Stirling Benjamin Peart (December 24, 1890 – November 26, 1963) was an American

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for the United States men's national team in its first two capped matches in 1912 and 1913.

Biography

Peart was born on December 24, 1890, in California, the son of Benjamin Franklin Peart and Sophia Elizabeth Peart (born Fiske). Peart went to school at Woodland High School and later attended the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, graduating in 1915 with a degree in Agriculture. In 1910, Peart coached rugby at Woodland High School. While at the University of California, Peart sang in the

glee club A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it was very popular in ...

, played for the school's rugby team, and became a member of the Beta Xi chapter of the

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

fraternity. During his time playing for the California rugby team, Peart was named captain, beginning in the 1913 season. On November 16, 1912, Peart played for the United States at wing in its first capped match—a 12–8 loss to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. On November 15, 1913, Peart also played for the United States at wing in its first test match against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Peart scored the only points for the United States in the match on a penalty goal; the match ended as a 51–3 defeat. Although he never made a test appearance for the United States at the position, Peart was also a capable substitute at fullback. After his graduation from the University of California, Peart worked as a farmer and rancher in

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintuan languages, Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a County (United States), county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Yolo County was one of the original counties of Californi ...

. Peart married Gladys Vesta Elkins in 1921, and was the father of two children. Peart died on November 26, 1963, in

Yolo, California Yolo (Wintun: ''Yo-loy'') is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Yolo County, California. It is located 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the county seat, Woodland and northwest of the state capital of Sacramento. Yolo's ZIP ...

References

1890 births 1963 deaths United States international rugby union players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks University of California, Berkeley alumni Rugby union players from California {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub