Ponderosa's first hall of fame class to be honored > Recognition > Stories > Parker

RECENT STORIES

Over-the-counter tenant finish permits available ( Douglas County )
Hilbert elected to lead Front Range counties ( Douglas County )
Parker Police:Trip to hospital leads to arrest ( YourHub.com )
Hawks soar in National Football Championship ( Susan Brazell )
Kids’ holiday garage sale offers bargains ( Amy Tartaglia Johns )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Parker \\ Stories \\ Kudos & Milestones \\ Recognition

Ponderosa's first hall of fame class to be honored

On 9/28/2007

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Joseph Kirchmer/YourHub.com on 9/27/2007

President Bush's current press secretary, a world-renowned Senior Olympic runner and a football coach affectionately known as "Mr. Ponderosa" are among the 10 Ponderosa High Schoolhonorees to be nominated into the school's inaugural hall of fame class.

The inaugural class will be honored at a reception Sept. 28 at Ponderosa. Each member will have a plaque engraved with their name and face placed on the wall of the school.

The members include:

Trent Gamble: A prominent football player, Gamble attended Ponderosa from 1992 to 1995. He was a Merit Scholar semifinalist, an All-Colorado pentathlon champion, an All-Mountain West Conference defensive back for the University of Wyoming and the first Ponderosa graduate to play in the NFL. He played for the Miami Dolphins.

Dana Perino: Perino, who attended Ponderosa from 1987 to 1990, currently serves as the principal deputy press secretary for President George W. Bush. She served as the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice. At Ponderosa, Perino sat on the speech and debate teams, student senate and was the senior class president. She also was a member of the Mustang Express staff.

John Randall: A teacher at Ponderosa since 1983, Randall is affectionately known as "Mr. Ponderosa."He is PHS' first head football coach and an acknowledged expert in Colorado history. He also wrote the words to the school fight song.

David Rocha: Rocha, 82, has been a custodian at the school since 2001. He's a world-renowned Senior Olympic runner who started running at the age of 60. Since then he has set national and world records and is the owner of more than 125 medals and trophies.

Click here for a recent feature of Rocha.

Diana Stolfus: A math teacher who worked at Ponderosa from 1983 to 2000, Stolfus spearheaded the establishment of PHS math department as among the finest in the state. She also nfluenced the learning of thousands by her work with Saxon Publishers as teacher/advisor/author for math textbooks.

Jamie Woodruff: A teacher from 1983 to 2005, Woodruff is best known as the head football coach who led PHS to a state championship in 2003. He was the all Colorado Football Coach of the Year in 2003 as well as the All State Game Coach in 2004 and six-time league football coach of the year. Woodruff is a founding PHS faculty member who coached 45 sports seasons, combining football, girls and boys track.

Lisa Woods: Woods taught at Ponderosa from 1983 to 2004 and is a founding faculty member and chair of the Foreign Language Department who shaped the Foreign Language Advanced Placement program. As chair of the PHS Faculty Social Committee, Woods established many long-standing traditions to promote sense of community and family among staff.

Nancy Henry: Henry taught at Ponderosa from 1988 to 2005. The nominating committee stated she exemplifies the highest achievement in the teaching of English. Her teaching of writing, research and literary analysis while fostering in students a love of literature established the standard at PHS.

Gene Kelly: Kelly, a biology teacher with the original Ponderosa staff, taught for one year during the 1983-84 school year and returned in 1989 in an administrative role. He has guided standardized testing, garnering "School of Excellence" designations in 2003 and 2004.

Bill Larson: Larson, who served as an administrator from 1985 to 2002, led Ponderosa during its formative years. He is credited with establishing "Excellence is for Everyone" as a guiding philosophy.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 2 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Parker

All stories by Joseph Kirchmer

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad