 Harry Nye (bottom right) and crew after winning the
Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race in 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Harry Gale Nye | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | 
United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 12, 1908 Chicago, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | September 11, 1987 (aged 79) Newport Beach, California | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sailing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class | Star | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Harry Gale Nye Jr. (February 12, 1908 – September 11, 1987) was a Chicago-born American industrialist, entrepreneur, and world champion sailor. He graduated from the Berkshire School and joined the class of 1933 at Yale University where he was a member of the Society of Book and Snake. Nye, a descendant of the Yale family whose gift founded the university, [1] left Yale prior to his graduation upon his father's death in order to return home to Chicago to become president of the Nye Tool and Machine Works. The Nye Tool had been the plaintiff in a patent infringement case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1923. [2]
In 1933, Mr. Nye together with Jim Murphy founded Murphy & Nye Sailmakers, [3] a business which is today a prominent Italian fashion apparel company and frequent sponsor of and supplier to Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup campaigns [4] such as United Internet Team Germany and Emirates Team New Zealand. [5] [6]
Nye was widely regarded as one of the nation's most respected yachtsmen. [7] Nye's yachts aptly donned the family name, Gale. He twice won the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac in 1950 and 1951 [8] and twice won the Star World Championship in the Star class in 1942 and 1949. [9] [10]
Nye won many other international sailing competitions including the Bacardi Cup (in 1938, 1940 and 1941), a regatta which was started by the Bacardi (rum) family and held in Havana, Cuba in the pre- Fidel Castro era. [11]
In 1946, Nye served with New York Yacht Club Commodores Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and W.A.W. Stewart on a subcommittee of the North American Yacht Racing Union (now known as US Sailing) to write the revised International Yacht Racing Rules, originally codified by Vanderbilt in 1934. [12]
Nye's commitment to the Star Class continued beyond his own active sailing career. He served as Commodore of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association from 1955 to 1963. [13] Following his death, the Harry Nye Trophy was established and is awarded to individuals whose extraordinary efforts contributed significantly to the success of the Star Class. [14] The winner of the fourth race in the Star World Championship is also awarded the Harry G. Nye Trophy, in honor of Nye's dedication and service to the Star Class. [15]
Nye founded and was president of North American Hydrofoils which designed and built the U.S.'s first commuter hydrofoils, named Enterprise and Endeavour, in 1961. These two prototype vessels were commissioned to shuttle commuters from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey to Wall Street in Manhattan. [16] [17]
The Nye family is one of America's oldest. The Benjamin Nye Homestead stands as a museum in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. [18] Harry Nye was descended from Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers. [19]
Harry Nye's oldest child, Julia Gale (Judy) Nye, [20] was married to media mogul Ted Turner. [21] [22]
Harry Gale Nye Jr. died at Newport Beach, California on September 11, 1987, at the age of 79.
Nye has been nominated posthumously for induction into the National Sailing Hall of Fame. [23]
References
- ^ Sons of the American Revolution (1918), National Year Book, Washington, D.C.: Sons of the American Revolution, p. 380.
- ^ "FindLaw | Cases and Codes". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Murphy & nye". Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ "Murphy and Nye: Fashion and the America's Cup". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13.
- ^ "Valencia Sailing: Murphy&Nye to supply clothing of United Internet Team Germany". Valenciasailing.blogspot.com. 2006-03-23. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Murphy&Nye Crew and Azzurra jointly at the Louis Vuitton Trophy". Fashionandrunway.com. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Heise, Kenan (September 22, 1987). "Harry G. Nye, Champion Yachtsman". Chicago Tribune.
-
^
"Archived copy" (PDF). www.chicagoyachtclub.org. Archived from
the original (PDF) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) - ^ "Star Class | History".
- ^ "1949 World Championship Report". Starclass.org. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Bacardi Cup History". Star Class. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Motor Boating (January 1946), p. 120. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ "Officers of the ISCYRA". Starclass.org. 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "2007 Harry Nye Trophy". Starclass.org. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "1980 World Championship – Regatta Report". Starclass.org. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Enterprise". Foils.org. Archived from the original on 2010-04-28. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sandy Hook: A brief history | The Asbury Park Press". APP.com. 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "www.nyefamily.org". www.nyefamily.org. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants (1925), The Mayflower Descendant, Volume XXVII, Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, p. 143.
- ^ "Interview with Judy and Phil Hallisy". Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ Painton, Priscilla (January 6, 1992). "The Taming of Ted Turner". Time. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008.
- ^ "Articles - The Lost Tycoon (Ted Turner)". Ken Auletta. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Nominees Harry Nye". nshof.org. 2021-12-30. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
External links
- List of World Championships medalists in sailing (keelboat classes)
- Commodore Raphael Posso presenting the Cuba Trophy to Harry G. Nye Jr. and Wally Etzbach
- Harry Nye Jr. and Lewis Gilbert under sail in International Star Class "GALE"
- Commodore Rafael Posso presents Cuba Cup to Harry Nye.
- Leeds Mitchell and Harry Nye, Cuba, 1938 [1]
- Sport: Star of Stars, Time, September 1, 1941
- "Into the Wind", Lake Magazine, July 2008. Article about Judy Nye.
- "Nye's Yacht Gale Wins Bacardi Cup". The New York Times. January 31, 1940.
- "Ice Yachting". Time. February 8, 1937. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
- History of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, p. 11.
- "Huge Miami-Built Boat Flies". The Miami News. July 13, 1963.
- "Tomorrow's Hulls: On Wings and Wind". Motor Boating. February 1965.