The Banks Family’s Athletic Legacy Cemented at Hopkins

When Claire Banks ‘25 received her Hopkins diploma at Commencement on June 6, a 70-year family legacy paused—at least for now. Its mark will remain, though, in several ways. 

“So much of my family has gone through Hopkins,” Claire said recently, on the way to coach a club lacrosse team in Massachusetts. “It wasn't just about me, but in the best way possible. It was special that all my sisters could come down for graduation, to kind of close it out.”

Claire was the last of the four Banks sisters to come up the Hill, following Emma ’16, Annie ’18, and Courtney ’20. All of them captained the field hockey team. Three played lacrosse, and Courtney played tennis. Annie—and, this year, Claire—were named Hopkins’ Outstanding Female Athletes at an Athletics Awards Assembly.

The Banks history goes back so far that Emma had to laugh. When she played for the Hilltoppers, she remembered the little daughter of one of her coaches digging for worms in the dirt near the field. That little girl, Violet Wich ’25, graduated alongside Claire. 

“People definitely know our family,” Emma said. “We were always around. There were so many of us.” Friends would ask for the scoop of what was going on back at Hopkins, since her sisters were there. 

The scoop in 2020 was bleak. The COVID-19 pandemic made schools virtual. Spring sports didn't happen. Courtney didn’t get the usual senior-year experience; she said that coming back for her five-year reunion at this year’s Alumni Weekend served as “a little missing piece.”

That fall, Claire arrived at Hopkins for eighth grade. Things were still weird. For many, there was a sharp contrast between what came before and what came next. 

 

The girls' mother, Kerry Banks, said Claire remembered traditions from Emma’s day that had fallen by the wayside. She remembered Claire being young and excited to be a part of the fun with Emma’s teammates.

“We hosted a team dinner,” Kerry Banks said, “and [Claire] said ‘you have to have that ice cream sundae bar.’”

There was a legacy to maintain. 

“It was nice to call back on traditions,” Claire said. “Pregame rituals, stuff like that, were kind of lost. It helped that I was able to call back on personal experience and reignite some traditions.”

For some aspects of Hopkins life, the Banks girls could go even further back. Their grandfather, Thomas McKeon, was in the Class of 1956. His team photos hang, like the many other varsity team photos, on the walls of the Walter Camp Athletic Center. 

“It’s really cool to have that legacy,” Emma said. “When he was there, Hopkins only let boys in. It’s awesome to see the progress society has made. He is an example of a person who went to Hopkins and really excelled.”

When David and Kerry Banks sent their daughters to Hopkins, McKeon came back to a very different campus than he had known. 

“He loved to watch us play sports. He came to every single game,” Annie said. “He came out for field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball. We'd be warming up 45 minutes to an hour before, and he’d be there. ‘Who’s that old guy?’ ‘Oh, that’s our grandpa.’”

McKeon, who passed away at age 81 in 2020, went on to Providence College and Boston University School of Law, was an attorney, and served as a law specialist in the United States Navy, his obituary said. He was a golfer and coached youth sports. He served on all sorts of institution boards and civic boards. 

“He was on the board of education” in North Haven, Kerry Banks said, “which I guess is maybe why he didn't send my brothers and me to Hopkins.”

Like father, like daughter—Kerry Banks was active in the Hopkins Parent Association. She had a few, as she put it, “minor jobs” over the years. 

“It’s just neat because you get to know the parents,” she said, “which is always nice, to know the parents of your kids’ friends."

She said she served as a class rep a few times. “You get parents together for coffee or a drink a couple of times a year,” she said. She made calls for the development office for the Annual Fund and hosted welcome receptions for new Hopkins families. 

This year, she chaired the Hopkins Parent Association’s Faculty Appreciation Luncheon. 

“There are so many people who worked there that I’m so grateful and thankful for,” she said. “It was a nice way to go out.”

The community has helped send the Bankses on to success after graduation. Emma went on to play lacrosse at Colby, and Claire will play there, too. Courtney played tennis at Connecticut College after helping Hopkins win New Englands three times; she felt particularly proud to hold the trophy in the last, 2019. Annie could have played lacrosse in college, but she said she was drawn to Wake Forest, which doesn’t have a varsity team. 

“There’s definitely a lot of competitive spirit among the four of us,” Courtney said. “We all play golf, and everyone’s nice, having fun, but you can tell we all want to do better than each other. There’s definitely that competitive side. If we’re picking up a pickleball racket, trying something new, we want to compete with each other.”

Their mother sees that competitive side and feels that athletics provided the girls with stress relief at Hopkins, where academics can sometimes be demanding. 

“After a rigorous day, it’s always fun to go down to the field,” Kerry Banks said. 

The rigor does make a difference, though: Kerry Banks remembered going up to Maine to visit Emma at Colby, and her friends couldn’t understand how Emma could write papers so easily. 

She’s now working in New York in sales for Citigroup.

“Hopkins and Colby really prepared me for this,” Emma said. “You’re up against salespeople from other banks who have been in the industry longer, with a little more experience. You can’t really be timid. You’ve got to be aggressive.”

Annie is also in New York, doing market research for Guidepoint. Courtney, back home in North Haven, will be studying for her masters at Southern Connecticut State University. 

“Some of the most important lessons they learned, that helped them in their careers, they learned on their teams,” Kerry Banks said. 

“Everyone’s required to play a sport. Some of them have never picked up a lacrosse stick,” she added. “It can be frustrating to be super-competitive ... It’s learning to work with people who may not be as into it as you are."

They all have their memories of athletics. The year Emma’s team beat Convent of the Sacred Heart (CSH) in Greenwich, a school that proved tough to beat for the Hilltoppers in recent years (and when Kerry said Emma’s team had beat CSH, other parents didn’t believe her).
New Englands is a cherished memory for Courtney, especially her junior-year contributions, hoisting that trophy. Annie got to play with two of her sisters and captained two teams with a couple of her best friends. Claire loved the playful competition between the four of them, asking her parents, “Did Annie and Emma ever do this?” when she or Courtney accomplished something. 

And then there’s that spot down at the far end of the hall, on the left-hand side, in the Athletic Center, with the team photos from 1956. 

“I know where he is in the baseball photo,” Claire said. “Whenever I was with my friends, I’d look and say, ‘there’s my grandpa.’”

She said it was special to have so many family roots in one place. 

“I can remember, that’s the spot where everyone kind of hung out, in that hallway. I remember trying to find that picture of grandpa, find his name,” Courtney said. “It was so cool, especially at a place like Hopkins with so much history.” 

“I remember thinking, it’s so cool that I can find my grandpa in that picture, and I’ll be on that wall as well.”

That’s legacy.