a manner and to a degree that is considered outstanding."

Members were to be honored officially and inducted at the Homecoming football game, receive an engraved plaque, and have their name inscribed on a Hall of Fame plaque which will be displayed in the lobby of the gymnasium. The first three charter inductees to be named to the Hall of Fame on November 8, 1969 were Francis A. “Mother” Dunn (1914), Hyman Goldstein (1915), and Samuel Padjen (1939). Since that time, more than one-hundred and fifty Dickinsons have been honored. The first female member inducted, Patricia Hitchens Shaver (1964), was elected in 1968.