University of New Hampshire Athletics
Honoring a Lifelong Love Affair with UNH Athletics
12/22/2015 1:47:00 PM | Athletics Development
Donald B. ’39 and Eleanor Gay Otis ’41 Family Athletic Scholarship Fund
The way the long-told family story goes, Don Otis '39 and some of his football buddies were sitting on a stone wall outside of Huddleston Hall back in 1937 when Eleanor Gay '41 and a few of her friends came by.
"Dad saw her and said, 'That's the girl I'm going to marry,'" Steve Otis '69 says. Then he adds with a laugh, "but I think it took him six months to get up the courage to finally call her."
Don Otis came to Durham from Concord, N.H., and played football, hockey and lacrosse at UNH. He eventually did call Eleanor and set the stage for a 70- year marriage—one that always held a special spot for the University of New Hampshire and, in particular, its athletics teams.
Stories abound of trips from Don and Eleanor's home in Redding, Conn., to seats straddling the 50- yard line in Cowell Stadium, of Don's breaking a skate blade when he played in an alumni hockey game at age 65, of his insistence on sitting in the rain to watch football when he was in his mid-80s. There are stories, too, of Don, an Army officer in World War II and in the Korean War, coming to campus when Steve was in school and speaking to graduate business classes about his role as a financial executive with IBM.
"Mom and Dad have always been very supportive of the university," says Steve, whose sisters, Cynthia Otis Lindemeyer '66 and Diane Otis Keleher '80, are also UNH grads. "Dad was involved as his class president for 60 years. Mom and Dad would always return for reunions and to attend alumni meetings and for Homecoming." Don was inducted into the UNH Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Don Otis passed away in May 2012, and afterward, Eleanor and her family talked with UNH Athletics Development about finding a way to honor his memory and longtime support of his alma mater. Soon, the Donald B. '39 and Eleanor Gay Otis '41 Family Athletic Scholarship Fund, an endowed fund to provide meritorious scholarship support to student-athletes who are members of the football or men's ice hockey teams, was established.
"We had talked about different things and then we extended it to include both of my parents," Steve Otis says. "We didn't want to forget Mom's legacy, either."
Eleanor turned 95 in August and continues to avidly follow the Wildcat football and hockey teams, listening on the radio through her computer when she cannot get them on television.
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"Dad saw her and said, 'That's the girl I'm going to marry,'" Steve Otis '69 says. Then he adds with a laugh, "but I think it took him six months to get up the courage to finally call her."
Don Otis came to Durham from Concord, N.H., and played football, hockey and lacrosse at UNH. He eventually did call Eleanor and set the stage for a 70- year marriage—one that always held a special spot for the University of New Hampshire and, in particular, its athletics teams.
Stories abound of trips from Don and Eleanor's home in Redding, Conn., to seats straddling the 50- yard line in Cowell Stadium, of Don's breaking a skate blade when he played in an alumni hockey game at age 65, of his insistence on sitting in the rain to watch football when he was in his mid-80s. There are stories, too, of Don, an Army officer in World War II and in the Korean War, coming to campus when Steve was in school and speaking to graduate business classes about his role as a financial executive with IBM.
"Mom and Dad have always been very supportive of the university," says Steve, whose sisters, Cynthia Otis Lindemeyer '66 and Diane Otis Keleher '80, are also UNH grads. "Dad was involved as his class president for 60 years. Mom and Dad would always return for reunions and to attend alumni meetings and for Homecoming." Don was inducted into the UNH Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Don Otis passed away in May 2012, and afterward, Eleanor and her family talked with UNH Athletics Development about finding a way to honor his memory and longtime support of his alma mater. Soon, the Donald B. '39 and Eleanor Gay Otis '41 Family Athletic Scholarship Fund, an endowed fund to provide meritorious scholarship support to student-athletes who are members of the football or men's ice hockey teams, was established.
"We had talked about different things and then we extended it to include both of my parents," Steve Otis says. "We didn't want to forget Mom's legacy, either."
Eleanor turned 95 in August and continues to avidly follow the Wildcat football and hockey teams, listening on the radio through her computer when she cannot get them on television.
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