BOB HOBBS NAMED OLYMPIC YACHTING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN  PORTSMOUTH,
RI (October 11, 1996) -- Bob Hobbs (Vernon, Conn.) has been named Chairman of US SAILING's
Olympic Yachting Committee (OYC) for the 1997-2000 quadrennium, succeeding Bill Shore
(Newport, R.I.). The OYC is one of the standing committees of US SAILING, the national
governing body for the sport in the United States. A graduate of MIT (B.S. Physics '64; Ph.D. Theoretical Physics '71), Hobbs is Director
of Mechatronics at United Technologies Research Center (East Hartford, Conn.) where he has
been employed for 25 years. His department -- 120 scientists and engineers -- concentrates
on leading-edge scientific programs in the ares of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
Physics and Computer Science. An immediate past President of US SAILING ('92-'94), Hobbs also has served on the OYC
since 1985 and organized the Olympic Trials in '88 and '96. He learned to sail as a
graduate student at MIT, became a frequent figure on race committees and worked his way up
to being a US SAILING Senior Judge. He has gained a unique rapport with college sailors
through his work with the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association (ICYRA) as its
Executive Vice-President ('79-'88). College sailors will figure strongly in the talent
pool from which the OYC expects to draw in its mission to field the 1999 Pan American
Games Team and the 2000 U.S. Olympic Yachting Team. According to US Sailing Foundation President William Martin (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who served as head of the Olympic Transition Committee that selected Hobbs, "the level of respect for Hobbs within the sailing community as someone consummately dedicated to the sport makes him an ideal choice for OYC Chairman." |