Legendary Phillips Academy Faculty Member Dies at 96

June 25, 2008 — George L. Follansbee was the kind of guy who seemed to make a deep impression wherever he went. During his 17 years at Phillips Academy, where he taught biology, chaired the department and coached the Big Blue baseball team, “Flop”—as he was called—came to be loved and admired for his sense of humor, his dedication to teaching and coaching, his generous, yet demanding presence. Follansbee died Friday, June 20 at his Chautauqua home in New York State, where he was equally well known and loved. Known as “Mr. Chautauqua,” he was 96 and had spent 94 of his summers at the venerable summer colony known for its arts and intellectualism.

Among his many passions, Follansbee put baseball near the top, said his long-time friend Roger McLean of the class of 1948. McLean played baseball for Andover, and he remembers his old coach as a “towering figure” despite the fact that he wasn’t much over five feet tall. In fact, everyone but his Andover students and colleagues knew him as “Shorty.” McLean said that lack of height and a deformed leg that at birth convinced doctors he would never walk didn’t deter Follansbee: he was catcher and captain of his baseball team at Princeton and was named “Athlete of the Year” in 1934, the year he graduated. “In my book,” McLean said with obvious affection, “Flop was always the MVP.”

Follansbee coached the Andover team through former President George. H. W. Bush’s ’42 high school baseball career, where Bush— known as “Poppy”—was a standout. The two became very close, Bush classmate Vern Midgley remembered, and Bush always made it a point to seek out his coach when he returned for reunions.

Another Andover baseball star remembered his coach as “a hard task master who was also loads of fun.” Richard “Dixie” Bell, class of 1950, was captain of the team his senior year, and he recalled having coffee at the coach’s house after games so the team could “go over the whole thing, inning by inning. Follansbee’s wife, Julie, would have kept score and freely joined in the joyful praise or gentle, constructive criticism that might apply. There were also lessons to be learned again. These were the happiest of happy hours,” Bell said.

After graduating from Princeton, Follansbee was hired by Phillips Academy to teach biology, coach and serve as a house counselor, where he was known as softhearted and very funny. In 1953 he left Andover to become headmaster at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, from which he had graduated in his youth. After 12 years, he became head of Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, all the while continuing to coach baseball.

So much of Follansbee’s life centered around Chautauqua, where he played baseball and golf, and took on a number of leadership roles over the years. It was there he met his wife, Julie, who survives him, as do his daughter Caran Redington and her husband, Dick; his son Geof; four grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his brother Harper, who followed him into teaching and coaching at Andover, and another brother, Richard.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 28, in the Hall of Philosophy of Chautauqua Institution. The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell and the Rev. Wendy Heinz will officiate. Internment will be in the Chautauqua Cemetery. Donations may be made to the Chautauqua Foundation, Chautauqua N.Y. 14722; the George L. Follansbee Scholarship Fund, Shady Side Academy, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh Penn. 15238; and the George L. Follansbee Scholarship Fund, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. 01810.