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Frederic M. Hewitt

Hall of Fame

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Inducted 1971

College

University of Maryland

Hewitt, better known as "Rip," attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute where he won letters and was an outstanding athlete in football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. He was All-Maryland in 1934 and invited to go with the state championship team to play the Long Island champions.

Rip entered the University of Maryland in 1936 where he achieved success in football and lacrosse. In football he was elected All-State and All-Southern Conference. In the 1937 and 1938 lacrosse seasons, Rip was first team center before moving to close attack in his senior year. Because of his outstanding ability to gain the center draw he performed this function for the Terrapins even while he played close attack. He was an All-Maryland selection at both center and close attack from 1937 through 1939 and All-American close attack his senior year.

In 1940 he began playing for the Mt. Washington Club, continuing through 1949 as center for the Mounts, except for 1949 when moved to the feeder position on the close attack by coach Oster Norris. He was captain of the 1946 team and was selected as a midfielder on the All-Time Mt. Washington Team. 

Rip coached Maryland's freshmen lacrosse team in 1940 and 1941, sustaining only one loss in the two years. From 1950 through 1954, he served as assistant coach of the Mt. Washington Club and succeeded Norris as head coach in the years 1955 and 1956. They won the Open Championship in 1955 and the Club Championship in both years.

He entered the service as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in June, 1941, and was awarded the Bronze Star as a result of the planning and execution of the effective crossing of the Rhine River. He retired from the Maryland National Guard in 1959 with the Brevet Rank of Colonel. After separation from the regular service in 1946, he entered the field of sales engineering.

Rip was past chairman of the board, president, and treasurer of Taze and Hewitt, Inc., manufacturer's representatives in the heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment field. Although Rip concentrated on lacrosse, he did not neglect other forms of athletic endeavor. He was selected for, and played on the 1948 U.S. Olympic Field Hockey team.