Opportunity

Millionaire John Hay Whitney, 45, has long been known as a sportsman (polo, race horses) and financier (J. H. Whitney & Co., Freeport Sulphur Co.). He has also had a long-standing belief in freedom of opportunity for other people.

Last fall "Jock" Whitney decided to do something concrete about it. He set up a $10,000,000 foundation, announced that $100,000 would be made available in 1950 for "Opportunity Fellowships." Eligible: any young U.S. citizen "of exceptional promise [who had] not had full opportunity to develop his talents because of arbitrary barriers, such as racial or cultural background or region of residence."

Last week the John Hay Whitney Foundation announced the award of their first 42 fellowships (averaging $2,024 each). Among the winners: Milton Bee Wise, 20, a Kentucky mountaineer who will study animal husbandry at North Carolina State, take his knowledge back to fellow farmers at home; Delfino Varela, 23, a Spanish-American who wants to study community rehabilitation at U.C.L.A. and plans to use his training in rural New Mexico; Van Sizar Allen, 24, a Mississippi Negro who will start graduate biology studies at Woods Hole, Mass, this summer; Peter Tali Coleman, 30, a Samoan who plans to take a law degree at Georgetown University, then return to Samoa as a lawyer; and Edward P. Dozier, 34, a Pueblo Indian who will try for a doctorate in anthropology at the University of California. Jock Whitney seemed as pleased as any of the winners. He had already earmarked another $100,000 for next year's Opportunity Fellowships.

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