Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1977
- Class:
- 1955
Donald Max Seifert '55
Hometown: Bethel, CT
Sport: Track & Field
Year Inducted: 1977
Other Sports Played: Wrestling
Donald Max Seifert ’55 had one of the finest days of an illustrious athletic career during the 79th IC4A Track and Field Championships in 1955, tossing the hammer 186 feet 10 inches to win the event and break the IC4A mark of 183 feet set a year earlier. The husky hammer thrower from Bethel, Conn., had a record-breaking spring back in 1955. On April 23 he set a new meet record in the New England Relays at Harvard when he tossed the iron ball 177 feet 7 ¾ inches. The Brown Field record set by John McLaughry ’40 was next to fall as Seifert got off a heave of 181 feet 3 ¾ inches in a meet against Harvard. Then, at the N.E. Track and Field Championships at Bates College, Don Seifert threw for 184 feet 10 ½ inches, shattering the record of 183 feet, 10 ¼ inches set by Bob Bennett ’48 before he transferred to Brown. Ironically, Bennett was Seifert’s coach in 1955. While a graduate student at Harvard the next year Seifert worked his 35-lb. weight distance to 62 feet and his hammer to more than 190 feet. Don was also a superb wrestler. He was national prep school champion in his class and never lost a dual meet while at Wooster School. He remained undefeated through his freshman year at Brown and particularly impressive as he led the Bears to a 7-1-1 record and a 5-0 Ivy mark with victories over Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Penn. Seifert personally won two Ivy meets within four days, pinning John Joh of Yale in the final bout to pull it out for Brown, 14-12, and then getting a decision over Russ Down of Penn to wrap it up for Coach Ralph Anderton’s men. Don Seifert is now an oral surgeon in Summit, N.J.
