Heroes
The Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation salutes the individuals and organizations that have inspired and supported us through the years.
Our Supporters:
The Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation is grateful to these individuals, businesses, and organizations for their generous contributions.
Strasburger
Bank of America
Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable and Educational Trust
Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Association
Lakewood Early Childhood PTA
Weaver
Captra
Cornerstone Partners:
Cornerstone donors commit to regular monthly donations of at least $25. These donations form the bedrock of our foundation.
Norman Alston Architects
Chris Angarola
Patricia Arvanitis
Ken Barnhouse
Heather Brooks
Chris Canellos
Laura Pearson Classen
Lauren Coppedge
Alise Cortez
D. Paul Dalton
John Deniston
Kirby Gomez>
Gary Griffith
Taly Haffar
Troy Harper
Mary Hendrix
Jody Hodges
Jason Kulas
Patrick Luna
Emily L. Martin
Mike Morath
Colleen McCain Nelson
Michael Orozco
Kyle Rains
Kyle Richardson
Kenneth Rogers
Susan Schuerger
Kathy Scherler
Kenneth Sheets
Derek Smith
Jana Stillwagon
Leigh Peden Straughn
Yaphet Tadesse
GP Theriot IV
Ruth Vail
Richard H. Vitale
Monty Watson
Patrick and Maribel West
Lon Williams, Jr.
Woodrow Wilson High School Hall of Fame:
Through the years, the Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Association has honored the achievements of some of our most outstanding alumni. Their accomplishments, as described in the year they were inducted to the Hall of Fame, are included below. Congratulations to all these heroes:Inducted in 2009
Ed Bentley
1940 Chairman of the Board and CEO of Republic National Bank-Greenville Avenue with a long history of generous support for Woodrow programs and Juliette Fowler Homes.
Elizabeth Cupples Blessing
1936 First woman to campaign for mayor of Dallas; second woman elected to Dallas City Council.
Alan Bromberg
1945 Senior fellow of Yale law faculty, visiting professor at Stanford Law School, professor at SMU law school.
Bob English
1942 Borrowed $1,100 from parents on graduation from Texas A&M, started English Bros. and built it into largest distributor of automotive paint and body supplies in the Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana region.
Neil "Skip" Fletcher
1953 As 7-year-old served as "official taster" in family kitchen as father Neil and Uncle Carl developed recipe for their ever-popular Corny Dog at State Fair of Texas. Today he and brother Bill keep the dogs coming.
Lawrence Good
1968 Distinguished architect whose projects include University of Texas-Dallas campus master plan, Lakewood master planning and Dallas Civic Garden Center.
Bob Goodrich
1963 All-state end for Woodrow who achieved fine career as sports TV producer, winning 14 Emmy awards. Worked on ABC's Monday Night Football, Super Bowls, Indianapolis 500, Summer and Winter Olympics.
Tracy Hiser Harding
1981 One-time Yale cheerleader later served two years with Peace Corps, earned masters degree in international relations at University of California-San Francisco and now works for State Department in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Phil Johnson
1943 Longtime professional dancer who helped launch Woodrowk's proud tradition of annual musicals by choreographing 1958 production of Oklahoma! and continuing until 1970 with Carnival. Still fit enough to wear his WWII Navy uniform when he marches in schools celebration parades.
Larry Karl III
1968 National Wrestling Hall of Fame member has achieved great success as coach of mens and women' s teams at Skyline High School, winning a total of 31 district championships.
William Lewis Lester
1929 Gifted painter who executed a mural commission entitled "Development of American Industry" during the Great Depression for the Public Works Arts Project which hangs in Woodrow' s library.
John Paul McCrumbly
1971 Woodrow' s first African American football star helped 1969 team reach state semifinals. Also played for Tyler JC, Texas A&M and NFL Buffalo Bills.
Mariano Martinez
1963 In 1971, the young restaurateur modified a soft-serve ice cream machine into the first frozen margarita machine, which is now displayed in the Smithsonian' s National Museum of American History.
Steve Miller
1961 The Steve Miller Band' s Greatest Hits 1974-1978 has sold over 13 million copies. Long-popular singer and guitarist and his band continue to perform at sold-out concerts.
Danielle Drury Petters
1985 First of seven siblings to graduate from Woodrow, she was a successful international fashion model before pursuing a career in education. Now in her first year as principal at J.L. Long Middle School on adjoining campus to Woodrow. Fluent in Spanish, she earlier taught ESL and cheerleading at Woodrow.
Marjorie Hardwick Schramel
1982 Acclaimed ballerina danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov at American Ballet Theatre. Now director of Schramel Conservatory of Dance in New Orleans.
Inez Sookma
1983 This is a great month in her life. She was promoted to colonel in the U.S. Air Force on April 1 and she' s being inducted into Woodrow Hall of Fame on April 25. Currently serving with International Military Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Barbara Galleher Tonry
1954 Held 12 national titles in tumbling and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1960 before a knee injury redirected her focus to coaching. Organized first women' s gymnastics team at Yale and has been head coach since 1973.
Ruth Allen Vail
1991 First Woodrow graduate to serve as school' s principal, her academic goals at her alma mater include overall quality, solid academics and a comprehensive athletic program. Her father, a 1965 Woodrow grad, met her mother in Mexico City where he was serving as a medical missionary. Multi-lingual, having majored in foreign languages at SMU. Daughter Karissa Vail entered Woodrow in the fall of 2010.
Larry Wright
1965 Author, screenwriter, playwright and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, his book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, was an international bestseller and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. His memoir, In The New World: Growing Up In America, 1960-1984, is set in Dallas and recounts his experiences at Woodrow during the Kennedy assassination period
Inducted in 2004
Michelle Bobadilla
Class of 1973. Associate vice president, University of Texas at Arlington.
Mary Brinegar
Class of 1965. President and CEO Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society.
Bill Cunningham
Class of 1949. City and community leader, known in East Dallas as “The Insurance Wizard.”
Vickers Cunningham
Class of 1980. Judge, 283rd Judicial District Court.
Buckner Fanning
Class of 1943. Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas.
Burton Gilliam
Class of 1956. Dallas Firefighter; actor in films including Paper Moon, Blazing Saddles, and Honeymoon in Vegas.
Gary Griffith
Class of 1966. Dallas City Council; Park Board Planning and Zoning Commission; Center City TIF Board.
James Rogers
Class of 1965. Executive director and chief psychiatrist, Child Guidance Center, San Antonio.
Toby Shook
Class of 1976. Dallas County assistant district attorney.
Peggy Hill Taylor
Class of 1939. Founder, Peggy Taylor Talent, Inc., first talent agency in the Southwest.
George N. Zarfonetis
Class of 1937. Credit card pioneer; founder MasterCard (originally PrestoCard).
Inducted in 1999
Billy Andrews
Class of 1941. founder and CEO, Rooster Andrews Sporting Goods, Inc.
Sam Blair
Class of 1950. Writer and sports columnist, The Dallas Morning News.
Stephen Cargile
Class of 1982. Artist, Walt Disney Studios; Art director, Euro Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.
Al Carrell
Class of 1943. Columnis, radio and television’s “Super Handyman.”
Dr. Pat Evans
Class of 1947. Sports medicine specialist. Team physician for the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks; founder and medical director, Justin Sports Medicine program for Professional Rodeo Cowboys.
Bill Forester
Class of 1949. All American SMU Football; NFL; Captain Green Bay Packers Championship Teams of 1961 and 1962.
Hershel Forester
Class of 1948. SMU football; NFL; Captain Cleveland Browns Championship Teams of 1954, 1955.
Lou Freeman
Class of 1970. Chief Pilot, Southwest Airlines Pilot Crew Base, Chicago Midway.
Kenyon Hiser
Class of 1976. U.S. Navy Commander, Destroyer USS Paul Hamilton.
Bradley Sue LaFon Howell
Class of 1951. Woodrow Wilson High School librarian (1981-2006); founder, Woodrow Wilson High School Archives; responsible for school designation as City and State Historical Landmark.
Georgia Ann Carroll Kyser
Class of 1937. Top John Robert Powers Fashion model; Warner Bros. contract player; USO Entertainer; wife of bandleader Kay Kyser; Model for “Spirit of the Centennial” statue at Fair Park Women’s Museum.
Lawrence Marcus
Class of 1934. Executive, Neiman Marcus; U.S. Army Captain of victorious WWII 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion in El Guettar battle against German forces.
Dodd Miller
Class of 1957. Chief of Dallas Fire Department, 1976-2000.
Ken Miller
Class of 1968. C-founder, PeopleSoft, Inc. California.
Boone Powell, Jr.
Class of 1955. President and CEO, Baylor Health Care System, Baylor University Medical Center.
Kyle Rains
Class of 1976. co-founder, Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Association; Woodrow Wilson High School Historian.
Marvin Runyon
Class of 1942. Postmaster General of the United States.
Joe Sholden
Class of 1976. Executive, Merrill Lynch Financial.
John Sholden
Class of 1979. Dallas County Justice of the Peace.
Ken Woodfin
class of 1940. Admiral, U.S. Navy.
Inducted in 1990
Richard Berezden
Class of 1956. President, American University, Washington, D.C.
Walter Evans
Class of 1948. Channel 4 Television.
Al Haynes
Class of 1948. Pilot, United Airlines.
Jerry Haynes
Class of 1944. Channel 8 Television; actor; creator “Mr. Peppermint.”
Samuel Robert Johnson
class of 1947. Texas State Representative, Dallas/Collin Counties.
William Kieschnick, Jr.
Class of 1940. CEO, Atlantic Richfield Co.
Malcolm Kutner
Class of 1938. All-American University of Texas football; NCAA Football Hall of Fame; NFL; NFL Most Valuable Player, 1948; vice president, C&K Petroleum.
Alton Lister
Class of 1976. Professional Basketball Player; NBA Golden State Warriors.
Dr. Percy Leuke, Jr.
Class of 1943. Pediatrician, DISD School Board.
William C. McCord
Class of 1945. Chairman, Ensearch Corp.
Nancy Armour Neeld
Class of 1948. Professional Tennis player.
William H. Seay
Class of 1936. CEO, Southwestern Life Insurance Co.
Charles W. Tessmer
Class of 1938, Attorney.
Joel T. Williams
Class of 1938. Senior chairman, Bright Banc.
Inducted in 1989
Ruth Collins Sharp Altshuler
Class of 1940. SMU Board of Trustees and Governors from 1968-1987; Civic leader.
Dr. Floyd Bloom
Class of 1954. Neuroscience, Medicine, Author.
Tim Brown
Class of 1984. Heisman Trophy Winner, 1987 Notre Dame; NFL Los Angeles Raiders; NFL Rookie of the Year, 1988.
Dr. Charles Max Cole
Class of 1932. President, Dallas County Medical Society; Chief of Surgery, Presbyterian Hospital; Diplomate, American Board of Surgery.
Jim Collins
Class of 1932. United States Congressman; served eight terms.
Trammell Crow
Class of 1932. Founder and chairman of Trammell Crow Company, real estate development.
Jack Evans
Class of 1941. Chairman, president and CEO of Cullum Companies, Inc., parent company of Tom Thumb Supermarkets.
Ralph Guldahl
Class of 1930. Professional golfer, winner of the 1939 Masters; and U.S. Open in 1937 and 1938.
Jim Mattox
Class of 1961. U.S. Congressman; Attorney General for State of Texas.
Geraldine Erwin Miller
Class of 1952. Texas State Board of Education.
M.T. “Buddy” Minyard
Class of 1930. Founder and chairman, Minyard Food Stores.
David “Davey” O’Brien
Class of 1935. Heisman Trophy Winner, 1938, TCU.
Thomas R. Phillips
Class of 1968. Chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
Wallace Savage
Class of 1929. Mayor of Dallas, 1949-1951; County and State Democratic Party Chairman, 1952-1954.
Carroll Shelby
Class of 1940. National champion professional race car driver; car builder; creator of Shelby Mustang and Shelby Cobra.
Dr. Tom Shires
Class of 1942. Chairman, Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief, New York hospital Medical Center; Dean, Cornell University Medical College.
Rowland Wolfe
Class of 1934. Olympic Gold Medalist in Tumbling, 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
"I've always loved Woodrow Wilson High School and owe a tremendous amount to the school. I'm giving back what I can."
Richard H. Vitale, Founding President & Class of 1991
"Strong public schools are critical to our community. This Foundation is committed to directing resources to strengthen our schools."
Emily L. Martin, Secretary
