Hall of Fame Nominations Sought
March 7, 2008
The Polk County Public Schools Hall of Fame is seeking nominations. Nominees should be individuals who attended a public school and made significant professional and career contributions in the arts, business, clergy, education, entertainment, government, law, military, medicine, sports or other fields. The Hall of Fame was started in 1985 and has 83 members. 2007 inductees were theatre director Paul Hughes, U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam and educator Clinton Wright (inducted posthumously). 2008 inductees will be honored during a June event along with high school valedictorians and salutatorians from the graduating class of 2008. The nomination deadline is Thursday, April 3.
Call the Polk Public Schools Community Relations Department at 534-0699 for nomination details.
Hall of Fame inductees are listed here with year of induction.
2007
- Paul Hughes (community theatre director)
- U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam
- Dr. Clinton Wright (educator)
2006
- Dr. William Brown (professor, author)
- Raymond Driver (historian)
- Judge Ronald Herring (circuit court judge)
- Dr. JoAnne Whitaker (research and teaching physician)
2005
- Vita Hinshaw (Chalet Suzanne entrepreneur)
- Katherine Blood Hoffman (chemistry professor)
- Dr. Gerard Hubbell (physician, author)
- Dr. Michael Washington (industrial engineer)
2004
- Judge J. Dale Durrance (Teen Court founder)
- Col. William August Felt, (U.S. Army, educator)
- Kathy Fountain (journalist)
- Diana Myrick (educator)
2003
- Col. Freddie Austin (U.S. Army)
- Carol Jenkins Barnett (Publix executive)
- Judge Charles A. Davis, Jr. (State Court of Appeals)
- James Denmark (artist)
2002
- Al Bellotto (agriculture)
- George G. Gause (government)
- C. Fred Jones (government and community service)
2001
- Dr. James Ammons (educator)
- Bobby Braddock (songwriter)
- D. Burke Kibler, III. (lawyer)
2000
- Glen Davidson (Davidson's of Dundee, Shaeffer Pen, Sunmark Industries)
- Rowdy Gaines (Olympic swimmer, broadcaster)
- Jim Stafford (entertainer)
1999
- Bill Duncan (educator)
- Frances Langford (actress, singer, radio star)
- Jerry Yachabach (Protel, Teltronics founder, aerospace technology)
1998
- Dr. Canter Brown, Jr. (historian and author)
- Dr. John Desmond (researcher at Stanford Univ.)
- Bob Murphy (professional golfer)
1997
- Hazel Haley (educator)
- Robert F. Harris (vice president, Diversity Development, U.S. Postal Service
- Dr. Kathryn "Kat" Quina (psychology professor)
1996
- Dr. John Allan Knight Sr. (Church of the Nazarene official)
- Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray (senior pastor, military)
- Col. Edythe Turner (Army nurse)
1995
- Dr. William Theophlus Brown (psychiatrist)
- Forrest Sawyer (journalist)
- Dr. Orene V. Schoenfeld (physician)
1994
- Dr. Paul J. Sheffield (aerospace physiologist)
- Major General Joseph K. Stapleton (U.S. Air Force)
1993
- Wogan S. Badcock Jr. (Badcock Corp. executive)
- Dr. James Gardner (educator)
- Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen H. Grimes
- E.M. Haynsworth (phosphate pioneer)
- Dr. James Morrison (education)
1992
- Janyce Ahl (historian)
- Dr. Peter Bennett (museum director and professor)
- Thomas W. Bryant (civic leader, state legislator)
- Wilbur A. Pipkin (citrus-related inventor)
- Ken Riley (pro football, Florida A&M Athletic Director)
1991
- Wogan S. Badcock Sr. (Badcock Corp. founder)
- Dr. Wendell Blake (cancer research)
- Dr. W. Clark Still Jr. (researcher)
1990
- Dr. Louise Cason (pediatrician and medical professor)
- Gordon Judy (space research)
- Judge Charles Z. Smith (Washington State Supreme Court justice)
1989
- Gordon Dugger (scientist)
- A.J. Hackl (Herff Jones executive)
- Floyd E. Lay (athletics and education administrator)
1988
- Curtis Peterson (state senator)
- Marvin Pipkin (chemist and inventor, General Electric)
- Dr. G. Leonard Tyler (space research)
1987
- Clarence A. Boswell Sr. (lawyer)
- Lt. Gen. William H. Fitch (Marine Corps)
- Dick Pope Sr. (Cypress Gardens founder)
- W.H. Stuart Sr. (cattleman)
1986
- Judge Roy Amidon (State Circuit Court)
- Marshall Holloway (physicist)
- Floretta Dukes McKenzie (former Washington D.C. school superintendent and U.S. Department of Education secretary)
- James A. Sweet (Scotty's homebuilding founder)
1985
- U.S. Sen. Charles O. Andrews
- John A. Vincent Atanasoff (inventor of digital computer)
- Gov. Lawton Chiles
- Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. (citrus)
- Gov. Spessard Holland
- U.S. Congressman J. Hardin Peterson Sr.
- U.S. Senator Park Trammell
- Four-Star General James A. Van Fleet (U.S. Army)
