April 30, 2024

NHS Hall of Fame nominations due April 3

Hall includes honorees from academics, athletics and more

By Jason W

These plaques, devoted to Iowa Hawkeye football All-American and longtime Maytag division manager Bill Green, former “Today Show” host and current “Good Morning America” lifestyles anchor Sara Haines and Iowa Hawkeye three-sport star and World War II casualty Laird Bush Lamb are three of more than a dozen plaques devoted to the inaugural 2014 inductee class of the Newton High School Hall of Fame. (Submitted Photo)

When the second annual inductee class is announced for the Newton High School Hall of Fame, there might be a linebacker or a hurdler on the list.

There might also be a teacher on the list. Or an administrator. Or a doctor.

Unlike some hall-of-fame awards lists, the Newton High School Hall of Fame is not limited to nominees from athletics. The nominations are not even relegated to activities.

Contributors to NHS from a wide variety of realms of service can be nominated. “We have a few different focus areas of service, but it’s pretty broad and inclusive,” said NHS activities director Scott Garvis. “We want to showcase our best and brightest.”

The closing date for nominations for the second inductee class is April 3.

The types of nominations accepted are the alumni categories of the arts, business, education, government, science or service; retired staff and community organization or individuals.

Alumni must be graduates from 2005 or earlier. Staff must be retired at least five years and have worked for the school for a minimum of 10 years, and the community organizations and individuals must have served NHS for 10 or more years or made major or significant contributions to the school.

An informal hall of fame had been maintained for some time, but 2014 marked the establishment of an official, school-wide hall to honor all types of contributors.

The inaugural 2014 class included author Emerson Hough; NHS’s first principal and a pioneer for Iowa woman educators, Lucy E. Hall; World War II bomber pilot Col. Avery Jack Ladd; MIT graduate and longtime Maytag designer Thomas R. Smith; Iowa Hawkeye three-sport star and World War II casualty Laird Bush Lamb; Hawkeye football All-American and longtime Maytag division manager Bill Green; artists Norman Neal Deaton and Karen King; Bell Curve innovator Charles Murray; Dr. Robert Sparks; Ph.D. Dr. Tom Altemeier, advertising artist and businesswoman Minda Gralnek; Gen. David Cotton; NHS coach Frank Gilson; Good Morning America lifestyle anchor Sara Haines; TV producer and writer Thomas J. Weeks and principal and stadium namesake Harold A. “Pop” Lynn.

The initial class was honored at the annual Reunion Weekend All-Classes brunch last June, and their plaques that are a part of the school’s Hall of Fame wall were dedicated at an October ceremony. This year’s class will be honored at the All-Classes Brunch, set for June 13.

A committee will review the nominations, and completed nomination forms will be kept on file for five years. Garvis said last week only 16 nominations had been received.

“We’d like to get a few more,” he said.

Nomination forms are available online at www.newtoncardinals.bigteams.com, and can be emailed to garviss@newton.k12.ia.us. Forms can also be obtained and turned in at the Newton Senior High School office.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com