William Roberts McDaniel

William Roberts McDaniel was born in a small village near St. Michaels, Maryland on August 11, 1861. In the fall of 1877, he enrolled in Western Maryland College as a sophomore and was one of the first students to receive a Maryland Senatorial Scholarship when the program was created a year later. McDaniel graduated, salutatorian of his class, in 1880 alongside future college president, T.H. Lewis.

While at Western Maryland College, McDaniel met Ada Smith, daughter of the college Board of Trustee president, John Smith of Wakefield. The two married on November 21st, 1895 and had one daughter, Dorothy McDaniel Herr.

Following his graduation from Western Maryland College, McDaniel taught a year of high school in Buckeystown. He then enrolled at John Hopkins to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics alongside fellow classmates, Woodrow Wilson and John Dewey. McDaniel returned to his alma mater in 1885 at the request of J.T. Ward, the college president, to act as a substitute mathematics teacher. The post became permanent later that year, a position McDaniel would hold for fifty-seven years.

McDaniel served the college in numerous ways throughout his tenure at WMC. In the fall of 1885, he was named secretary of the faculty, a position he held until 1906 when he was named vice president of the college. Unusually, McDaniel was elected a member of the Board of Trustees in 1911 while still an active faculty member. He also served as treasurer of the college and alumni association, superintendent of the Sunday school, and, on four occasions, acting president of the school itself.

As a scholar, McDaniel held many interests. He was largely responsible for introducing and integrating physical education into the curriculum of the college. McDaniel was particularly known for his method of club swinging, a coordinated exercise routine combining calisthenics and music. He also established a bicycle club on campus and had a hand in forming the tennis club. McDaniel also possessed a keen interest in astronomy, lecturing on the topic several times throughout his time at Western Maryland.

McDaniel died on April 19, 1942 at the age of eighty. His lasting impact on Western Maryland College resonated sixty years later when the college renamed itself in his honor, officially becoming McDaniel College in July 2002.