Kemper Auditorium
ESPN sports reporter
A 1988 alumnus of the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism, George Smith began his impressive career in journalism
as a newspaper reporter covering general news for the Los Angeles
Times and later for The Oregonian in Portland. Moving on to
television, he became a reporter for KATU in Portland and WNYW in
New York, and then a news anchor at WTNH in New Haven, Conn.
In the late 1990s Smith switched from news to sports and was the
weekend sports anchor at WHDH Channel 7 in Boston from 1998 to
2001. He then became a news anchor at KHOU in Houston until he
joined ESPN in May 2003 as a Chicago-based bureau reporter working
on stories for SportsCenter and Outside the Lines.
“During my time at ESPN, I have covered the Olympics in Greece,
China, and Vancouver, as well as several U.S. Open golf
tournaments, baseball All-Star games, and NBA playoffs,” says
Smith. “I’ve also reported on the legal cases involving Kobe
Bryant, the Duke lacrosse team, Michael Vick, and Roger Clemens.
Recently I was in Houston for the NCAA Men’s Final Four and have
spent many weeks covering the NFL lockout.”
Tidbits: Smith has traveled to all 50 states except Alaska (it’s on
his list!); he still loves to play basketball; he was inducted into
Oberlin’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997 (Division III All-America
in track—100-meter dash, 1987); and he got married at Cochran
Chapel in October 2009.
Andover Athletics Hall of Honor
2011 Induction Ceremony
Announcement of Inductees Abigail Harris ’96 and Dan Dilorati
’75
Keynote Speaker George B. Smith Jr. ’83
(introduced by Peter R. Ramsey, Secretary of the Academy)
Closing Remarks Michael J. Kuta,
Director of Athletics
1971
Belichick
2
Bill Belichick was exposed to football at an early age: his father,
Steve, played fullback for the Detroit Lions in 1941 and coached
for 33 years at the U.S. Naval Academy. Belichick became a standout
prep athlete at Annapolis High School and has since been inducted
into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. His classmates and
football teammates at Andover in his PG year remember him as being
well respected for his deep understanding of the game and
consistently strong performance as center. Belichick went on to
letter in football, squash, and lacrosse at Wesleyan University and
was an inaugural inductee into the university’s Athletics Hall of
Fame in 2008.
Currently in his 36th season as an NFL coach, Belichick is the only
head coach in NFL history
to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. In his
nine seasons as Patriots head coach, Belichick has won 116 games,
more than any other head coach in the first 10 seasons with a team
in NFL history. While Patriots head coach, Belichick has
participated in dozens of community events in New England,
including the March of Dimes Walk America, the Rodman Ride for
Kids, RoxComp’s Reading is the Best Medicine Program, and the
Mayor’s Cup Regatta on the Charles River to benefit
AccesSportAmerica, a charity dedicated to the fitness of children
and adults with disabilities.
Belichick was honored with Andover’s Distinguished Alumni Award in
1987 and its Distinguished Service Award in 2008; the school
declared a day in his honor in 2002.
1896
1895 football team; Hillebrand is back row, third from right.
Born in 1877 in Freeport, Ill., Arthur Hillebrand was better known
as “Doc.” He was given the nickname simply because his father was a
doctor. A standout athlete, Hillebrand played tackle during his
time at Andover and continued with football at Princeton, where he
earned All-American honors in 1898 and 1899, his final two seasons.
He was captain of Princeton’s football and baseball teams, and
graduated in 1900. His combined record on the gridiron was 43-2-2,
with the Princeton team outscoring its opponents 1,089 to 44.
Hillebrand took to coaching immediately after graduation and in the
fall of 1900 became the
football coach at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia.
He later headed to Annapolis where he was the varsity baseball
coach for the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen for two seasons.
Hillebrand then returned to Princeton to coach the Tigers’ varsity
football program for three seasons, winning the national
championship in 1903. That entire season his team gave up only 6
points.
Hillebrand eventually moved to Waubay, S.D., and became a partner
in Hillebrand Brothers, a livestock company. He died in 1941 and
posthumously was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in
1970.
1943
1942 football team; Hudner is front row, second from right.
4
hudner Jr.
Lou Hudner received five varsity letters during his time at Andover
and cocaptained his track team senior year. Hudner’s speed also
served the football team well in what is referred to as the
“formidable gridiron machine of Coach Steve Sorota’s early days at
Andover.” Hudner went on to graduate from Annapolis in 1946.
Designated a naval aviator in 1949, he was assigned to Fighter
Squadron 32 aboard the USS Leyte. On December 4, 1950, while flying
F4U-4 Corsair fighters with VF-32 during the Korean War, he
crash-landed his own plane in the mountainous terrain behind enemy
lines in an effort to rescue Ensign Jesse L. Brown, a fellow pilot
who had been shot down. Despite sub-zero cold and having no tools
at his disposal except a small ax, Lt. j.g. Hudner worked bravely
with the helicopter rescue pilot to free the
injured pilot who was trapped in his damaged plane. For his
heroism, Hudner was presented with the Medal of Honor by President
Harry S. Truman in 1951 in the White House Rose Garden. His was the
first Medal of Honor to be presented for action in the Korean
War.
Following his tour with VF-32, Hudner held a variety of training,
operational, and staff assignments. He commanded Training Squadron
24 (VT-24) from 1965 to 1966 and then served as executive officer
of the USS Kitty Hawk. He retired from the navy in February 1973
with the rank of captain. Hudner later worked as a management
consultant and, from 1991 to 1999, served as the Massachusetts
Commissioner of the Department of Veterans’ Services.
2001
front row, fourth from right.
5
During her four years at Andover, Merri Hudson Johnston played
field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse for a total of 11 varsity
letters, and was captain of the field hockey and ice hockey teams
her senior year. It was her second year as captain of field hockey,
which proved to be her strongest sport. Merri was chosen
All-Scholastic by the Boston Globe in 1999 and 2000. During her
lower year she participated in the 1999 Junior Olympics as a member
of the U.S. National U16 Field Hockey Team; the following year she
went to Holland with the U.S. National U17 Team. In 2001, the first
year of the award, she was named the Boston Globe New England
Prep-School Female Athlete of the Year.
“Merri’s talent was matched only by her humility and work ethic,”
said Kate Dolan, her field hockey coach. “She was easily the
most talented player we had, but she was also the most diligent and
most eager to improve. She had the gift that only the best of the
best possess: she made all those around her better —in every sport,
every season.”
Merri’s field hockey success continued at Yale. She was one of only
two freshmen to start all 17 games, continued as a starter for all
four years, and was an honorable mention All-Ivy selection for two
years. In 2003, she led Yale to the ECAC championship. Merri was
diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August 2005 and completed
chemotherapy treatments in March 2006; she then began training and
ran the Chicago Marathon that fall. Merri returns to campus
regularly to play in the mostly male alumni hockey game and did so
in 2011—not long after having her first child.
JohnSton
1961
second from right.
8
There aren’t many aspects of Andover athletics with which Paul
Kalkstein was not involved. He played basketball and lacrosse
during his four years at PA, and then went on to graduate from
Princeton and earn a master’s degree in teaching at Yale.
Fortunately for decades of PA students and athletes, Kalkstein
found his way back to Andover Hill in fall 1970, joining the
faculty as an instructor in English. He promptly signed on as
assistant coach of boys’ varsity lacrosse under the legendary Coach
Hulburd, who also had been Kalkstein’s coach. “In a wonderful turn
of events, Bob Hulburd became my assistant coach for seven years in
the 1980s,” says Kalkstein. “We had a grand time.” Kalkstein
continues to hold the record of 168 varsity wins, the most of any
PA lacrosse coach.
His coaching titles were numerous, ranging from interscholastic
varsity head coach to coach of instructional teams. In fact, during
his
36-year tenure he coached all six interscholastic basketball
teams—boys’ and girls’. Given Andover’s extensive athletic program,
coaches are always needed—and Kalkstein set a wonderful example by
his continual willingness to coach both genders at all levels. From
1984 to 1990, he served as athletic director and was the force
behind utilizing technology to organize the program and maximize
scheduling and staffing efficiency. Upon retirement from the
classroom and the playing fields in 2006, Kalkstein continued his
role as an educator and started “AndoverAgain,” an online learning
program designed for alumni.
“Paul was the ultimate teacher. He not only coached students but he
also mentored coaches, including me,” said former colleague and
current football and basketball coach Leon Modeste.
1953
row, fourth from left.
9
lamontagne
Ray Lamontagne played multiple sports during his four years at
Andover, including football, track, and baseball. He was a running
back on the undefeated 1952 football team that beat Exeter 59–0;
the entire team was inducted into the Andover Athletics Hall of
Honor in 2009. In track, Lamontagne represented Andover on the BAA
Relay Team and took first place against Exeter in the broad jump.
In baseball, he played center field and won the Coach’s Award,
given to the most valuable player. At Yale, Lamontagne concentrated
on baseball, where he again won the “Most Valuable Player Award”
and was offered a major league contract upon graduation.
Instead, Lamontagne accepted a Yale-in-China teaching fellowship
and taught English at New Asia College for two years. He then
became a group leader for Crossroads Africa and built
a school in Gabon, West Africa. A year after entering Yale Law
School, Lamontagne took a leave of absence to join Sargent Shriver
in Washington, D.C., as part of a group of early organizers of the
Peace Corps. Upon completing law school, Lamontagne joined the
staff of John D. Rockefeller 3rd in New York City and was involved
with numerous Rockefeller nonprofit organizations. In 1987, when
Paul Newman launched his effort to build the Hole in the Wall Camp
for children with life-threatening diseases, Lamontagne served as
chair of the capital campaign that raised the monies to build the
camp—and continues to serve as chairman of the board to this day.
There are now camps and programs on every continent, and last year
Hole in the Wall camps served more than 30,000 children. Lamontagne
also serves as chair of New York City Center, one of America’s
leading performing arts centers.
1961
10
Pollock iii
Tom Pollock was a rower and a swimmer for four years at Andover. He
captained PA’s nascent rowing team in 1961 under the tutelage of
Coach Bill Brown ’34, who founded Andover’s crew program in 1956.
Pollock’s leadership continued outside the shell in his role as
senior class president. Of note: Pollock did not officially run for
the office, but was a write-in candidate. A plan sketched at
breakfast the morning of the elections led to his victory. (His
vice president —classmate and fellow Athletics Hall of Honor
inductee Paul Kalkstein—also was a write-in candidate.)
Pollock continued his academic and rowing careers at Harvard and
later was inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame along
with the entire 1965 Varsity Men’s Heavyweight Crew (the first ever
full-team induction). While at Harvard he competed in the 1964
Summer Olympics in Tokyo as a member of the U.S.
“four-with-cox” boat, which placed seventh, and rowed in the
winning boat in the 1965 World Championship in Lucerne,
Switzerland. He continued his education, graduating from
UC–Berkeley’s law school in 1969, and began practicing law at
Cravath, Swain & Moore in New York City.
Pollock was an active Alumni Admissions Representative for Andover
for two decades, and his children, Heidi ’86 and Tom IV ’88, are PA
graduates. He continues to write and practice law and most recently
coauthored the novel, The Rising: Journeys in the Wake of Global
Warming. Several of Pollock’s classmates and the late Coach Brown
wrote: “Tom Pollock represents the very best of Andover leadership,
athleticism, and courage. It would be hard to imagine anyone more
deserving of membership in the Hall of Honor.”
At Andover Bill Smoyer excelled in sports year- round. In soccer he
earned three varsity letters and was captain of the team his senior
year. In addition, he earned three varsity letters in hockey and
two in baseball. At Dartmouth, Bill played soccer and hockey,
earning All-Ivy honors in soccer and three letters in both soccer
and hockey. Billy loved team sports; he had a natural talent and
was known for playing hard, but also for always having fun and
being a good sport.
After college Bill served as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine
Corps. He was killed in Vietnam in 1968.
Bill and his brother David ’59 left soccer legacies that continue
to be remembered and appreciated by Andover soccer teams whenever
they play on the Smoyer Family Field. “The soccer field has nothing
to do
with book learning,” said Bill’s father, Stanley, at the dedication
of the soccer field. “You learn a lot on the playing
field—sportsmanship, courage, and fair play—important lessons for
young people.” At the dedication, Jack Morrison ’63, one of several
of Bill’s classmates in attendance, said, “Billy was a superb
athlete—competitive but always gracious.”
1963
11
Smoyer
www.andover.edu
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