Tag Archives: Secondary Teachers

American-Israeli Jim Boatwright: Teacher, coach, and pro basketball player

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Many accomplished athletes go on to distinguished careers as educators and coaches. This is certainly true of history teacher and basketball coach Jim Boatwright.

Jim was born in Twin Falls, Minidoka County, Idaho, on December 10, 1951. When he was a youngster, his family moved to Rupert, Idaho, where Jim attended Minico High School. While there, Jim lettered in basketball, track, and golf. In basketball, Jim led his school team to back-to-back state championship games (1969, 1970). In addition, Jim’s high school honors include being named a Sunkist All-American, a Top 10 High School Player in America, and a participant in the prestigious Dapper Dan Classic held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event is now known as the McDonald’s All-American Team. The talented basketball player graduated in 1970, and was later was inducted into the Idaho Basketball Hall of Fame.

After his high school graduation, Jim played on scholarship at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah, where he was the leading scorer during both his junior and senior seasons. In addition, Jim was selected to play in the Pizza Hut East/West All-Star game in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was named Utah State University Athlete of the Year in 1974. Recently, USU voted Jim one of the Top 25 Athletes of the Century.

Jim graduated from Utah State University in 1974, having earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Upon his graduation, Jim joined the European Professional Basketball League and played eight years for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel. During these years, Jim’s team won seven championship titles, six cup titles, and two European championship titles. Jim was instrumental in the Maccabi team’s win the European championship in 1977. He led Maccabi to a second win in 1980. Jim became an Israeli citizen, and in 1980 was named a member of the Israeli Olympic Basketball team for the Olympic Games held in Moscow.

In 1982, Jim retired from professional basketball and returned to the US with his former wife, Chris, and their four young children. In 1988, the former professional athlete began teaching and coaching in Star Valley, Wyoming, leading his team to a state championship. For his efforts, Jim was named Wyoming’s Coach of the Year. Jim later returned to his alma mater, Utah State, where he coached for three years with Head Coach Kohn Smith.

After a few years, Jim relocated to Arizona to teach and coach. There he met his second wife, Jennifer Magrane Boatwright. Jim and Jennifer taught and coached in several Arizona towns and also in California, but he returned to the Gem State ten years ago when he accepted a position as a social science teacher and assistant basketball coach at Wood River High School in Hailey, Blaine County, Idaho. In all, Jim’s career as an educator spanned 23 years.

Jim passed away on February 11, 2013, after suffering for a brief time from an aggressive cancer of the liver. He was 61. To learn more about this chalkboard champion see HJNews.com.

Benjamin Abbot: Teacher of Influential Politicians

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It is fascinating to learn about prominent and influential teachers throughout American history. This post is about Benjamin Abbot, an educator from Massachusetts who was the teacher for many influential eminent politicians and great thinkers in our nation’s past.

Benjamin Abbot was born on September 17, 1762, in Andover, Essex County, Massachussets. The son of John Abbot, Benjamin’s ancestors had settled in Andover since the earliest days of that town’s existence. In 1872, Benjamin enrolled in Philips Exeter Academy, a prestigious private institution founded in 1781 by prominent New England banker and businessman John Philips. Following his graduation from Philips, Benjamin enrolled in Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree there in 1788. In 1811, Benjamin earned a doctorate-level law degree from Dartmouth College located in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Benjamin accepted his first position as a teacher when he went to work at his alma mater, Philips Academy. There he taught Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Among his students were political figures Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, George Bancroft, and Lewis Cass, and educators Jared Sparks and Francis Bowen. Later, Benjamin served as the school’s second headmaster. When Benjamin retired in 1838, Daniel Webster honored his former teacher with a tribute.

Benjamin Abbot passed away on October 25, 1849, in Exeter. He was 87 years old. In 1815, Benjamin was elected to the American Antiquarian Society, an academic society that maintains a national research library of American history and culture. To learn more about this organization, click on the link American Antiquarian Society.

South Carolina’s Kate Vixon Wofford: A Groundbreaker in the Field of Education

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Many gifted classroom teachers have proven to be groundbreakers in the field of education. This is certainly true of Kate Vixon Wofford, a high school teacher from Laurens, South Carolina.

Kate Vixon Wofford

Kate was born on October 20, 1894, the eldest of ten children born to John and Cleo (Cunningham) Wofford. As a young girl, Kate attended Winthrop College, where she graduated with honors in 1916.

Kate accepted her first position as an educator at Laurens High School in Laurens, South Carolina. When World War I broke out, the intrepid teacher joined the United States Navy, where she served as a yeoman. She was one of the first women to enlist in the war effort. After the war was won, Kate returned to her classroom at Laurens.

At a time when women were not generally active in the political arena, Kate broke down many barriers. In 1922, she was elected to the position of County Superintendent of Schools, becoming the first woman in the state of South Carolina to be elected to a public office. She served two terms in this position. In addition, she served a term as the first president of the South Carolina State Teachers Association. And in 1929, she was selected to be a delegate to the World Conference in Education held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Kate Vixon Wofford

A lifelong learner, Kate returned to school in 1930. She earned her master’s degree from Cornell University in 1931, and her doctorate from Columbia University in 1934. Following this, Kate accepted a position as the Director of Rural Education at State Teachers College in Buffalo, New York. An accomplished author, Kate wrote two books about education: Modern Education in the Small Rural School in 1938, and Teaching in Small Schools in 1946. These books were widely acclaimed. She also published pieces for the National Education Association.

In 1947, Kate was selected to be the Director of Elementary Education at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In 1952, she threw her energy into organizing a program for the Turkish Ministry of Education, successfully gaining funding and then directing a course of study for 25 Turkish educators. Her report of this program, entitled The Workshop Way with Foreign Students, was published in 1954.

Sadly, that same year, Kate learned she had cancer. She passed away at the age of 60 on October 31, 1954, in Gainesville. She is interred at the New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery in Laurens, South Carolina.

During her lifetime, Kate was a member of the Daughters of American Revolution and the National Council of Administrative Women in Education. She was also a member of the honors association Pi Gamma Mu. To read more about this chalkboard champion, see South Carolina Encyclopedia.

Oregon’s Edward Diller: Foreign Language Educator Extraordinaire

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Many teachers who exhibit talents in the classroom also achieve accomplishments on an international scale. One of these is Edward Diller, a high school foreign language instructor who made significant contributions to German studies.

Edward came from humble origins. He was born on December 14, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the youngest of six children born to Isaac and Frieda Diller. His father, who worked in a hat factory, had immigrated to the US from Austria-Hungary in 1910.

During WWII, Edward served our country in the US Marine Corps. Once the war was won, he returned to school, earning his both his bachelor’s  (1953) and his master’s (1954) from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1961, Edward completed the requirements for his doctorate at Middlebury College located in Middlebury, Vermont.

During the 1950’s and early 1960’s, Edward taught German language classes at Beverly Hills High School in California. He also served as the foreign language coordinator for the Beverly Hills Unified School District. In the 1960’s, the gifted teacher left the Golden State and headed to the Rocky Mountain State to work as a professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. In 1965, he relocated to Eugene, Oregon, to join the faculty of the University of Oregon. There he served as the director of the Robert D. Clark Honors College from 1972 to 1977, and as the Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 1974 to 1977.

Edward’s brilliance was obvious to many in the academic field. He was selected to be a Fulbright visiting lecturer to Germany in 1967, and he garnered a Fulbright research grant in 1977 to fund his research studies in Freiburg, Germany. Additionally, he was awarded Fulbright Research Professorships in Braunschweig and Regensburg in Germany,  and was named Carl Schurz Visiting Professor at the University of Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany, in 1970.

During his professional career, Edward was named to a number of prestigious leadership positions. During the 1980-1981 school year, he served as the resident director of the Oregon Study Center in Stuttgart, West Germany. He also served as the president of the American Association of Teachers of German from 1978 to 1980; on the Executive Board of the Joint National Committee for Languages from 1979 to 1980; and the chairman of the Selection Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany and the US Office of Education Grants in 1979. The brilliant educator also served on the Board of Trustees for the American Council on German Studies in 1977. Edward excelled as an academic author as well. He published numerous articles, books, and book reviews, and made important contributions to textbooks for Spanish, French, and German languages.

One of this talented educator’s major skills was his ability to win grants. He won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and another from the National Science Foundation to produce projects that improved relations between Oregon’s Native American tribes and local Caucasian residents. With a colleague, he garnered another grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund summer seminars for high school teachers.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on March 30, 1985, at the young age of 59. He is interred at Rest-Haven Memorial Park in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. You can learn more about him at Revolvy. You can also visit the Edward Diller author page at amazon.com.

 

West Virginia’s Lavinia Norman: The Chalkboard Champion of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority

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Many dedicated educators have devoted their entire professional lives to the classroom. One such educator is Lavinia Norman, a high school languages teacher from West Virginia who is also known as one of the original founders of the prestigious Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Lavinia was born on December 14, 1882, in Montgomery, Fayette County, West Virginia. She was the eighth of sixteen children in the family of Thomas and Virginia Norman. Young Lavinia spent her early years in elementary schools in West Virginia, but when her father found employment with the US Postal Service, the family moved to Washington, DC.

In 1901, Lavinia enrolled in preparatory school at Howard University, a traditionally Black college located in our nation’s capital. At the time, there were very few women enrolled at Howard. While at Howard, Lavinia became one of the 16 original founding members of the prestigious Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The young scholar graduated cum laude in 1905 with a degree in English and French. Later, she returned to college to earn a second bachelor’s degree from West Virginia State College, another historically Black university located in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1934.

After her graduation, Lavinia accepted a position as a teacher at Douglass High School in Huntington, West Virginia, where she worked her entire professional career. During her tenure, she taught English, French, and Latin. She also served as her high school’s drama coach and the adviser of the school newspaper. In 1950, this chalkboard champion retired after a distinguished career of forty years in education. 

Lavinia passed away in Washington, DC, on January 22, 1983, at the age of 100. To learn more about this amazing educator, click on this link, Virginia Commonwealth University, or the website for Alpha Kappa Alpha.