Richard Frederick Hnat ’50

Abstract

High-Scoring Gridiron Breakaway Running Back And Captain Of The Baseball Team.

Known for his prowess on the athletic field and voted “best athlete” in his senior class, Dick Hnat spent his seven years at Pingry setting standards of outstanding performance on both the football field and the baseball diamond. A three-letter man in football, he scored 18 varsity touchdowns for Big Blue, averaging 40 yards per play, a feat made even more impressive given that he was a single wing “wing-back” and not the primary ball carrier. In his final game against Englewood, he scored four touchdowns, all in the second half, including a 60-yard touchdown off a lateral, a 75-yard pass play, and a 85-yard touchdown run. Later as an offensive team halfback on the nationally-ranked Princeton team, he scored for the Tigers in what the press described as a “magnificent 60-yard touchdown gallop” on the fourth play of his varsity career. A baseball player at Pingry and Princeton, he pitched Pingry to a “no hitter” against rival Hun in his junior year. The next year, while Captain of the Big Blue Squad, he batted .438 while maintaining 5-1 pitching record. Highly respected by his peers, who three times elected him as class secretary-treasurer, Dick Hnat has spent his adult life in the service of others as a physician and surgeon.