Raymond V. "Pop" Congdon, Jr. '37

There are some Norwich Free Academy alumni who went on to achieve greater fame and fortune after graduation than Raymond V. "Pop" Congdon, Jr., Class of 1937, but it would be hard to find any one of them who had a closer bond with NFA and loved it more ... except maybe his father, "Pop, Sr.," Class of 1904.

Proud but undaunted by the legacy of his beloved father who taught math at NFA for nearly a half-century, the younger Congdon was the consummate Big Man On Campus: Captain of the two-time conference-champion football and baseball teams, Class President, President of the "N" Club, voted by his senior classmates as Most Athletic, Most Popular, Most Versatile, and One Who Had Done Most for the Academy. He was named All-State in football and belted out his solo rendition of "The Love Bug Will Bite You" at the 1937 "N" Club Minstrel. Most Versatile, indeed!

"Everybody likes the young Norwich giant. Although he is a great athlete, competitive success hasn't gone to his head," John DeGange, longtime sports editor of The Day of New London wrote of him in 1937. "He is a conscientious student and a popular president of his class. Aside from his schoolwork and athletics, he takes an active part in the affairs of the Yantic Episcopal Church, of which he is a member, and where he is the leader of the Young People's group."

After graduation, the younger Congdon would be signed by Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Athletics and play for iconic Manager Connie Mack as a utility player, while enjoying a semi-professional career that was interrupted when he enlisted in the Navy at the outset of World War II.

He was stationed in Guam with the Seabees attached to the Third Marine Division during the war. The Seabees provided vital staging and facilities support for the Marines, which took Pop through the Pacific Theater as far east as mainland China. Still, though, he found time to play baseball in his off time with the likes of Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese. 

Like his father, who taught mathematics at NFA for 48 years and chaired the department for 25, Pop Jr. joined the NFA faculty, though as an industrial arts teacher in 1965. He remained there until his untimely death from cancer in 1971 at the age of 52. That was the same year he was inducted into the Norwich Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the NFA Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, with his son, Raymond, III, '73, also an outstanding football player, accepting the award.

After his passing in 1971, the younger Congdon's classmates would fund a scholarship that was combined with one that had been established years earlier in his father's name by his grateful students. The Raymond V. Congdon, Sr. and Raymond V. Congdon, Jr. Award is presented annually to the highest-ranking senior in advanced mathematics. 

In most years, the award has been given to honorees who never had the pleasure to know Pop Jr., a big (6-feet-2, 220 pounds), affable man who was revered by his students.

"I think their love and contributions to NFA and its students are clear," his daughter, Elizabeth Baldwin, said of her father and grandfather.

Today, the legacy of the Congdon family lives on at their alma mater. With NFA as such an important part of the Congdon family, members give back in many ways.

His daughter, Elizabeth '71 and her two children helped promote an NFA Foundation campaign in the late 1990s, and both children would later graduate from the Academy. Though he didn't attend NFA, Elizabeth's husband, John Baldwin taught, coached, and was director of the school's Information Technology Department for 30 years. One of their children, Katherine Andruskiewcz '99, serves as an NFA Corporator, and the Baldwins' granddaughter will enroll at NFA next year as a freshman, marking the family's fourth generation at this special institution.

As demonstrated by the Congdon family, there are many ways to support Norwich Free Academy - by giving time, treasure or talent, or any combination thereof.

When we look back on the great memories from our high school years, the value of our NFA education, and how it prepared us for our careers and adult life, please give strong consideration to giving back in some way, whether a gift to the Foundation - such as including NFA in your estate plans, a gift to the annual NFA Fund, volunteering, or helping out the school in an area of one's expertise.

The support we provide in these times will ensure future generations will have access to an even more advanced educational experience as NFA continues to broaden its educational, social, athletic, and extra-curricular experiences for students of all backgrounds. 

There can be no better way to say "Thank you!"