Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame
Graduating with a self-designed physical education major, Margaretta “Peggy” Shaw Read '57 was a multi-sport competitor who enjoyed athletic success well into her adult life. Although she competed in an era when athletic options for women were limited, Read took advantage of the opportunities available, maximizing both her potential and involvement in athletics. She also promoted the enjoyment of athletics for others on many levels.
In addition to competing for Connecticut College’s field hockey and softball teams, she played intramural and club basketball, field hockey, golf, softball, tennis, and volleyball. Read also took part in the intramural sailing program with cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. In addition, she had several leadership roles on campus. Read earned three “C” Awards for outstanding undergraduate athletic involvement (1954, 1955, 1956) and received the college’s 1957 Charlotte Pyle Award as the senior who contributed the most to the athletic program as a student.
Although she put her physical education teaching career on hold to raise a family, Read played club field hockey and held a variety of community leadership roles. The first woman on the Barrington (Rhode Island) Yacht Club Board of Directors, she was named outstanding female member in 1982.
Read helped found the Narrangansett Bay Junior Race Week, and she taught tennis and coached softball in town youth programs. In addition, she was executive secretary and tournament director for the Seekonk (Massachusetts) Youth Hockey program and wrote an ice hockey column for the local paper as well as articles for the regional sailing magazine Windward Mark.
