BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — In the continuation of the league’s “Forgotten Water Polo History” series highlighting past players who the general public is unaware played collegiate water polo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) turns to Yale University alum and Pillsbury Company Chairman Philip W. Pillsbury.
Pillsbury (April 16, 1903–to-June 14, 1984) was chairman emeritus of the Pillsbury Company and a grandson of the co-founder, Charles Alfred Pillsbury.
Born in Minneapolis, Minn., his father, Charles, was a company director. In 1920, Philip Pillsbury graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., and advanced to Yale University where he was a member of the Bulldogs’ Class of 1924.
Known as “TeedyBoom” during his time in New Haven, he starred on the school’s football team as a guard on the 1923 undefeated squad which downed its opponents by a combined score of 230 to 38. During the undefeated season, Yale picked up 53-0 and 40–0 victories over the University of North Carolina and the University of Georgia, respectively, a 31–10 victory over the United States Military Academy (Army) and shutout victories over rivals Brown University (21-0 W), Princeton University (27-0 W) and Harvard University (13-0 W).
However, his best sport was water polo as he garnered All-America honors for Yale in addition to singing as a tenor for the Yale Glee Club.
Following graduation from Yale, he started as a laborer at Pillsbury and was a master flour miller before accepting promotion to sales and management positions. Due to his background on the floor of the factory, Pillsbury was said to be one of the few milling executives to have a real knowledge of flour milling.
In 1928, he was elected to the company’s Board of Directors and assumed the role of President in 1940. In 1951, he became Chairman of the Board – but also retained the title of company president – until his retirement in 1968.
During his tenure as Chairman and President, Rudy Perz, a copywriter for Pillsbury’s longtime advertising agency Leo Burnett, created the compay’s mascot the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Pillsbury died from cancer at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in 1984.
