Retirement and Tributes
In 1932, Fitzpatrick retired after 42 years in the business as an athletic trainer and coach. Fitzpatrick, who was 67 years old at the time, noted that he sought to retire to a "less strenuous mode of life." At the time of Fitzpatrick's resignation, the chairman of Princeton's board and supervisor of sports said, "For 22 years Mr. Fitzpatrick has been to Princeton men the symbol of all that is fine in amateur sport."
Columnist Walter S. Trumbull wrote that Fitzpatrick "is known, admired and respected wherever a football shoe has trod or a running spike has pressed." At the dedication of the Michigan Union in 1935, former University of Michigan athletic director Charles A. Baird said, "I often think that if I were asked to produce a live, flesh-and-blood specimen of the perfect gentleman, I would unhesitatingly select Keene Fitzpatrick. He was indeed a super-coach."
Famed sports writer Grantland Rice regularly sought out Fitzpatrick on questions involving track and field, referring to Fitzpatrick in his columns as "the oracle" and "one of Natick's immortals." Even after Fitzpatrick died, Rice continued to write about his old friend, calling Fitzpatrick a man who "could coach and train football, track, rowing and the art of living." Rice recalled that one of the most common topics of discussion with Fitzpatrick was "this matter of weight and age." Fitzpatrick believed that a man of 50 or 60 should keep his weight close to what it was at 25 or 30. Fitzpatrick claimed he had never missed a day's work and was never out of condition. In 44 years, Fitzpatrick was never more than two pounds away from 164 pounds. Even at age 60, Fitzpatrick claimed he could outrun many of his students who came back to school "overweight and soft from a summer that certainly wasn't devoted to keeping in condition."
As a tribute to his years of service, Princeton named an athletic field and fieldhouse after him.
Read more about this topic: Keene Fitzpatrick
Famous quotes containing the words retirement and, retirement and/or tributes:
“Adultery itself in its principle is many times nothing but a curious inquisition after, and envy of another man’s enclosed pleasures: and there have been many who refused fairer objects that they might ravish an enclosed woman from her retirement and single possessor.”
—Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)
“He who comes into Assemblies only to gratifie his Curiosity, and not to make a Figure, enjoys the Pleasures of Retirement in a[n] ...exquisite Degree.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)
“The fame of heroes owes little to the extent of their conquests and all to the success of the tributes paid to them.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)