WARREN Alumni to be inducted into hall of fame

The founder wanted to honor graduates accomplished in their fields, not sports.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Ten city alumni are being honored, not for their physical prowess on the field but for what they know.
The Warren High Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame annual induction will be May 4 in G's Golden Gate restaurant on Parkman Road. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6:30.
The class of 2002 includes a cancer research specialist, an architect, a local pharmacist, an arthritis expert, executives and scholars.
School board member Lynn Gibson called this year's class something to be proud of. "All of our inductees to the hall of fame are outstanding," she said.
Complete list: For a complete list of past inductees, log onto www.thewarrencityschoolsfoundation.com.
The alumni HOF was the idea of Frank Calvin, who pitched it to the board of education, saying a lot of emphasis is placed on athletes that come out of Warren, but not those who are distinguished, even famous, for their work.
Calvin, Harding class of 1962, is on the board of directors for the alumni hall of fame and is a trustee for the Warren City Schools Foundation. His wife, children and parents are also Warren alumni.
The idea was spawned in 1990 when Calvin says he approached former superintendent Louis Cardamone for support and got it. Cardamone will be in town for the ceremony and will be a presenter.
Calvin said he wanted to find a way to honor Warren's finest, including some of his friends and classmates who became successful.
"Warren has a lot of famous people, a lot of people who are known worldwide in their fields," he said.
One of his friends, John Klippel of Maryland, is being inducted this year and is the medical director for the National Arthritis Foundation.
Calvin said Klippel was a staff member under C. Everett Koop , a former U.S. surgeon general.
Past inductees: He noted past inductees have included Roger Ailes, a 1994 graduate who's president of Fox News Network; Scott Bayman, inducted in 2000, has been the president and CEO of GE India; astronaut Ron Parise, inducted in 1993; and Earl Biggers, inducted in 1996, most widely known as the creator of Charlie Chan and the author of the Charlie Chan novels.
Pictures of inductees line a hallway in Harding High School.
Calvin, a former Marine who spent 30 years at General Motors, jokes that his picture will never be among them.
"I was one of the worst students at Harding. I played football and track, but I wasn't any good at those either," he joked.
davis@vindy.com