H. CLAY
McELDOWNEY, Princeton ’69 captained
Princeton’s wrestling team as a senior. In 1993, he became
chairman of Friends of Princeton Wrestling, created to eventually
raise $3 million to help save Tiger wrestling. It was successfully
re-instated in 1997 and Clay’s group then helped re-acquire
the team’s former wrestling facility. Along with Eric
Pearson, Clay was named EIWA Man of the Year in 1997. McEldowney
serves on the board of directors of the Washington, DC based
American Sports Council.
Professionally, Clay is a
Mechanical Engineer and recently retired as Vice-President of Hatch
Mott MacDonald Corporation in Iselin, NJ, an award-winning
full-service engineering firm with 75 offices across Canada and the
U.S. In 2012, McEldowney – from Pittstown, NJ - was one
of two recipients of Wrestling
Insider Newsmagazine's Impact Award for 2012. He was cited for
his work to prevent the discontinuation of collegiate wrestling and
other "lesser priority" sports and shared the award with well-known
actor Billy Baldwin, a former wrestler at Binghamton
University.