Tag Archives: Teacher Athletes

Visit to 9/11 Memorial and Museum offers opportunity to remember Chalkboard Heroes

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Today, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, are uppermost in our minds, as remembrances and memorial ceremonies take place all over the country. In the winter of 2024, my husband Hal and I traveled to New York City, where we visited the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. We spent several hours there, wandering among the exhibits and reliving our own memories of that tragic day. But an exploration of this place also offers an excellent opportunity to incorporate a history lesson about this important event into the classroom curriculum.

The photographs of 2,977 people who perished in the terrorist attacked of Sept. 11, 2oo1, are shown in an exhibit at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

The 9/11 Memorial honors the 2,977 people who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people who were killed in the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993. The exhibits include a variety of authentic artifacts, media, and personal narratives.While we were there, I examined the exhibits for mention of the three teachers who perished in the crash of Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. The crash killed 125 souls on the ground and 64 souls on board the plane. Three of those individuals were Sarah Clark, Hilda E. Taylor, and James Debeuneure, teachers from Washington, DC. The three were selected by the National Geographic Society to escort a group of  elementary students on a field trip to Southern California. This field trip, known as the Sustainable Seas Expedition, gave underprivileged urban students the opportunity to spend time at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, where they would work as junior marine biologists and study oceanic life. Tragically, the lives of all three exemplary educators and the students they were escorting were lost that day. I found the names of each teacher inside the museum in a display of the 9/11 victims, and also on the memorial outside.

At the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City,  author and retired educator Terry Lee Marzell examines the names of three Chalkboard Heroes who tragically lost their lives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

If you are fortunate enough to be able to escort your students on a field trip to New York City, you will find the museum on the former site of the Twin Towers at 180 Greenwich Street. Otherwise, you and your students can explore the resources about the event provided at the museum website at National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Teachers can also consult the website Facing History & Ourselves for additional resources.

Olympic champion Samantha Livingstone was also a teacher and coach

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Samantha Arsenault Livingstone earned an Olympic Gold Medal in 2000. She later went on to teach science and coach swimming in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Photo credit: Samantha Livingstone

Oftentimes exceptional athletes become educators and/or coaches in our nation’s pubic schools. This is certainly true of Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, an Olympic Gold Medal winner who went on to teach and coach in Georgia.

Samantha was born on Oct. 11, 1981, in Peabody, Massachusetts. Her prowess as a student athlete became evident even when she was a young child. When she graduated from Gardner High School in 1999, her coaches recognized her potential as an Olympic athlete. By then, she had won several individual state championship titles, and she was instrumental in helping  her school garner two consecutive Massachusetts State team championships.

By the time she was 18, Samantha realized her potential when she qualified to compete in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. At these games she and her team members helped set a new Olympic record in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle, winning Gold Medals in the process.

After she returned home from the Olympics, Samantha enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she joined the swimming and diving team. In her sophomore year of college, she transferred to the University of Georgia, and she became a member of the swimming and diving team at that school, too.

Samantha earned both her Bachelor’s degree and her Master’s degree in Science Education from the University of Georgia. In addition, she is certified as a facilitator of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement and is also trained in STARR (Stress + Trauma Activate, Release + Rewire) protocols.

After earning her degrees, Samantha accepted a position as a science teacher at Norcross High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia. She taught there for six years, from 2005 to 2011. She also coached swimming for two local organizations, Gwinnett County Summer programs and Swim Atlanta.

In 2016, Samantha founded Livingstone High Performance and the Whole athlete Initiative (WAI), an organization dedicated to building mental health support systems for individual athletes and athletic teams. Learn more about this by clicking on this link: WAI.

Over the course of her career as an athlete, Samantha has earned many accolades. She was named the NCAA Georgia Woman of the Year in 2005, and received the NCAA Top VIII Award the same year. She garnered the Joel Eves Award at the University of Georgia for obtaining the highest GPA for all the athletes in her graduating class, and was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America 1st Team. In 2018 she was inducted into the Greenfield, Massachussets’ Bay State Games Hall of Fame in recognition for her lifetime of sports achievements as a participant in their annual sporting event.

Former NFL player Cory Schlesinger now teaches in Michigan

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Former NFL pro football player Cory Schlesinger now teaches technical education and vocational education  in Park Allen, Michigan. Photo credit: In-Play Sports Magazine

There are many examples of professional athletes who have gone from the sports arena into the public school classroom. One of these is Cory Schlesinger, a former NFL pro football player who now teaches high school in Michigan.

Cory was born on June 23, 1972, in Columbus, Nebraska. As a high school student, he played as a linebacker and fullback for Columbus High School. In his junior year, and again in his senior year, he was named to Nebraska’s All-State team. He also won the 189-pound wrestling state championship twice during his high school years. During his college years, Cory played for the Cornhuskers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In his senior year there, Cory scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the 1995 Orange Bowl that helped his university capture their first national title.

Cory currently teaches computer-aided design, drafting, and vocational education classes at Allen Park High School in Allen Park, Michigan. But every one of the 120 students in his classes is well aware that Cory is a retired NFL fullback who played 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions. His nickname then was the “Sledge,” a player who blocked his opponents and brought them down like a sledge hammer.

Despite this reputation, the former pro-football player has a great heart, patiently instructing his students, conducting a school-wide strength and conditioning program for both boys and girls, and donating his time to charitable events organized by the Lions. “Cory’s such a generous, kind and wonderful person,” described former Allen Park High  principal Janet Wasko in 2013. “He doesn’t stand on ceremony, but everyone knows who he is. He cares about the whole student body. It’s not just about football,” she said.

Cory Schlesinger: the “sledge hammer” that became a true Chalkboard Champion.

 

Felmon Motley: Teacher, Civil Rights activist, and stellar athlete

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Educator, veteran, Civil Rights activist, and stellar athlete Felmon Motley.  Photo Credit: Find a Grave

Many excellent educators are also known for their careers as stellar athletes. One of these was Felmon Motley, a successful football player who was inducted into the Delaware Hall of Fame. He was also a veteran and an activist during the Civil Rights Movement.

Felmon was born on March 18, 1921, in Autaugaville, Alabama. He was raised in Anniston, where he attended Cobb High School. However, in his senior year, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he graduated from Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in 1940.

After his graduation in 1940, Felmon enrolled in Alabama A&M University, where he played for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs as both a lineman and a fullback. In 1942, Felmon transferred to Delaware State College, where he played for the school’s Hornets.

During World War II, Felmon served his country from 1943 to 1945, playing on a military service team at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. While on this team, he played in the 1945 Copper Bowl, scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of the game.

In 1946, Felmon returned to Delaware, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1947. He earned a Master’s degree from there in 1952. After earning his degrees, Felmon accepted a position as an industrial arts teacher at Seaford High. There he became the school’s first African American staff member. In all, his career as a teacher and guidance counselor spanned 37 years in public schools in Seaford, Dover, and Wilmington. He retired in 1984.

During the 1960’s, the former football player became an activist in the Civil Rights Movement, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Selma, Montgomery, and the 1963 March on Washington.

In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, Felmon served was the President of the Delaware State Alumni Association from 1963 to 1967. He was a life member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, serving the organization at the national, district and local levels. He was also a 32nd degree Mason.

For his lifelong achievements, Felmon was one of the first inductees into Delaware State University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. He was also inducted into the State of Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and was one of the first inductees the Delaware State University Alumni Hall of Fame.

This Chalkboard Champion, veteran, Civil Rights activist, and stellar athlete passed away on Aug. 28, 2004, in Milford, Delaware. He was 83 years old. He is interred in Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, Delaware.

Elem teacher Evelyn Kawamoto Konno was an Olympic athlete

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Elementary teacher Evelyn Kawamoto Konno was an exceptional swimmer who once competed in the 1952 Olympics. Photo credit: Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame

There are numerous outstanding classroom teachers who have also become accomplished athletes. One of these is Evelyn Kawamoto Konno, an exceptional swimmer who once competed in the Olympics.

Evelyn was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sept. 17, 1933. She was raised in poverty. Her mother, Sadako, was a single parent. To support the family, Sadako took in laundry and ironing.

As a teenager, Evelyn attended McKinley High School in Honolulu. In 1949, she helped lead the Hawaii Swim Club to the National Amateur Athletic Union Team championship in San Antonio, Texas. Although she was only 15 years old, she set American records in both the 300-meter individual medley and the 200-meter breaststroke in that competition.

In 1952, Evelyn represented the United States at the Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland. She garnered bronze medals in the 400-meter individual freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay events. At the same event, she placed second in the 110-yard breaststroke and was on the winning 880-yard relay. In fact, she became the first Japanese American woman to win an Olympic medal. For these accomplishments, in 2000 she was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1956, Evelyn married her fellow Olympian from Hawaii, Ford Konno, who won four medals at the 1952 Games. Several months after their wedding, Ford won a silver medal in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay at the Melbourne Olympic Games. Two daughters were born to the couple.

When she was 30 years old, Evelyn enrolled in courses at the University of Hawaii. After earning her degree, she worked as an elementary school teacher in Kaneohe, a city in Honolulu County. Later she worked in Wailupe, until her retirement from the teaching profession.

Sadly, Evelyn passed away on Jan. 27, 2017 in her native state of Hawaii. She was 83 years old.