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Six being added to Owosso Wall of Honor
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008 10:44 AM EST
Soon, the illustrious Owosso High School Alumni and Friends Association Wall of Honor will include hometown arts and history enthusiast Piper Brewer, OHS graduate and New Lothrop educator James Lahmann and four others - Pauline “Denny” Hill, Jim Harkema, Don Gray and Jerry Alliton - who have had great education and athletic impact on Owosso and its schools.
The six, nominated by family, friends, co-workers and community members prior to election by the OHS Alumni and Friends Association Board of Directors, will be enshrined Jan. 7, 2009, during the Owosso High School Alumni and Friends Association and OPS Foundation Dinner at the Baker College Welcome Center. Tickets cost $30, with proceeds being split between the OHS Alumni and Friends Association and the OPS Foundation. Tickets are available at the OPS administration building and The Argus-Press.
The Wall of Honor recognizes individuals from Owosso who have achieved success in their careers and have made significant contributions in the fields of education, arts, agriculture, athletics, science/inventions, business, medicine and more in the community, nation and world.
To be eligible, nominees must have brought honor to Owosso Public Schools.
n Piper Brewer, executive director of the Shiawassee Arts Council, is a 1968 graduate of Owosso High who has dedicated her career to serving Owosso and Shiawassee County. She is an alumnus of the University of Michigan.
Serving on the Memorial Healthcare Foundation Board, Brewer is past president of the Owosso Historical Commission, SAC and the Owosso Parks and Recreation Commission. She is an active member of Owosso arts and gardens organizations, Owosso Historical Home Tours, Shiawassee Humane Society, Owosso Musicale, Adult Literacy Program of Owosso and is a member of the First Congregational Church.
Brewer was the Shiawassee Regional Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2000 and a 1998 finalist for the Governor's Volunteer of the Year award.
“Piper is passionate about providing continued nourishment to the cultural arts of the area,” it was emphasized by Wall of Honor nominators. “Through her grant-writing efforts, Shiawassee County has been honored to host The Art Train, Michigan Opera Theatre and the works of Frederick Frieseke, which brought thousands of visitors to the Shiawassee Arts Center to view the prestigious display of paintings.”
As executive director of the Shiawassee Arts Council, Brewer recently led a $250,000 building expansion from dream to reality.
n James Lahmann grew up in Owosso, graduating from Owosso High in 1962. He began teaching in 1967, returning to the Shiawassee area in 1979 as a member of the New Lothrop Public Schools staff.
The fifth-grade teacher has been named in “Who's Who Among American Teachers” five times. Lahmann has also been inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Lahmann has more than 200 basketball coaching wins to his credit and more than 100 football victories, twice being named MHSFCA Assistant Coach of the Year and helping the Hornets win a 2006 state championship.
Lahmann also guided New Lothrop to a state softball championship while racking up more than 600 coaching victories. His softball resumé includes eight district titles, five regional crowns and two trips to the state semifinals. He was named the 1982 Class C Softball Coach of the Year.
Lahmann has also served five terms on the New Lothrop Village Council, being elected president in 1990.
n Pauline (Dennert) Hill received her “Denny” nickname from Western Michigan University roommates because of her strong personality and athletic abilities, which included a stint with the Michigan Lassies of the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League in 1947. She was also a WMU letter winner in tennis and field hockey.
Locating to Owosso in 1949 to teach physical education and oversee the Trojans' GAA program, she married Jean W. Hill in 1950. She taught at Owosso High for three years, was at Corunna High School for four years and at Owosso St. Paul for three years before returning to OHS. She retired from Owosso Public Schools in 1986.
Hill coached Owosso to its only girls' league championship - the 1974 Big Nine Conference crown - while playing a pioneering role in the Title IX movement that began the process of getting girls' sports on a level playing field with boys' athletics.
“Ma” Hill also coached varsity cheerleading squads and Trojans softball teams. Owosso High's softball diamond was named the Pauline “Denny” Hill Softball Field in 1995.
n E. James “Jim” Harkema, now a pre-paid legal director in the Ann Arbor area, was an athletic standout for Owosso High and Kalamazoo College before super successful football coaching stops at Grand Valley State and Eastern Michigan universities.
As a Trojan, Harkema was a three-sport star who lettered in football, basketball and tennis. He was a starting guard on Owosso's first-ever district basketball championship team and, with Bill Janego, won a regional tennis title. He also quarterbacked the Trojans to a 6-3 record as a senior football player.
Harkema also lettered in football, basketball and tennis at Kalamazoo College. He was the starting quarterback on K-College's 1962 MIAA title team that was undefeated. He was captain of the ‘K' football and basketball teams his senior year and was inducted into the Kalamazoo College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
He was inducted into the Eastern Michigan Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Grand Valley State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 after 10-year coaching stays at both schools. Eastern's 1987 team won the school's first-ever MAC championship and upset San Jose State in the California Bowl, 30-27, with Harkema calling the shots. Under Harkema, Grand Valley State won three GLIAC titles and advanced to the NAIA national semifinals in 1978.
n Don Gray was an educator, coach and administrator for Owosso Public Schools after moving to Owosso in 1962 with his wife Mary.
The Gray-coached Trojans won the 1971 Class A district basketball championship, the school's first since 1959. Gray also coached football at OHS, capturing two Big Nine Conference crowns. All of the championships included Brad Van Pelt, a member of the OHS Wall of Honor who was All-State, All-American and All-Pro with the New York football Giants.
Gray became Owosso's athletic director in 1976 after serving as assistant athletic director under John Miller. During his tenure as athletic director, Owosso High was repeatedly awarded the Big Nine Sportsmanship Trophy.
Gray received the Allan W. Bush Award from the MHSAA for service to high school athletics.
He is presently on the Owosso Public Schools Foundation Board.
n Jerry Alliton is a life-long supporter of Owosso Public Schools as a teacher, counselor, coach and community director of recreation programs, including Little League baseball for seven summers.
Alliton, after graduating from OHS in 1954, earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Michigan State University, then embarked on a 34-year career in education, the last 29 at Owosso High.
Alliton coached the Trojans to four Big Nine wrestling crowns and 25 individuals to league titles. Owosso was the state runner-up in 1967, missing the state championship by a single point. He was inducted into the Owosso Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1988.
While assisting Bernie Conklin, Alliton helped Owosso win three Big Nine football championships.
Baseball was his first love. Alliton estimates playing or coaching more than 2,000 games. He coached 11 all-league baseball players and three All-State performers. His '76 baseball Trojans advanced to the state semifinals.
Alliton was Little League, softball, basketball and baseball recreation director at various times, also handling summer wrestling workouts while also ranking as a standout fast-pitch softball player.
Alliton was honored as grand marshal of Owosso's 1993 Homecoming Parade.
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The Owosso High School Wall of Honor originated in 2003 with the inaugural class of William “Bill” Aue, Dr. Richard Ball, Col. Richard Campbell, Dr. Sherman Garnett, Gary & Bobbie Geiger, Bruce & Jackie Cook, Robert “Pudge” Hahn, George Hoddy, Monte Sheedlo, Brad Van Pelt, Bill Whipple and Gary Webster.
Class of 2004 recipients were Thomas E. Dewey, Gene L. Wriggelsworth and Keith Veale, followed by Alvin M. Bentley, Alfred Day Hershey, Jerry Hultin, Janie Blount Panagopoulos, Don R. & Metta Mitchell and John Tomac in 2005. James Oliver Curwood, Halvard Lyons and Martha L. Melzow were 2006 honorees.
Honored last year were Gerald Gilbert, Carl Bremer, Albert Lieberman and James Capitan.
Selections are permanently recognized with their pictures and a listing of accomplishments in a place of prominence on the Wall of Honor in the hallways of Owosso High School.