Bates College

Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of French Richard Williamson coached the men's hockey club for 10 years

Dick attended Yale University where he played hockey and baseball. He captained the hockey team his senior year and he still holds the Yale record for most points for a first-year defenseman. After graduating from Yale with a major in French, Dick taught in Walpole and Dover-Sherborn, Mass., and also coached hockey for three years, then went west to Indiana University for his doctorate. While at IU, Dick played for and coached the IU club hockey team, which won the Big Ten Club Championship twice during his tenure there. He was named all Big-Ten Club three times. Since his arrival at Bates in 1975, he has taught all levels of French language and literature, chaired the department for 17 years and coached the men's hockey club for 10 years. He has edited two books and has written numerous chapters in books and articles. Last year, he was awarded the Solange Bernier Lifetime Achievement Award for the Foreign Language Association of Maine. The French government honored him for his teaching and publications by naming him a Chevalier in the Order of Academic Palms in 1994. He has been the Charles A. Dana Professor of French since 1997. Dick and his wife, Debbie, participate in the National Senior Games in cycling. He finished 15th nationally last year at the Senior Games in Pittsburgh. And he just completed a 600-mile trek with two Bates seniors, John Bauer and Kate Gatti, who had cycled from Fort Myers, Fla., to meet him in Pennsylvania and ride together to Maine.