Attending Hamilton College seemed a distant dream for J. Arthur Rath III '53. A boy growing up in Hawaii, Rath was not the typical student to attend an elite Eastern men’s college at the time. The son of an unemployed single mother, he planned to go to college at a time when college loans did not exist. Furthermore, Hamilton College would not even offer him financial aid due to his provisional acceptance. Coming from the Kamehameha School for Boys for Hawaiians, known at the time for manual arts and training, Hamilton was not sure Rath would be able to do its rigorous course work.
Rath worked hard to help pay for his travel and first semester, taking summer jobs at Dole Pineapple Cannery and at a Tuna Packing Plant. He was very much aware that his provisional acceptance meant that he needed to prove that he belonged there. To do this he needed to impress not only the administration, but to gain acceptability by the other members of the student body. He was determined to succeed and success meant dressing the part of a smart, polished East Coast student.
Honolulu’s finest menswear was a family store called McInerney’s Brothers. With the finest merchandise on its shelves, it had the reputation for being the place where the elite met and shopped. Naturally, this was Rath’s first choice to shop for clothes in his plan to "infiltrate the Eastern establishment." He went with his mother who talked proudly with the twin owners of her son’s undertaking. Despite Rath’s limited funds, the McInerney brothers helped pick out his new clothes. They told him, "We’ll make you look so refined they’ll realize they are lucky to have you." The brothers picked out a variety of outfits and taught him how to dress like a true gentleman.
According to Rath, the tailored power suit they provided him became his key in affording college. He arrived at Hamilton and was awed by the stone fraternity houses on the Hill. Donning the suit the McInerney brothers selected for him, Rath visited the fraternities during orientation. The poor, part-Hawaiian boy looked and dressed as if he could fit in easily with the East Coast Country Club crowd. Because of this, Rath was interviewed by fraternity house managers, which ultimately led to campus jobs supervising the care of the coal furnace that heated their fraternity house for much of the school year. This job helped Rath pay his way through Hamilton for this first two years. When natural gas lines came to campus and coal was no longer used, Rath earned his way by working afternoons and evenings at a Utica bank.
At Hamilton, Rath graduated with concentrations in English literature and psychology. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the men’s outdoor track and field team. He sang in the school choir and wrote two prize-winning plays produced by The Charlatans. He furthered his studies at Syracuse University where he also taught for 25 years while running his own national PR agency. He currently lives in Hawaii and has authored several books including "Thy Boys, Hamilton College Stories." Rath credits the McInerney brothers with helping him look good enough for coveted jobs that paid for his higher education.
Rath worked hard to help pay for his travel and first semester, taking summer jobs at Dole Pineapple Cannery and at a Tuna Packing Plant. He was very much aware that his provisional acceptance meant that he needed to prove that he belonged there. To do this he needed to impress not only the administration, but to gain acceptability by the other members of the student body. He was determined to succeed and success meant dressing the part of a smart, polished East Coast student.
Honolulu’s finest menswear was a family store called McInerney’s Brothers. With the finest merchandise on its shelves, it had the reputation for being the place where the elite met and shopped. Naturally, this was Rath’s first choice to shop for clothes in his plan to "infiltrate the Eastern establishment." He went with his mother who talked proudly with the twin owners of her son’s undertaking. Despite Rath’s limited funds, the McInerney brothers helped pick out his new clothes. They told him, "We’ll make you look so refined they’ll realize they are lucky to have you." The brothers picked out a variety of outfits and taught him how to dress like a true gentleman.
According to Rath, the tailored power suit they provided him became his key in affording college. He arrived at Hamilton and was awed by the stone fraternity houses on the Hill. Donning the suit the McInerney brothers selected for him, Rath visited the fraternities during orientation. The poor, part-Hawaiian boy looked and dressed as if he could fit in easily with the East Coast Country Club crowd. Because of this, Rath was interviewed by fraternity house managers, which ultimately led to campus jobs supervising the care of the coal furnace that heated their fraternity house for much of the school year. This job helped Rath pay his way through Hamilton for this first two years. When natural gas lines came to campus and coal was no longer used, Rath earned his way by working afternoons and evenings at a Utica bank.
At Hamilton, Rath graduated with concentrations in English literature and psychology. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the men’s outdoor track and field team. He sang in the school choir and wrote two prize-winning plays produced by The Charlatans. He furthered his studies at Syracuse University where he also taught for 25 years while running his own national PR agency. He currently lives in Hawaii and has authored several books including "Thy Boys, Hamilton College Stories." Rath credits the McInerney brothers with helping him look good enough for coveted jobs that paid for his higher education.
