If you’re a proud Plymouth State Panther, you have Dick Chandler and his classmates to thank. While other mascots were being proposed and considered back in 1959—including the Plymouth Stallions!—it was the Plymouth Teachers College Class of 1963 that suggested the Plymouth Panthers. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dick and his classmates have given Plymouth State much more than its legendary mascot. On the occasion of their 50th reunion in 2013, they established the Plymouth Teachers College Class of 1963 Panther Scholarship in Education. Dick, George Davis (for whom the George E. Davis ’63 Track in ALLWell North was named), Charles Hunnewell, and Malcolm Murray were founding donors. Each year, the scholarship is given to an outstanding education major from New Hampshire in need of assistance.

Recently, Dick, who followed up his Panther basketball glory days with a long and distinguished career in physical education as a teacher and athletic director, upped his game with a generous bequest intention to the Panther Scholarship. “Plymouth gave me so much while I was a student here,” he says, “I wanted to do something for the University, and for the students. I hope my gift will inspire others to do the same.”