Taylor Rideout '16. Jack Smith '50, and Hannah Richard '14
A field hockey player and a UNH Pepcat for the 1948 and 1949 seasons, Barbara Bridle Peyser ’50 had a love of the active life that continued long after her college years. That’s why, after she passed away at the age of 83 in June 2012, her close friend Jack Smith ’50 decided to honor her with a field hockey scholarship at their shared alma mater.
The Barbara Bridle Peyser ’50 Athletic Scholarship Fund provides meritorious scholarship support for members of the women’s field hockey team. Established last August, the fund paid out its first scholarships in the fall to two student-athletes: forwards Taylor Rideout ’16 and Hannah Richard ’14.
“It was an honor to learn I’d been named one of the first recipients of this scholarship,” says Richard, a junior sports studies major from Hopkinton, N.H. “It also meant a lot to both me and Taylor to meet Mr. Smith, knowing that we were representing an aspect of UNH that was important enough to him to recognize with a scholarship.”
Rideout echoes Richard’s sentiment, and adds, “Having had the pleasure to be in Mr. Smith’s presence on numerous occasions I have really come to see how dedicated and gracious he is in all he does at and for the University of New Hampshire. Being one of the first two recipients of the Barbara Bridle Peyser scholarship is humbling.”
Smith’s field hockey endowment is just one of many generous gifts he’s made to UNH in recent years. An engineer with strong ties to the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, he established an endowed scholarship fund in CEPS and later contributed to the Kingsbury Hall renovation project. Two rooms of that building now bear his name. An athlete himself, Smith was ineligible to compete at UNH after beginning his college career at Dartmouth, where he played football and lacrosse, and then serving a stint in the U.S. Navy. Instead, he channeled his talents into coaching, and coached both the freshman football team and men’s lacrosse. In addition to the endowment supporting the field hockey team, Smith also has made contributions to Northeast Passage, the University-affiliated adaptive sports program. He also has put in place several bequest gifts to UNH.
Says Smith, “My education at the University of New Hampshire paved the way for a challenging and rewarding career. It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to give something back at this time of my life.”
