| 1841-1920. Native of Edinburgh,
Scotland, the son of William and Sarah (Paterson) Goldie. He immigrated at
13 and settled in NY. In 1860, he began to practice gymnastics and sports.
Three years later, he became a professional gymnast and in 1869 was
appointed director of the gymnasium at Princeton.
Gymnastics, one of Princeton's oldest
athletic activities, began as an informal exercise in the 1830s, and as an
organized sport with the completion of Bonner-Marquand Gymnasium in 1870
and the appointment of George Goldie as its director. Goldie was a
handsome Scot, with a full beard and great biceps; according to Professor
Allan Marquand, one of his aptest pupils, ``his skill in gymnastics, his
cheerful temper, and his high character made him justly popular.''
Under Goldie's influence, gymnastics became
a prominent intramural activity which every year reached its climax in a
Commencement exhibition. In the early 1890s Princeton gymnasts began to
give outside exhibitions at Mount Holly, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington, and a few years later took part in the first annual
Yale-Princeton exhibition, which eventually became competitive. Additional
meets were scheduled with other colleges and, with the establishment in
1900 of championship meets by the newly formed Intercollegiate Gymnastics
Association, the era of competitive intercollegiate gymnastics began.
Goldie retired in 1911, and Goldie Field
was named in his honor. |
