Seaver Peters

Seaver Peters

Dartmouth athletics, the college, the Ivy League and the NCAA have lost a giant with the passing of former Big Green athletic director Seaver Peters '54.

A onetime Dartmouth hockey player, Peters shepherded the athletic department through coeducation, the Indian symbol controversy, the occasional challenges and tremendous rewards that came with overseeing Bob Blackman and his football program, the advent of IAA football, the building of Thompson Arena, still a crown jewel of the Ivy League and so much more.

But "Pete's" impact wasn't just felt locally and in the Ivy League. From 1973-77 he was chairman of the NCAA Television Committee. Read those words again: CHAIRMAN OF THE NCAA TELEVISION COMMITTEE.

Among his many other contributions to collegiate athletics here and across the country were serving on the NCAA Basketball TV Committee, spending a term as ECAC president and membership on the executive committee of the National Association of College directors of Athletics.

Dan Daily did a lengthy oral history with Seaver Peters in 2001 and it is a delight to read. It really is an all-encompassing look at Dartmouth athletics at a critical time in its history. Find it HERE.

The local Valley News has a short story today about Peters HERE and when it follows with an in-depth look at Seaver I'll post a link in this space. In the meantime, here's a screen shot from the bio printed in the final Dartmouth football media guide before his tenure ended that summarizes his time running the athletic department:

Click screenshot to read.

I had the privilege of knowing Seaver Peters for more than 35 years and liked him very much. My final interview before being hired as assistant sports information director at Dartmouth was with Seaver, and even when I left for the newspaper and he was disappointed with the amount of coverage the Big Green ice hockey program was getting in the paper he never made it personal. He was a charter BGA subscriber and I honestly looked forward to his calls that came like clockwork late every summer asking me about his password, how to access the site and how I thought "Buddy is going to do."