Elwood “Woody”
Phares II played on the lacrosse teams that led to the undefeated and national champion 1952 team. From 1948-51, RPI compiled an impressive 38-6-1 record, including a 13-0 mark in 1948.
In 1950,
Phares played only the first half of the season before suffering an appendicitis attack. The University of Virginia named
Phares to their coveted All-Opponent team made up of the players that UVA felt were the best they played.
Phares was a participant in the annual North/South All-Star Game in 1951, helping the team to a 12-11 win by winning 12 out of 12
faceoffs, earning All-North for his efforts.
A graduate of The
Pingry School before coming to Troy, Phares was one of the top centers for head coach Ned
Harkness’s teams, serving as captain in his senior year. “Woody was one of the best centers I ever had the pleasure of coaching,” Harkness said.
A Management Engineering major, he was selected to White Key and Phalanx and was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Theta Xi. He was vice president for his junior class, served as chairman of the Ring Committee as a senior and was an officer in his fraternity.
“Competitive athletics is one of the most fundamental schools of learning for dealing with the game of life,” Phares wrote in 1997. “It would be very difficult for me to have achieved whatever material and philosophical success that I have reached without having played sports, primarily competitive sports all my life. Ned Harkness was more than a coach; he was a surrogate father to me and molded my future dramatically.”
Complete Obituary (Published by The New York Times on July 31, 2022):
PHARES--Elwood Willis, II. 92, died Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at his home in Princeton, NJ. Beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, he is survived by his wife of 66 years, Jacqueline Overturf Phares and brother, Richard Royer Phares, father of Melissa Jameson "Jamie" Phares, Craig A.R. Phares (Katharine Herring Phares); and grandfather to Hadley J. Phares, Austin R. Phares, Didier C. Phares, Charles R. Phares and Keene O. Phares. Woody graduated from The Pingry School (honors), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (honors) and Harvard Business School (honors). He will be mourned by his family, friends, the many schools and charities he supported, and the community of Princeton, NJ. where he lived for 68 years and was CEO/President of West/Penetone, Inc. He was laid to rest Tuesday, July 26, 2022 in the Princeton Cemetery. A 'Celebration of Life' ceremony will be held fall, 2022.
