A Proud Moment Linking Three Generations of the Bowdoin Community

Oak pretty much excelled at every sport he did, says Marko Melendy, who is Bowdoin's animal welfare and facilities manager. "People remember my dad as a gifted year-round athlete because he started on the baseball, basketball, hockey, football, and track teams." During a baseball match, it was not unknown for his father to change kit between innings and run over to Whittier Field to go and throw javelin-another sport in which he was a state champion-before rejoining the ball game at the Pickard Field diamond. Oak was also a champion billiards player, adds Marko, and could sometimes be found in the pool halls of Lewiston and Auburn hustling some extra dollars on the side to help him through school.

As well as being an athlete, Oak was also class president and a chemistry major who went on to study medicine at Columbia University, serve as an army doctor during the war, and enjoy a long career as a surgeon.