His classmates described Otis “Snag” Sargent as a natural leader. He was the President of the Class of 1926 and Captain of Company A in the Handley Cadet Battalion. He was considered to be one of the best athletes ever to compete for Handley in baseball, football and basketball.

He had a good scholastic record in high school and attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts following graduation. Snag returned to Handley in 1928 to teach physical education and has been credited with establishing the Physical Education program. He created different Physical Education programs for the elementary, junior high and high school grade levels at the school.

Snag coached football during his first year back at Handley and was one of Handley’s first track coaches. His track teams won 5 consecutive state championships during the 1930’s. During his long career with the school, he taught physical education and coached track and football on both a fulltime and part time basis.

An entrepreneur as well as a teacher, he opened his first sport shop for young men in the George Washington Hotel building in the mid-1930’s. It operated for 8 years until the inability to secure sporting goods during World War II caused him to close.

Snag married Miss Virginia Bean, a teacher at John Kerr Elementary School, in June 1938. Mrs. Sargent was a 1935 graduate of Madison College and served the Winchester Public Schools as a teacher and elementary principal for 40 years.

Snag continued to coach football at Handley during World War II. He was an assistant football coach to veterans Hunter Maddex and Dick Kern when they returned from military service in 1946.

He opened a new sporting goods store and haberdashery known as the Young Men’s Sport Shop on Rouss Avenue in the Capital Theater building in 1947. The shop became known as “Snag’s Sport Shop” and relocated to the corner of Braddock Street and Boscawen Street.

Otis “Snag” Sargent supported Handley athletic teams until his death in 1973.