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

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who played

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

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 land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, 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 in the United States 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 w ...

, 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, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and col ...

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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,403. Its county seat is Woodland. Yolo County is inc ...

. 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 4.9 miles northwest of the county seat, Woodland and 24 miles northwest of the state capital of Sacramento. Yolo's Z ...

References

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