Tag Archives: Celebrity Teachers

Dennis DeYoung of Styx: He was once a music teacher

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Styx band member Dennis DeYoung was once an elementary school music teacher.

Many people know Dennis DeYoung, the celebrity vocalist and keyboardist who is one of the founding members of the rock band Styx. But did you know that he once taught music to elementary school students in Chicago suburbs?

Dennis was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 18, 1947, and raised in the Roseland neighborhood. When he was 16 years old, Dennis teamed up with his 15-year-old neighbors, Chuck and John Panozzo, to form a three-piece combo. Later, James Young and John Curulewski joined the group, and they changed their name to Tradewinds. The band renamed itself TW4 in 1968, and finally settled on the name Styx in 1970.

Before Styx hit it big, Dennis taught school at Springfield Elementary School  in Midlothian, a suburb of Chicago. “I came out of college with a degree in education, and I was a music teacher,” he remembered. “I would go into my 40 minutes in front of a class, then the next audience would come in. I saw teaching as one of the noblest professions, and it’s really undervalued. I don’t know about other cultures, but certainly in our culture,” he continued.

To read more, view this online article and interview published by Songwriter Universe.

Former teacher and Grey’s Anatomy actor Jesse Williams

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Jesse Williams, former history teacher and television actor famous for his role on Grey’s Anatomy.

Many excellent classroom teachers also distinguish themselves in the entertainment field. One teacher who has done this is Jesse Williams, a high school history teacher from Philadelphia who is well-known as an actor on Grey’s Anatomy.

Jesse was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 5, 1981. As a child, Jesse attended schools in the Chicago area. As a teenager, he attended Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, where he graduated in 1998. Jesse’s parents were very interested in the educational field. Not long after Jesse graduated from high school, his parents accepted positions in the public school system.

As a young man, Jesse attended college at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he majored in African American Studies and Film and Media Arts. After he earned his Bachelor’s degree, Jesse accepted a position teaching American Studies, African Studies, and English in a low-income public charter school.

Jesse’s passion for teaching stemmed from his childhood experiences in the classroom. “I grew up in Chicago in an under-served community, over-crowded classrooms that sometimes had two grades in a classroom,” Jesse once confided. “Then I moved to a suburban area and had a healthy public school experience. I found this incredible chasm between two of the many Americas we have. I got a much better education and resources because of my zip code,” he continued. “I wanted to be part of the solution, so I started working in my community when I was at Temple University,” he said. Jesse’s career as an educator spanned six years.

In 2009, Jesse was cast in the role of Dr. Jackson Avery on the hit television show Grey’s Anatomy. He has also made appearance on Law & Order and Beyond the Break. His feature credits include Brooklyn’s Finest, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Cabin in the Woods, the Butler, and Band Aid.

As a celebrity, the former teacher has used his influence to improve conditions for African Americans. For this work, Jesse won a BET Humanitarian Award. During his acceptance speech, the former teacher highlighted the evils of racial injustice and cultural appropriation.

To read more about Jesse Williams, read this online article published the Daily Press.

Art Garfunkel: Famous musician and former high school math teacher

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Art Garfunkel: Famous musician and former high school math teacher

Almost everyone has heard of the famous musician Art Garfunkel of Simon & Garfunkel fame. The duo brought us such famous hits as “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Sound of Silence,” and “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.” But did you know that Art was once a high school math teacher?

Art was born on November 5, 1941, in Forest Hills in Queens, New York. He was the middle of three sons born to Jewish parents, Rose and Jacob Garfunkel. Art earned his Bachelor’s degree in Art History at Columbia College in 1965. He earned his Master’s degree in Mathematics at Columbia University in 1967. He also completed coursework towards a doctorate in Mathematics Education.

Art met Paul Simon when they were in the sixth grade together at Forest Hills Junior Elementary School in Queens. The two were cast in a school production of Alice in Wonderland, and the long-lasting musical partnership blossomed from there. As adults, Simon & Garfunkel won five Grammy awards together, two in 1968 and three in 1970. In 1990, Art and Paul were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The celebrity once confided that if he had not had a career in music, he would have been happy with a career as a teacher. “I loved the curriculum. I loved the act of teaching,” Art once confided. In fact, in 1971-1972, after his breakup with Paul Simon, Art taught math to high school students at the Litchfield Preparatory School. The school is a private academy located in Litchfield, Connecticut.

To learn more about Art and his experience in the classroom, you can read this online the article at Forbes Magazine.

Teacher Anna Williams served as model for Lady Liberty coin

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Anna Willess Williams

Philadelphia teacher Anna Willess Williams served as the model for “Lady Liberty” on the Morgan silver dollar coin.

Frequently talented educators become famous for reasons that have nothing to do with the field of education. This is true of Anna Willess Williams, a Philadelphia schoolteacher who is best known for being the model for the image of Lady Liberty on the Morgan silver dollar coin.

Anna was born in Philadelphia in 1857. In 1876, when she was just an eighteen-year-old art student, she was asked to pose for engraver George T. Morgan, an acquaintance of a friend of her father, who had just been commissioned to produce a new series of coin designs for the US Mint. For his design, Morgan wanted to use the image of an American girl. After rejecting several candidates, Morgan selected Anna as his model because was so impressed with her profile. He once commented that it was the most perfect he had seen in the country. He described her as being fair in complexion, “with blue eyes and a Grecian nose,” with hair that was “almost her crowning glory… golden color, abundant, and light of texture,” worn in an attractive classical style.

After being promised that her identity would always be kept confidential, the young art student sat for five sessions in November, 1876. By the time the silver dollar bearing her likeness was first struck on March 11, 1878, Anna had begun her career as a classroom teacher. To Anna’s dismay, her identity as the image’s model was revealed shortly after the coin was released, resulting in instant fame. Anna received thousands of letters and visits at both her home and work place, and she was very disturbed by the attention. In her later years, she preferred not to discuss her modelling work with Morgan, dismissing the experience as an “incident of my youth.”

Anna refused offers for acting and stage work, and chose to continue in her position as a teacher at the House of Refuge. In 1891, she left her job as the principal of that school to become a teacher of kindergarten philosophy at Girls’ Normal School in Philadelphia. Though she was once engaged to an unknown suitor, Anna never married.

She retired from the teaching profession in 1924. This chalkboard champion passed away from complications suffered from a bad fall on April 17, 1926, at the age of sixty-eight.

Krazy George Henderson: The professional cheerleader (and former teacher) who invented the “wave”

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Krazy George Henderson

Former shop teacher, professional cheerleader, and inventor of the wave Krazy George Henderson

Under ordinary circumstances the word “Krazy” is not a word we would like to associate with a teacher, but in the case of Krazy George Henderson, we happily make an exception. As a professional cheerleader and inventor of the wave, former high school shop teacher Krazy George is just a fun guy.

George inaugurated his cheerleading career in 1968 while a student at San Jose State University. During those years he was also a member of the school’s judo team which one a national championship. After his graduation from college, George continued cheerleading at local sporting events where he became well-known for beating a drum and shouting cheers in his gravelly voice.

After his graduation from college, George became a shop teacher at Buckser High School in Santa Clara, California. In 1975, his enthusiastic cheerleading was noticed by local sports teams. Not long after, he was hired to be a team cheerleader for the San Jose Earthquakes, the California Golden Seals, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Before long, Krazy George made cheerleading his new career.

George takes credit for inventing the famous wave. He says he got the idea for the popular fan move in 1980 when he was leading cheers at a National Hockey League game at Northlands Coliseum in Edmongton, Alberta, Canada. His original plan was to have fans on one side of the arena jump to their feet and cheer, and then fans on the opposite side respond. But there was a delay in the  response from one section of the fans which led them to jump to their feet a few seconds later than the others on their side. Before long, George perfected the move, which he debuted at the Oakland A’s baseball game on October 15, 1981. “I started with three sections and it went about five or six sections down,” Krazy George told KPIX-TV in San Francisco in a 2010 interview. “I did it again and it went 11 and then all the way around. It was insane,” he continued. Crowds all over the country have been “waving” ever since.

The former educator has left the classroom, but as he nears his 75th birthday he has enjoyed a career as a cheerleader for 40 years. In addition to his appearances as a cheerleader at professional sports events, George has been featured in People Magazine, he’s been a guest on such television programs as Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth, and he’s been interviewed on numerous national and local radio shows.

Enjoy this video of Krazy George demonstrating the wave below: