Hugh Germanetti, Class of 1954

The Joseph’s Coat Award is bestowed annually upon a member of a post-50th reunion class who is held in high esteem by the college and fellow alumni. Inspired by an eye-catching specimen worn by alumni secretary Charles B. Hall of the Class of 1915, and first presented in 1952, the coat is the loudest, liveliest, flashiest available, in reference to the biblical Coat of Many Colors. A physics major, basketball player, and proud member of Delta Phi, our Eph went on to build a highly successful career as a general contractor. In addition to creating and managing his own business, he served as a bank chairman, a welfare and pension fund trustee, on boards of education, and as a nationally recognized arbitrator and mediator. And so we ask ourselves, how has he found time to serve Williams as class president, class vice president, class treasurer, Alumni Fund chair and class agent, 50th Reunion co-chair, regional president, and on the Executive Committee of the Society of Alumni? A fierce love of his alma mater is how. In a single example of his affection for Williams, he rode a bike—not a motorbike, a bicycle—2,000 miles, over 32 to days, from Austin, Texas, to Williamstown, at the ripe young age of 71—to attend his 50th Reunion. Some of his classmates still claim that they truly intended to join him on this cross-country trek, but by the time he finished the necessary planning they were all “otherwise committed.” “I was the only one left,” he said, “so I just went ahead and did it”—with essential support, we must add, from his overly patient wife Nancy. Williams is proud to present the Joseph’s Coat—a symbol of her deep regard for this exceptional alumnus—with gratitude and affection to this member of the Class of 1954: Hugh Germanetti