William Edwin Hall

William Edwin Hall served as the unpaid president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for nearly four decades. Sacrificing his time and personal assets, Hall kept the nascent organization solvent. Through his leadership, it grew to become one of America's preeminent charities, offering children a safe harbor from temptation and teaching them to become productive, responsible and caring citizens.

"What greater monument could a man hope for but the part he has played in the building of character and citizenship among our youth?"

— William Edwin Hall

Born: March 15, 1876 St. Marys, Pennsylvania
Died: January 23, 1961 Palm Beach, Florida

In 1914, William Edwin Hall volunteered to work as a leader with the Boys' Club of America. Two years later he assumed the position of President of the organization and, for the next 38 years, served as the unpaid head of the organization. His guidance and leadership took the organization from 43 Boys' Clubs when he assumed the presidential role, with a budget of only $3500, to over 375 clubs, 350,000 members and a budget of nearly $8 million when he retired in 1954. It has been said that he, more than any one person, made it possible to offer young boys (and now girls) an alternative to a life of delinquency and unhappiness.

Hall received a doctorate in business from Yale University in 1900, followed by a law degree from Harvard University in 1903. He began his law career that year in New York. He soon moved to the firm of Stover, Hall & Freeman, where former Supreme Court Justice Martin L. Stover was then a partner. In 1921, he made Greenwich, Conn. his home and quickly became involved with local businesses and community groups.

Founded in 1860 in New Haven, Connecticut as the Boys Club, the organization was established as a safe place for young boys whose older brothers and fathers were away fighting the Civil War. At that time, many young boys and girls, without proper mentoring, led lives of poverty and roamed larger cities in gangs searching for food and money. The Boys Club won increasing support from many communities as a positive and significant force for youth.

For many years during the teens and early 20s, the Boys Clubs would have had to close its doors were it not for Hall. He sacrificed his time and personal assets, personally paying both operating expenses and salaries to keep afloat an organization in which he so deeply believed. At times, when the organization had no executive to manage day-to-day operations, Hall also performed that job until the position was filled.

Along with his volunteerism and daily work in law and commerce, Hall also was actively involved in government affairs. During World War I, he headed a commission to provide aid to starving Belgians. His work as secretary and member of the executive committee of the Commission for Relief in Belgium from 1914-1915 led King Albert of Belgium to award him a medal of merit. As National Director of the United States Boys' Working Reserve, he helped put 200,000 boys to work on farms so that older men could go into the armed forces.

During World War II, more than 150,000 members of the Boys' Clubs served in the armed forces. Through Hall's leadership, boys too young to serve joined the war effort as "Victory Volunteers" and assisted with stateside projects, thus furthering public awareness of the organization.

Despite his great success as a lawyer and leader in commerce, Hall's commitment to helping underprivileged boys was always his paramount concern. He often said that offering positive and engaging programs to boys could help them "become sound citizens so that we may have a strong, God-fearing America."

During the late 1920s and early 30s he served as vice chairman of the New York Crime Prevention Bureau, where his focus again was steering disadvantaged youth away from a life of crime. He also spent 32 years working with the Children's Aid Society of New York as a trustee and eventually as vice president.

Hall's work distinguished him as a pioneer advocate for the well-being of boys. He made the Boys' Club of America a place of reprieve for decades, as growing boys, facing urban challenges of drugs, inner city fighting, gangs and other criminal activity, found they had a neighborhood refuge they could turn to for guidance, stability and positive leadership.

One of his most notable contributions to the Boys' Clubs was increasing the organization's national recognition. In 1936, Hall convinced President Herbert Hoover of the difference Boys' Clubs could make to countless young people. Soon, Hoover became chairman of the national board and determined that he would be more than just a figure head to the organization. He also gave much of his personal time and wealth to the Clubs. Both Hall and Hoover regularly gave speeches nationwide to help promote the Boys' Clubs. Hall continually used his ties to law enforcement and the business community to enlist the support of local and national leaders for the Clubs.

Former New York Mayor LaGuardia called the Boys Clubs' "typically American because it preserved the boy's individuality, provided an outlet for his emotions and energy and taught him to be a good loser."

In 1956, due in large measure to the nearly four decades of leadership from William Edwin Hall, Boys Clubs of America was granted a U.S. Congressional charter, the only youth guidance organization so recognized in more than 40 years. Young girls were included in the programs as early as the 1950's and the organization was renamed the Boys and Girls Clubs in 1990. Today's membership consists of 61% boys and 39% young women who are served by more than 1800 clubs throughout the country, with more opening every year.

Hall once said the two things that mattered most to him in the world were his family and the Boys' Clubs of America. Ironically, in 1954, the year he stepped down as acting president of the Boys' Clubs of America, his wife of 50 years, Marguerite Curtiss Wood, passed away. He began a "new life" with a second wife, Mary Vandervier Roberts, and as honorary president of the Boys' Clubs.

Hall's remarkable volunteer efforts in many fields led to countless awards bestowed upon him. Among these was a gold medal awarded by the Catholic Youth Organization, a silver buffalo from the Boy Scouts of America and a Boys' Exposition Medal from the Metropolitan Boys' Club Workers Association. In 1936, Harvard University awarded Mr. Hall an Honorary Master of Arts degree.

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