David Richard Porter (1882–1973) was a major figure in the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) during the height of the organization's popularity and influence on American high school and college campuses.
[1] He attended Bowdoin College where, according to Time magazine, he "first won fame by catching a Harvard kickoff behind his own goal line, running it back 107 yards for a touchdown.".
Porter read history at Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1907, and returning to the US to join the executive leadership of YMCA, then a major evangelical association with hundreds of local chapters.
Porter served from 1907 to 1915 as Secretary of YMCA's International Committee for Secondary Schools, before taking over the Student Division (which also included the college chapters) in 1915.
[3] Porter also headed the Bible Department at the exclusive Mount Hermon School for Boys in Northfield, Massachusetts, becoming its Headmaster in 1935 when his predecessor, Elliott Speer, was murdered.