Edward Hitchcock Junior. was an American physical educator.
Background
Born to Edward Hitchcock Senior, the renowned geologist and President of Amherst College and wife Orra White, Hitchcock attended Williston Seminary as a boy and continued his education while following in his father"s footsteps by entering Amherst College in the fall of 1845.
Education
Hitchcock Junior. graduated from Amherst college in 1849.
Career
From 1850 to 1861, with the exception of a single year (1852-1853), he was teacher of elocution and natural science at Williston Seminary. In 1853, he obtained the degree of doctor of medicine from the Harvard Medical School. They had ten children.
Three of whom died in infancy.
Hitchcock Junior. returned to Amherst College in 1861 as professor of Hygiene and Physical Education. Hitchcock Junior. was the first ever physical educator.
Colleges had hired physical educators since the early 1820s, but Edward Hitchcock Junior. is generally credited with being the first formal physical educator at the collegiate level His program at Amherst became a model for college and secondary school programs nationally and internationally.
The development of this first college program was Hitchcock"s major contribution to the field of physical education.