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2011 Induction Ceremony Saturday, June 11 4–5 p.m. Kemper Auditorium

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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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Smoyer
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