A desire to play collegiate basketball brought Hal Absher ’71 to Hampden-Sydney. “I was a pretty decent high school player, and a few schools were recruiting me,” Absher says. “Hampden-Sydney offered me some financial aid and invited me to visit campus during my senior year in high school. I got to go to a fraternity party. Needless to say, I liked it!”
Hampden-Sydney turned out to be the perfect school for him in many ways. “I played all four years—a starter at the end of my freshman year and co-captain my senior year.” he recounts. “We were in a tough conference (Mason-Dixon) and playing larger schools, but we had winning seasons every year except one.”
When he wasn’t on the court, Absher was an active member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and majored in economics and history. “I made both Dean’s lists,” he laughs. “I made the wrong one my freshman year and then the right one my junior year after I was in the hospital for a few weeks and couldn’t do anything but study.”
After working on an MBA at Wake Forest University, Absher returned to his hometown of Wytheville, Virginia, about to be married and needing a job. After doing well on the civil service exam, Absher was hired by the National Credit Union Administration as a bank examiner for federal credit unions.
Absher spent his entire career in banking, next working as a branch manager for a Savings & Loan in Wytheville and then running the mortgage division for a bank in Bluefield, West Virginia, about a 30-mile commute from Wytheville. He decided to retire young, at age 62, following a cancer diagnosis and the financial crisis in 2008. “I wanted to lessen the stress in my life,” he says.
These days, Absher enjoys hunting with his beloved Brittany spaniel, Cricket, trout fishing and spending time at his remodeled farmhouse on the New River. A defining quote that reflects his passion for the outdoors and his positive outlook on life is from Mouthful of Feathers: Upland in America, a collection of hunting stories. It reads: "Optimism is embedded in the uplands. Our dogs know this better than we do. Upland hunting is searching for something we don't know is there, and the understanding that we may come up empty."
Absher’s wife, Becky, an alumna of Randolph-Macon, is also retired from her first career as a microbiologist for the Virginia Department of Agriculture. For the last decade, she has enjoyed a second career as the choir director and organist for their church.
When it comes to the couple’s philanthropy, Hampden-Sydney holds a prominent—and special—place among the organizations and institutions they support. “We like the traditions and atmosphere at Hampden-Sydney. It’s where we met,” Absher explains. “We don’t have any children of our own, so we want to do some good for others after we are gone.”
In addition to their ongoing support of Hampden-Sydney’s basketball program over the years, the Abshers have included a gift in their estate plan with a percentage going to athletics, specifically basketball, and a percentage designated to the College’s endowment to be used where it is needed most.
“We hope our gifts will provide opportunities for the next generation of Hampden-Sydney students both on the court and in the classroom.”
Your gift supports the Tiger legacy and positions the College for another century of forming good men and good citizens.
For further assistance, please contact:
Office of Gift & Estate Planning
(434) 223-6780
giftplanning@hsc.edu