Tag Archives: Celebrity Teachers

Teachers who have become famous for achievements outside the profession of education.

Chalkboard Champion Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan Is Also An Olympic Competitor

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Many talented educators distinguish themselves in fields other than education, and a perfect example of this is Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan, a talented educator who also happens to be an Olympic athlete.

Gwynneth was born on August 21, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey. As a youngster, Gwynneth attended Phillips Exeter Academy for two years, where she graduated in 1983. There she played both field hockey and squash. After her graduation from high school, she enrolled in Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, earning her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1987, and her doctorate in math from the University of Colorado in 1999, working primarily in number theory. She did post-doctorate work with at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Gwynneth’s first teaching experience was at Hood College, but she  currently teaches math at Phillips Exeter Academy. At Phillips Exeter, Gwynneth is the director of the Exeter Mathematics Institute, and serves as the head coach of the girls varsity cross country team, in addition to her roles as dormitory adviser and mathematics instructor. She was the first Smith Family Instructor of Mathematics from 2007 to 2013, and she received a Brown Award for her teaching in 2011.

During her years at Smith, Gwynneth took up running, and won the NCAA Division III title in the 3,000 meters two times. She qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain, where she competed in the 10,000 meter race.Four years later, she was an alternate for the women’s marathon for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia.

Drag-Racing Champion Al Young and Chalkboard Champion Al Young: They Are One and the Same

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$RZLVHDHSo many chalkboard champions have earned recognition in fields other than education, and Al Young is a great example of this. Al taught high school in Seattle, Washington, for thirty-seven years, but he is also famous as a former world champion drag racer.

Alfred John Young, a Chinese American, was born in 1946 in Whittier, California. His father was a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and later a businessman; his mother was an artist and art collector. Al and his two siblings were raised in San Francisco, where Al graduated from George Washington High School. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Washington where he majored in English literature. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1968 and his master’s degree in 1972.

After his college graduation, Al served for many years as a teacher, tutor, counselor, and advocate for the Upward Bound program. He also founded one of Seattle’s first alternative schools, the Summit K-12 School, in 1972. In the thirty-seven years that this gifted teacher worked in Seattle public schools, Al instructed vocational courses such auto shop and physical education, electives such as film study and Chinese cooking, and rigorous academic courses such as history, AP American government, and AP comparative government and politics. He has also served as the adviser to school teams that participated in the Chrysler Trouble Shooting contests, YMCA Mock trial competitions, Junior State of America conventions, and he has led high school groups to the South Pacific and Washington D. C. for close-up learning. During his teaching career, this remarkable educator also coached volleyball, softball, and basketball.

In the world of drag racing, Al competed in Pro Bracket racing. He has won the American Hot Rod Association World Championship, and between the years of 1976 and 1996, he twice won major drag racing events, and three times was declared the winner of Bremerton Raceway’s Day Fire Nationals. In 1988, Al was inducted into the Firebird Raceway Bracketeer All-Stars in Boise, Idaho. Al has also been involved with the preparation of classic high performance race cars.

Al Young has been honored as one of Seattle Public Schools’ “Heroes in the Classroom” by such entities as Vulcan, Inc., Russell Investments, and the Seattle Seahawks organization.  In 2008, this accomplished chalkboard champion retired from the teaching profession. His wife, Vicki Johnson Young, is also a retired school teacher, having taught in the Seattle public school system for twenty-eight years. As retirees, Al and Vicki have driven throughout the United States and Canada in their 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner Muscle car. Al has also practiced martial arts and actively served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle and worked for the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Physical Education Teacher Wesley Darcel Walker Played NFL Football

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$RILVQ8RMany times talented teachers earn recognition for themselves in fields other than education. This is certainly the case for elementary school physical education teacher Wesley Darcel Walker. This chalkboard champion was once a player for the in the National Football League.

Wesley was born in 1955 in San Bernardino, California. He graduated from Carson High School in Carson, California, where he played football for his high school, setting many school records for receiving and returns. Following his high school graduation, Wesley attended the University of California, where he also distinguished himself as a gifted football player, having been named as an All-American.

After his college years, Wesley became a player for the New York Jets. As an NFL wide receiver, Wesley was known for his great speed, averaging over twenty yards per reception over the many seasons he played. He led the league in receiving yards in 1978, and that year was named his team’s Most Valuable Player. He was elected to the Pro Bowl twice: in 19878 and 1982. At the time of his retirement from the game, Wesley held the all-time record of second in receiving yards for the Jets. And he did all this despite a handicap: he’s legally blind in one eye.

Wesley is now employed as a physical education teacher at Park View Elementary School in Kings Park, Long Island, New York, and occasionally works on the side as a sports radio show commentator.

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Clayton Brough: The Teacher and the Television Weatherman

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$RKZAZ3VVery often gifted teachers earn recognition in fields other than education. One such teacher is Robert Clayton Brough, a retired middle school teacher who is also well known as a climatologist and television personality. Known widely as Clayton Brough, he is probably best known for his position as a long-time weatherman of ABC4 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a position he held for twenty-eight years. He also worked on the weather team at CBS2.

Clayton was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 29, 1950. As a youngster, he was a longtime member of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1967 Clayton was selected by his district to report on the status of Scouting in America to President Lyndon Johnson. After his high school graduation, Clayton enrolled in Brigham Young University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1974 and his master’s degree in 1975, both in the field of geography.

During the years he worked as an on-air weatherman, Clayton also taught science, geography, and journalism in middle school. His first teaching assignment was at Springville Junior High in 1975 in Springville, Utah, where he worked between 1975 and 1978. Between 1978 and 1984, Clayton took a break from teaching, returning to the profession to teach at Springville in 1984. In 1986,  he transferred to Eisenhower Junior High in Taylorsville, Utah. Clayton has also served as an adjunct instructor of geography at Brigham Young University starting in 1989 and at the University of Utah  beginning in 2005. He has also written scientific articles and doctrinal books for the Mormon Church.

This gifted educator retired from his thirty-one-year career in the teaching profession in 2012.

Remembering Christa McAuliffe: The First Teacher in Space

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$ROLQWTAWithout a doubt, one of the saddest days of my teaching career was the day our nation lost the first educator to go into space, New Hampshire history teacher Christa McAuliffe. Fairly new to the profession, I was so proud that a fellow teacher had been selected as the first civilian in space, and a little star-struck by the professionalism, intelligence, and infectious enthusiasm of the chosen candidate, selected from among 11,000 other highly-qualified applicants.
While on her mission, Christa planned to write a journal of her experiences as an astronaut from the perspective that even an ordinary citizen can take center stage in the making of history. She was to have been the perfect example of that. Additionally, she was scheduled to perform lessons and simple scientific experiments aboard the space shuttle which would be viewed by students in classrooms all over America.
Tragically, Christa was one of seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after lift-off. The journal she never got to finish was replaced by A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space, written by Grace George Corrigan, Christa’s grief-stricken mother. The book is a tender tribute to an extraordinary teacher.A Journal for Christa can be ordered form amazon. I have also included a chapter about Christa McAuliffe in the book I am currently writing, tentatively entitled Chalkboard Heroes.