E. Wyman Spalding, 86; Shakespearean Actor, Aviator, Teacher
E. Wyman Spalding, 86, a retired actor and teacher who was the grandson of the co-founder of the Spalding sporting goods empire, died Dec. 3 in a Ventura hospital of natural causes.
Spalding was never involved in running the company founded by his grandfather, J. Walter Spalding, and his great-uncle, Hall of Fame pitcher A.G. Spalding.
Instead, he pursued a career as a Shakespearean actor and also portrayed Gen. Douglas MacArthur and French novelist Emile Zola. During World War II, he performed Shakespearean readings on the radio.
As a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, Spalding was a flight commander who trained B-25 pilots. He flew planes well into his 70s, performing aerobatics at the Santa Paula Airport. Educated at Yale and UCLA, he taught in the San Francisco Unified School District from 1963 until his retirement in 1984.
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