Posted: Feb 17, 2017

New home for the Hall of Fame

It has been nearly 45 years since Jeff Doppelt ’73, a former standout on Bryant’s baseball team, slugged the program’s first home run at the Smithfield campus. He reflected on this signature moment as though he just finished rounding the bases.

“The first home run was really special because I always wanted to be a Major League Baseball player,” said Doppelt, who, as a senior, led the Bulldogs in batting average, slugging percentage, and extra-base hits, “This was as close as I was ever going to get, hitting a home run in a college game, and getting my picture in the Providence Journal.”

Perhaps the only thing that could top that moment occurred Saturday afternoon when Doppelt joined 20 fellow Bryant Athletics Hall of Famers to mark the unveiling of the University’s New Wall of Fame, a project three years in the making that was made possible by Doppelt’s support.

The touchscreen and interactive multimedia display, located in the Mike ’67 and Karen Fisher Lobby of the Chace Wellness Center, commemorates the accomplishments of the more than 100 members – and one team – inducted into Bryant’s Athletics Hall of Fame since its founding in 1987.

“For nearly 30 years, Bryant’s Athletics Hall of Fame never truly had a home, a place dedicated to honoring those outstanding individuals who helped build Bryant athletics into the Division I program that it is today,” said Bill Smith, director of athletics. “Thanks to the vision and the generosity of Jeff, the Hall of Fame has a place to call home. Without his generosity this would not be possible.”

A longtime athletics supporter, Doppelt helped arrange the men’s basketball team’s matchups the last two years with Gonzaga, the current No. 1 ranked team in the country.

“I have been fortunate to be able to give back to Bryant, and this is a great honor,” he said.

Looking back on his time as a student, Doppelt, now senior vice president of investments at Merrill Lynch, said Bryant taught him to challenge conventional thinking and to come up with new solutions, the same mentality that resulted in the development of the Wall of Fame. It even features an animated Tupper the Bulldog that is far more ferocious than the endearing canine who is often on campus interacting with students.

“It is pretty impressive,” he said. “They really took the time to do it right.”

Also honored on Saturday during the basketball teams’ doubleheader with Saint Francis (Brooklyn) – both wins by the Bulldogs – was the 1966-67 men’s basketball squad that is the only complete team honored in the Hall of Fame. That group posted a 22-0 regular season record and is credited for laying the foundation for Bryant’s eventual move to Division II in 1977.

“We were the building blocks, as President Machtley said, but we didn’t know it at the time,” said Maurice “Mo” Clare ’66, who joined the Athletics Department after graduating before going into the automobile business.

“That team really was like a family. We played as a team, and we lived as a team. When I see the Patriots today, they are a team. We were a team.”

What’s it like looking at the campus and the facilities 50 years later? “This is a dream,” said Clare.

“This wasn’t a dream, this was a fantasy,” interjected Fred Reinhardt, Jr. who taught math for 30 years and who was a Hall of Fame cross country and track and field coach before retiring 20 years ago. “This is unbelievable.”