To Honor My Father

W. Barnes Hauptfuhrer OPC ’72 has made a gift to the How Far? capital campaign that is both pragmatic and personal.

He determined that his gift should support Penn Charter’s new Athletics and Wellness Center because, he says, “lots of times people don’t give to bricks and mortar. So I decided that I would help in that way.”

That was a pragmatic decision from a man who has spent his career in the financial industry and is now managing partner of Chapter IV Investors, a North Carolina-based investment firm.

His gift is also a fitting tribute to his late father, George Hauptfuhrer Jr. OPC ’44, one of the best, if not the best, basketball players in Penn Charter history.

In 1948, at the end of his senior year at Harvard—where he set school scoring and rebounding records—he was drafted #3 overall in the NBA draft. Although the Boston Celtics picked him in the first round, he picked University of Pennsylvania School of Law and a distinguished legal career.

“The intent of my gift is, number one, to honor my father,” Hauptfuhrer says. “He meant everything to me growing up and provided me wonderful opportunities in life, including the opportunity to attend Penn Charter.”

Penn Charter “was wonderful for me,” he recalls. “Penn Charter has been a huge part of my growth and success. So, in addition to honoring my father, that was the other driver of the intent of my gift.”

The elder Hauptfuhrer exemplified the scholar-athlete, and raised his children to value both scholarship and athletics. “In my family, we believed in the concept of the scholar-athlete,” Hauptfuhrer says. “Academics, athletics, both are important. In reality, the lessons learned in sports—teamwork, commitment to others, focus—are as meaningful in life as the lessons learned in the classroom.”

Hauptfuhrer has just completed the first of five annual installments of his $100,000 gift and will make the final installment in 2022 on the occasion of his 50th OPC reunion, “... a great way to lead-in to that celebration.”