As a trustee, educator, sports enthusiast, conservationist and benefactor, no one has symbolized the University of Delaware's athletic spirit and tradition more than Robert Ruliph Morgan "Bob" Carpenter, Jr.

In 1940, in conjunction with Henry Belin duPont and John J. DeLuca, Carpenter provided funds to benefit coaching and teaching at the University of Delaware, thus beginning a long history of support for the University’s athletic programs.

Carpenter was honored as Major League Baseball Executive of the Year in 1949, and it was his Philadelphia Phillies baseball team that won the National League pennant in 1950. One of the founding members of the Delaware Association for Retarded Children (DARC), Carpenter instituted the annual Delaware High School Blue-Gold All-Star Football Game in 1953, which is played at Delaware Stadium.

Carpenter joined the University of Delaware’s Board of Trustees in 1945, a position he held for 45 years. A member of the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the charter class of the University of Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997. The University’s Bob Carpenter Sports and Convocation Center, built in 1992, is named in his honor.

More about Bob Carpenter, Jr.:

Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center

The University of Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame