Inductees Andrew Wolf, Heidi Gold Dworkin, Sly Williams, Vanessa Avery, Edwina Qualls.
One nominee made it to the NBA. Another made it to Iraq and Afghanistan, as a senior Army nurse. Another authored children’s science books. Another became the city’s arts director.
Those are among 14 alumni of Lee/Career High School set to be inducted (some posthumously) into the school’s Hall of Fame at a dinner Saturday.
The school began as Richard C. Lee on Church Street South, graduating its first class in 1968. It moved 18 years later (after temporary stop in Wooster Square) to Legion Avenue and was renamed Hill Career Regional High School. Its Hall of Fame was created in 2019.
The 14 inductees include:
• Lt. Col. Dorothy Fay (Galberth) Williams, a U.S. army nurse for 28 years who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Sylvester “Sly” Williams, who led Lee to its first state basketball title, played in seven NBA seasons with the New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics.
• Baseball coach, umpire, and league administrator Michael Lamberti.
• Edwina Qualls, a coach who won Lee’s first girls basketball title, then became first Black coach of a women’s basketball team in the Big Ten (at Wisconsin).
• Lee football captain Anthony Sparano, who became NFL coach of the year with the Miami Dolphins in 2008.
• 34-year NHPS teacher and administrator John Courtmanche, volunteer leader with Special Olympics and New Haven Road Race.
• Shirley Neighbors, a 45-year NHPS science teacher who “developed a nationally recognized anatomy education partnership with the Yale School of Medicine,” according to a release for Saturday’s event.
• Former city government arts czar Andrew Wolf.
• Assistant State Attorney General Vanessa Roberts Avery.
• Rick Colón, current COO of Dunkin’ responsible for more than 9,000 locations.
• Heidi Gold Dworkin, a molecular biologist and STEM advocate who has authored a series of children’s science books.
• Bill Jacobs, Chicago pizza-brewery founder with who has “developed innovative chef collaborations to raise funds for non-profit organizations,” according to the press release.
• Ciro “Sonny” Martone, Lee High’s digital historian and social media director who runs a 2,000-member alumni Facebook group.
• Billy Scott, organizer of Lee High alumni events.
Congratulations to the Hall Of Fame recipients!