Harry Gale Nye Jr. (February 12, 1908 – September 11, 1987) was a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-born American industrialist, entrepreneur, and world champion sailor. He graduated from the

Berkshire School Berkshire School is a private, co-educational boarding school located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. People About 87% of Berkshire's 430 students are boarders, while 13% are day students. The U.S. students hail from 30 states. The 77 inte ...

and joined the class of 1933 at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

where he was a member of the Society of

Book and Snake Book and Snake or The Society of Book and Snake is a secret society for seniors at Yale University. It was established in 1863 and is the fourth-oldest secret society at Yale. Current NASA administrator Bill Nelson is a noted alumnus. History ...

. Nye, a descendant of the Yale family whose gift founded the university, left Yale prior to his graduation upon his father's death in order to return home to Chicago to become president of the Nye Tool and Machine Works. The Nye Tool had been the plaintiff in a patent infringement case heard by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

in 1923. In 1933, Mr. Nye together with Jim Murphy founded Murphy & Nye Sailmakers, a business which is today a prominent Italian fashion apparel company and frequent sponsor of and supplier to

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup is the name of the Challenger (America's Cup), Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its Sponsor (commercial), sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the Challenger (A ...

and

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

campaigns such as United Internet Team Germany and Emirates

Team New Zealand Team New Zealand or TNZ is a Sailing (sport), sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The team has been branded as Emirates (airline), Emirates Team New Zealand at America's Cup competiti ...

. Nye was widely regarded as one of the nation's most respected yachtsmen. Nye's yachts aptly donned the family name, ''Gale''. He twice won the

Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is a annual yacht racing, yacht race starting in Lake Michigan off Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Lake Huron off Mackinac Island, Michigan, Mackinac Island, Michigan. It is hosted and managed by the Chic ...

in 1950 and 1951 and twice won the

Star World Championship The Star World Championship are international sailing regattas in the Star class organized by the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association and sanctioned by World Sailing. American sailor Lowell North has won the most titles, with fi ...

in the

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

class in 1942 and 1949. Nye won many other international sailing competitions including the Bacardi Cup (in 1938, 1940 and 1941), a regatta which was started by the

Bacardi Bacardi Limited ( , , ) is the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world. Originally known for its Bacardí brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 by Facund ...

(rum) family and held in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

era. In 1946, Nye served with

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

Commodores

Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. Early life He was born in Oakd ...

and W.A.W. Stewart on a subcommittee of the North American Yacht Racing Union (now known as

US Sailing The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing) is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offe ...

) to write the revised International Yacht Racing Rules, originally codified by Vanderbilt in 1934. Nye's commitment to the Star Class continued beyond his own active sailing career. He served as Commodore of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association from 1955 to 1963. Following his death, the Harry Nye Trophy was established and is awarded to individuals whose extraordinary efforts contributed significantly to the success of the Star Class. The winner of the fourth race in the Star World Championship is also awarded the Harry G. Nye Trophy, in honor of Nye's dedication and service to the Star Class. Nye founded and was president of North American Hydrofoils which designed and built the U.S.'s first commuter

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

s, named ''Enterprise'' and ''Endeavour'', in 1961. These two prototype vessels were commissioned to shuttle commuters from

Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey Atlantic Highlands is a borough in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Bayshore Region. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,414, an increase of 29 (+0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 4,38 ...

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The Nye family is one of America's oldest. The Benjamin Nye Homestead stands as a museum in

East Sandwich, Massachusetts East Sandwich is a village and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Sandwich in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The population was 3,940 at the 2010 census. Geography East Sandwich is located in the northeastern portion of the town ...

. Harry Nye was descended from

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

passenger Thomas Rogers. Harry Nye's oldest child, Julia Gale (Judy) Nye, was married to media mogul

Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...

. Harry Gale Nye Jr. died at Newport Beach, California on September 11, 1987, at the age of 79. Nye has been nominated posthumously for induction into the

National Sailing Hall of Fame The Sailing Museum and National Sailing Hall of Fame is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes sailing and racing by recognizing individuals who have contributed to the sport, highlighting sailing's contribution to the American culture ...

References

External links

Commodore Raphael Posso presenting the Cuba Trophy to Harry G. Nye Jr. and Wally Etzbach

Harry Nye Jr. and Lewis Gilbert under sail in International Star Class "GALE"

Commodore Rafael Posso presents Cuba Cup to Harry Nye
* Leeds Mitchell and Harry Nye, Cuba, 193

Sport: Star of Stars
'' Time (magazine), Time'', September 1, 1941
"Into the Wind"
''Lake Magazine'', July 2008. Article about Judy Nye. * *
History of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac
p. 11.
"Huge Miami-Built Boat Flies".
''

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

''. July 13, 1963.
"Tomorrow's Hulls: On Wings and Wind"
''Motor Boating''. February 1965. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nye, Harry Gale Jr. Businesspeople from Chicago Yale University alumni Berkshire School alumni 1908 births 1987 deaths Star class world champions 20th-century American businesspeople World champions in sailing for the United States

See also

References

External links