Bingham Resigns Post as Athletic Director

William J. Bingham '16 has resigned his position as Director of Physical Training and Athletics. According to an announcement issued last night by Provost Buck, Bingham will take on new responsibilities as the chairman of a new faculty committee on Athletic Sports, a position he will move into July 1.

Just what duties the new job will entail is not fully understood, and the new Committee which Bingham will head has not yet been appointed. It is known, however, that it will consist entirely of faculty members and will probably work in an advisory capacity.

The present Committee on the Regulation of Athletic Sports, made up of four faculty members, three alumni, and six students, technically controls the disposition of the athletic budget and must approve all schedules. It will probably continue in its present state.

Highly Respected

Throughout Bingham's 25 years as Director of Athletics, he has been highly respected in collegiate athletics. Recently he completed a long term as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and his principal project has been the maintenance of honest amateur standards in athletics.

This policy had put him under severe fire from many quarters in recent years, but with the appointment of Lloyd P. Jordan as football coach last spring and the supposed athletic rebuilding, much of the alumni pressure was taken off Bingham.

William J. Bingham '16 made the following statement yesterday.

"For 25 years I have had the privilege of serving my alma mater in the capacity of Director of Athletics and it has been an exciting and challenging experience. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity because as a competitor, coach, and administrator I have always believed in college athletic idealism. I am grateful for the cooperation which I have had from the officers of the University, and particularly rewarding has been the association which I have had with my athletic staff, whose loyalty and help I shall cherish as long as I live."

Now 60 years old, Bingham came to Harvard in 1913, and as captain of the track team in 1914-15 held the College record for the quarter mile. Four years after his graduation in 1916 he was appointed coach of the track team and given the position of assistant to the graduate treasurer of the Athletic Association.

On March 1, 1926, Bingham was chosen as the first Director of Athletics and Physical Training at the University. At this time he was made a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and assigned to coordinate athletics, intercollegiate and intramural.

In 1942, at the age of 52, Bingham enlisted in the United States Army. With the rank of Lt. Colonel, he assisted in the training of enlisted men, holding this post until shortly after the war ended.

Bingham frequently suffered harsh treatment from the press. An off-the-record statement on football last year was picked up and distorted by the nation's newspapers. Even then, he would not speak badly of the man who misquoted him; Bingham could not understand deliberate maliciousness.

The Boston Globe claimed this morning that Bingham knew nothing about his resignation in advance. The paper said that a staff reporter had "stunned" Bingham with the news and quoted the athletic director as saying, "This is the first I knew that I was resigning.