Questions for Anne Turkos, the university archivist
hallowell image courtesy of university archives | magazine cover images courtesy of sports illustrated
Q: Who was the first president of the University of Maryland?—Allie Bradford ’13
A: Benjamin Hallowell was the president of Maryland Agricultural College, as it was known at the time, for just one month in 1859. A Quaker schoolmaster, scientist and farmer, he served on the conditions that the college farm wouldn’t use slave labor and that he wouldn’t receive a salary. He helped develop the curriculum of ancient and modern languages, natural sciences, English and mathematics. He soon resigned, however, because of his poor health. I read for the first time last year an 1877 obituary that said, “Some twenty years ago a druggist in Alexandria made a mistake in compounding a physician’s prescription and Prof. Hallowell swallowed a poisonous mixture that came near terminating his life. He never fully recovered from the effects of the poison.”
Q: Is it true that portions of “St. Elmo’s Fire” were filmed at UMD?—Bret McGowen
A: One of our grad students found a 1984 “Entertainment Tonight” clip on YouTube with unedited interviews of the movie’s cast, including Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, hanging out on Fraternity Row. Plenty of students are milling around in the background, though we don’t know if they were extras or UMD students. The filming appears to have taken place in the fall (scenes were filmed in D.C. in October, according to The Washington Post) but we didn’t find any mention of the movie in fall 1984 issues of The Diamondback.
Q: In its 70-year publishing history, how many times has Sports Illustrated magazine featured University of Maryland athletes on its cover?—Frank Angier ’67
A: We found 14 instances when Terps made the cover, both as student and professional athletes. Most were football or basketball players, with the exception of one golfer, Deane Beman, who went on to win four PGA tournaments and serve as its second commissioner, from 1974 to 1994. View them below:
