| Ted Beal grew up in Wethersfield, Conn.,
and attended Wethersfield High School, but his family was from
Beal's Island in Southwest Harbor, Maine, working in lobstering and
fishing. In high school, Ted played varsity basketball and
baseball, winning conference honors in both. At Bates, Ted played
basketball for four years and pitched for the baseball team for
three years, but during his senior year he suffered a rotator cuff
injury. Ted worked hard at the 1960s version of rehab, but his
first few pitches in spring practice scared Coach Chick Leahey so
much that Ted's senior season ended before it began. Ted graduated
from Bates with a degree in History and later continued his studies
at Seton Hall University, where he earned a Masters Degree in
Education Administration. For 16 years Ted worked in Neptune, N.J.,
first as a high school history teacher, varsity basketball coach,
and athletic director, and then as the president of the 40-school
New Jersey Shore Conference and as an assistant superintendent in
charge of athletics and co-curricular activities. During this time,
Ted was elected to the Bates College Key and served as an Alumnus
in Admissions volunteer, helping Trustee Dave Boone '62 with some
of the earliest multicultural recruiting efforts, helping to bring
highly talented student-athletes from Neptune High and surrounding
communities. Ted's eye for talent was evident in his recruiting of
1,000-point scorer Erik Bertelsen '72, another Scholar-Athlete
Society member. In 1980, Ted began a remarkable transition from
school administration to corporate success, going to AXA/Equitable
Financial Companies as first an agent, then district manager, and
then managing director and co-founder of the AXA/Equitable
Retirement Benefits Group. Ted built a national organization
modeled on their New Jersey/Connecticut regional businesses,
focusing on employer-sponsored retirement markets. They began in
2001 with five offices and 40 agents, and by his retirement at the
end of 2008, Ted led a team with over 60 offices and more than
1,000 agents and managers. Currently Ted works with clients who
have long historical relationships, and he does consulting and
speaking with AXA/Equitable. Ted's extraordinary success over two
decades as a school administrator and coach and now over three
decades as a corporate leader and entrepreneur is a remarkable
testament to the rich flexibility of his Bates education, but also
to Ted’s own discipline, commitment and intellectual
precision. One of the purposes of the Bates Scholar-Athlete Society
is to offer models and encouragement to younger and graduating
alumni. Ted is "Exhibit A" of what happens with a Bates education
and great drive. Ted's charitable work focuses on areas of interest
to him and his wife, Karen: medicine, spirituality, education and
athletics. Ted's most generous support for the new Garcelon Field
at just the right time helped deliver a facility that ties the
campus together and brings more of the excitement of Bates
Athletics to the center of campus. Coach, mentor, and counselor,
Ted's commitment to athletes at Bates includes support for coaches
and gifts to financial aid, enabling today's talented
student-athletes to share the Bates experience he cherishes so
deeply. For his passionate support of Bates and his tireless
efforts to include others that so captures the Bates spirit, we are
honored to welcome Ted Beal into the Bates Scholar-Athlete
Society. |
Athletic administrator became highly successful businessman and
dedicated supporter of Bates
|
