DONALD MEADOR

Class of 1959

Mr. Meador, a member of the first graduating class of South Houston, has been a fixture within the
Leadership Council of the Texas United Methodist Church Conference hierarchy for many years. His service
record includes his duties as senior pastor at John Wesley Methodist Church in Houston.

Dr. RON RUCKER

Class of 1960

A basketball standout at South Houston, Dr. Rucker guided San Jacinto College to its first national championship in 1968. He served 44 years at the college, the final 13 as vice chancellor for administration.

JAMES R. SMITH

Class of 1960

A prominent figure in state education circles, Mr. Smith is one of only two South Houston graduates
to be honored as a Distinguished Alumnus by the Pasadena ISD. He served as principal at Miller Intermediate
for 16 years before assuming the role of director of transportation for another eight years.

DAN McILHANY
Class of 1960

McIlhany is the only South Houston graduate to play in the National Football League. A football standout at South Houston, he played quarterback at Texas A&M. In 1962, he returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown with two seconds left in the game to beat Texas Tech 7-3 and give the Aggies one of their biggest victories of the era. He played 10 games as a safety with the Los Angeles Rams in 1965 and intercepted two passes. McIlhany earned his degree in veterinary medicine in 1970 and has owned Towne North Animal Hospital in San Antonio since 1984.

LARRY CROW

Class of 1962

Mr. Crow rose to the rank of chief of police for the City of La Marque. He used that as a springboard
to earn election to the La Marque city council and then to the mayor’s office, where he served from 2002 to
2009.

Dr. HARRIET DURR ROMO

Class of 1962

Dr. Romo has distinguished herself in a variety of academic circles for her extensive research in sociology,
especially issues of childhood development and the cultural roles of young Hispanic women. She is the wife of
UTSA president Dr. Ricardo Romo and the director of UTSA’s Mexico Center.

GENIE LONG RIPLEY

Class of 1962

The widowed wife of a Houston police officer, Mr. Ripley has served the Pasadena ISD for years in a
variety of roles, including her current position as manger of the Pasadena ISD’s Police Department operations
and also as co-administrator for her class’s South Houston scholarship fund.

TIMOTHY SHAUNTY

Class of 1962

A former faculty member at South Houston, Mr. Shaunty applied his expertise as an agricultural
researcher and economics teacher to become a driving force in the advancement of economics instruction
statewide. He is a past president of the Texas Council on Economic Education.  

NORTON WHITE

Class of 1962

A successful businessman, Mr. White played a central role in efforts by the Class of 1962 to provide scholarships to South Houston graduates. For many years, he served as executor and administrator of that
scholarship fund.

R. JOEL SWANSON

Class of 1963

Mr. Swanson’s legal career carried him to the position of senior partner at the prestigious law firm of
Baker Botts in Houston. An expert on securities and corporate finance, he has been a fixture on Texas Monthly magazine’s list of Texas Super Lawyers. 

Honor bestowed posthumously…

NATHAN ISGUR

Class of 1964

Thought to be the only Presidential Scholar in South Houston High School history, Dr. Isgur earned his undergraduate degree from Cal Tech and later his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Through his research
and writings, he became one of the world’s most renowned theoretical physicists.  In 2001, just three months
before his death, he won the J.J. Sakurai Prize from the American Physical Society, sharing it with two others
for “the construction of the heavy quark mass expansion, and the discovery of the heavy quark symmetry, in
quantum chromo dynamics, which led to a quantitative theory of the decays of C and B flavored hadrons.”
Dr. Isgur was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

CHERYL WILLIAMS BOLEN

Class of 1964

Mrs. Bolen’s diverse career has taken her from PTA officer to English teacher to newspaper reporter to historical romance novelist. She is the recipient of numerous Press Club awards. And her novels have earned her
several awards, including “Best New Book” and “Notable New Author” laurels to launch her novelist career in
1998.

HERMAN WILLIAMS

Class of 1964

One of the most prominent members of the Southeast Houston business community, Mr. Williams is a
highly successful real estate investor and business man. Co-owner of Rountree Williams Men’s Wear, he is past chairman of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and is one of the most generous and committed members of
the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation. In 2007, he was named the Distinguished Citizen of the Year by the
school district.

BOB ALLEN

Class of 1965

One of the most lauded football players in South Houston history, Mr. Allen went on to star on the
gridiron at Texas Tech, where he was the Red Raiders’ leading receiver in 1968. A highly successful
Friendswood businessman, he stepped forward in recent years to become perhaps the school’s most generous benefactor. His contributions to the Trojans’ athletic program reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.

EMORY GADD

Class of 1965

Most of the most recognized and respected individuals in the South Belt community, Mr. Gadd serves
as youth minister at Sagemont Church, and unofficially, as a community counselor and confident to two
generations of local residents. He is a committed volunteer in numerous Pasadena ISD endeavors. In 2005, he
was named Distinguished Citizen of the Year by the school district.

MIKE KOCYON

Class of 1965

 Mike Kocyon, Class of 1965: Kocyon rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army and ranks as
perhaps South Houston High’s most decorated service member. During combat service in Vietnam as a member
of the Army’s Fifth Special Forces Group, he earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Army
Commendation Medal with a bronze oak leaf cluster, the National Defense Medal, the Vietnam Service medal
with three bronze service stars, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross and several others. Kocyon died in
2005 and will be honored posthumously.

RICHARD K. WILLARD

Class of 1965

A graduate of Emory University and Harvard Law School, Mr. Williams served as Assistant Attorney
General of the United States from 1983 to 1988 during the Reagan Administration. In that role, he served as
head of the Civil Rights Division, the largest division in the Department of Justice. As a judicial clerk, he worked
for current Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, then a justice on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and
later under Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmon. A former vice-president and senior counsel for
Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Mr. Willard is today a senior partner with the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in
Washington, D.C.

Honor bestowed posthumously…

Dr. PAUL ZANOWIAK

Class of 1965

One of the most unique individuals to graduate from any Pasadena ISD high school, Dr. Zanowiak founded
the Smile Store, the largest provider of dental services to underprivileged children in Texas. He also established
dental clinics in Third World areas, including one at the foot of Mt. Everest in his beloved Himalayas. An
adventurer, an author, an artist, and a patron of the arts, Dr. Zanowiak was selected in 2004 as a Distinguished
Alumnus by the Pasadena ISD.

CYNTHIA L. BRYANT

Class of 1966

Ms. Bryant is a clinical professor at the University of Texas Law School, where she teaches dispute
resolution and supervises the school’s Mediation Clinic. She helped establish the Children’s Rights Clinic in 1980.
And for three years, she led the largest division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office in her duties as Deputy
Attorney General for Child Support. She has served on the Texas Supreme Court’s Task Force on Foster Care
and later on another task force dealing with Child Protection Case Management. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her service to the legal protection of children in Texas.

LOIS WILLIAMS

Class of 1966

The daughter of Dorothy Williams, a long-time South Houston faculty member who taught math to
many in this audience, Ms. Williams rose through the ranks of the oil and gas business to become director of
oil and lease management for the Amoco Corporation.

WAYNE ADAMS

Class of 1967 

A standout lineman during his football days at South Houston, Mr. Adams returned to Pasadena to become
one of the Pasadena’s ISD’s most dedicated and energetic educators. He served as principal at Pasadena High
School and, through his work with the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation, currently serves as the principal
organizer of the annual McDonald’s Texas Invitational Basketball Tournament, one of the state’s most prestigious
high school athletic events.

The HONORABLE SUZANNE COVINGTON

Class of 1967

Judge Covington retired last year after 17 years as judge of the 201^st State District Court in Travis
County. A University of Texas Law School graduate, she began her career as a legal aid attorney in Arizona and
later in Boston. She returned to Texas as a member of the Legal Aid Society of Central Texas and served as
director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at the UT Law School. The Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas
has named its Pro Bono Service Award in honor of Judge Covington.

Dr. DARRELL HARRIS

Class of 1967

Dr. Harris combined his love of music with his Christian beliefs to form one of the most influential
endeavors in the Christian music community. He founded Star Song Communications, a prominent Nashville
recording company responsible for promoting the careers of some of the most popular Christian music artists.
Star Song was later acquired by international recording giant EMI. Dr. Harris’s ministerial work now revolves
around his affiliation with the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Orlando, Fla.

Dr. JANE HICKERSON THIELEMANN-DOWNS

Class of 1968

For the past 18 years, Dr. Thielemann-Downs has served as an associate professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, teaching courses in reading, language arts and multiculturalism. Her areas of research include teacher preparation and retention; middle and high school English/Language Arts instruction ,and multicultural attitudes and beliefs.

WAYNE LUTZ

Lt. Col., United States Air Force, retired

Class of 1968

Among his many prestigious Air Force roles, Lt. Col. Lutz was selected as one of the first three test pilots assigned to the development of the B-1 bomber. He later became operations officer of the Air Force’s Test Pilot School. He joined the civilian sector as a Boeing engineer and later became Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot for Flight Operations. He retired after 36 years in aviation and now serves as an instructor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at Texas A&M, where he once served in the Corps of Cadets.

HERMAN MUNSTER III

Class of 1968

  Mr. Munster has served in a variety of faith-based roles over the years, including chairmanship of the Greater
Houston Youth for Christ.  He continues to serve as a liaison between South Houston his graduating class, one
of the most active of all Trojan alumni groups. Mr. Munster oversees the annual selection of South Houston
scholarship recipients, one boy and one girl. Each is awarded $1,500 from funds provided by the Class of 1968.

Dr. MARVIN BAZA

Class of 1969

  A long-time area optometrist, Dr. Baza is the founder and director of the Pasadena Eye Center, one of the
most established eye clinics in Pasadena. Dr. Baza has been practicing optometry since 1975. He is a graduate
of the University of Houston and a member of the Rotary Club of Pasadena.

TERRY BROTHERTON

Class of 1969

  For all of his remarkable success as a Pasadena real estate investor and developer, Mr. Brotherton has made a
far more remarkable impact through his commitment to various community causes. He is a past chairman of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and one of the most active members of the Pasadena ISD Education
Foundation. In 2009, he was honored as the district’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year.

MICHAEL LINDSEY

Class of 1969

  A partner in the Los Angeles-based Paul Hastings Law Firm, Mr. Lindsey is a nationally known expert in
intellectual property, cyber law, anti-trust and trade regulation issues. Widely published, he has been named to
the list of Southern California Super Lawyers on multiple occasions and is frequently cited in national legal
“Who’s Who” publications.

The REV. Dr. KAREN SHERMAN DORRIS

Class of 1969

  Dr. Dorris serves as senior pastor at Faith United Methodist Church in Richmond. She is a past director
of the Texas United Methodist Church Conference. She graduated from the Perkins School of Theology at
SMU in 1977 as the highest ranking graduate in her class. She received her Doctor of Ministry degree from
Perkins in 1991.

DEBORAH WRIGLEY

Class of 1969

  As a reporter for Channel 13, KTRK in Houston, Ms. Wrigley has become one of the most familiar faces
in local TV journalism. She has covered events ranging from hurricanes to storms in the Texas legislature. She
is a past Texas Headliners Award winner for her coverage of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.

AL CARTER

Class of 1970

A University of Texas graduate, Carter worked for more than three decades as a sports writer and editor for major newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma, earning several awards. He was a sports columnist for the Houston Chronicle, Houston Post and the Dallas Morning News over a 22-year span. He was honored as Texas Sports Writer of the Year in 1985 after earning the same honor for Oklahoma, as a columnist for the Daily Oklahoman, in 1980. He covered numerous Super Bowls, college bowl games and other championship events. Carter was named a San Jacinto College distinguished alumnus in 1986. He left newspapers in 2008 and taught two years at South Houston before taking his current position as communications specialist with the Pasadena ISD.

DONELLA COFFEY

Class of 1970

  Miss Coffey’s diverse career began with divinity studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. There, she helped establish a community food bank. A decade later, she moved to the West Coast for
a second career as a Hollywood production assistant with credits in movies and several hit TV shows, including
“Ally McBeal,” “Picket Fences” and “the Practice.”

The HONORABLE MARVIN ISGUR

Class of 1970

  Judge Isgur presides over the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned his MBA
from the Stanford University Business School in the late 1970s and then returned to Texas to embark on a
successful real estate investment venture.  His interests soon turned to a legal career and he enrolled in the
University of Houston Law Center. He was appointed judge of the federal bankruptcy court in 2004.

Dr. MARY LUND

Class of 1970

  A Rice graduate with advanced degrees from USC and UCLA, Dr. Lund earned a fellowship to advance
her studies in psychology at Cambridge University in England. She is now a leading expert on the psychological
impact of divorce on children. In high demand as a lecturer and media source, she has appeared as a guest on
“The Today Show” and the Lifetime cable program, “Growing Up Together.”

GARY MOSS

Class of 1970

  A basketball standout at South Houston, Mr. Moss helped lead Sam Houston State University to a national
small-college championship in 1973 and then eased into a college coaching career. After leading Laredo Junior
College to national prominence, he took head coaching jobs at West Texas State and then at his college alma
mater, Sam Houston State. He was serving as coach of the Kuwaiti national team in 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded the country. Back home in Texas, Coach Moss moved into the high school coaching ranks and used that
as a springboard to two high-school principal positions, the last at Tomball High School. Coach Moss is a
member of the Sam Houston State Athletic Hall of Fame.

KEN VANWAY

Class of 1970

  A Texas A&M graduate, Mr. Vanway is now known as the estate planner for the stars, in and around Austin.
An authority on estate and corporate planning, Mr. Vanway sports a clientele list that includes Texas Longhorn
coaching legend Darrell Royal, many former UT sports standouts and many high ranking figures in state
government. His Vanway Law Firm is located in Lakeway, Texas.

SUSAN COBB DUFF

Class of 1971

  Less than a decade ago, Ms. Duff left Texas for Hollywood with her two young daughters in tow – and soon thereafter helped make entertainment history. Her daughters, Haylie and Hilary Duff, blossomed into talented
singers and actresses, as well as outstanding role models for a generation of young girls. Ms. Duff’s role as
mother, manager and confidant has been instrumental in providing her girls with stability in Hollywood’s often
unstable environment. Ms. Duff has garnered her own Hollywood credits for her role as producer in several TV
and movie ventures and is well known for her contributions to numerous charitable causes.

Dr. LUPITA PALOS

Class of 1971

  Dr. Palos is an assistant professor in the Department of Symptom Research in the Division of Internal
Medicine at M.D. Anderson Hospital. She serves as a nurse scientist in symptom management and is also
licensed as a social worker and registered nurse.  She has been appointed to a variety of panels and boards in
her field and took onn the role of principal investigator for a five-year study of cancer symptoms on minority
caregivers, funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. GREGORY FULLER

Class of 1972

  Dr. Fuller is the chief of pathology and the chief of the neuropathology section at M.D. Anderson Hospital.
He sits on the editorial boards of five scientific journals. He has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed research
papers,35 book chapters, and two medical textbooks. He joined the faculty of M.D. Anderson in 1992
following a fellowship at Duke University.

SUSAN SPURLOCK KEISER

Class of 1972

A former publications adviser at Pasadena High School, Ms. Keiser left education to enter the world of
banking as a technical writer. There began a truly meteoric rise. Ms. Keiser eventually became the head of trust
securities at LaSalle Bank, Corporation, a division of Bank of America. Still later, she was named president of
LaSalle National Trust of Delaware. She has also served as board chairman for ABN AMRO Trustees, Ltd., for
both London and Dublin.

JAMES CARTER HALL

Class of 1976

  After graduating from the University of Houston, Mr. Hall went to work for Texas Instruments as a
semiconductor specialist. Hired away by Advance Micro Devices, he was tabbed to lead company start-ups
on the West Coast. He now runs his own company in Georgetown, Texas, specializing in company start-ups
and turnarounds. He sits on several company boards and owns four patents.

WES HUBERT

Class of 1976

  Mr. Hubert ranks as possibly the most honored football talent to come out of South Houston. A four-year
letterman at the University of Texas, he earned All-Southwest Conference honors at center in 1979. Later, he
was named to the Longhorns’ All-Decade football team for the 1970’s.

CYNTHIA CISNEROS

Class of 1978

  Ms. Cisneros, of course, is the second of our two South Houston graduates with almost nightly visibility as
reporters for Channel 13. Ms. Cisneros worked for several TV and radio stations in East Texas after her
graduation from the University of Houston. From the piney woods, she took a job with a Bakersfield, Calif.,
TV station, winning awards for her coverage of human rights and migrant farm issues. She joined Channel 13 in
1989 and continued her award-winning ways covering a variety of breaking news stories. Her parents still live
in South Houston, and Cynthia has made her way back on many occasions, for both business and pleasure.

State Representative JOHN E. DAVIS

Class of 1978

  John Davis represents District 129 in the Texas House of Representatives. His district includes much of the
Clear Lake area. He currently serves as chairman of the Economic and Small Business Development Committee
in the House. He was first elected to the legislature in 1998 and has been honored in that capacity many times
by various groups.

JOHN O. HARRIS

Class of 1978

  Mr. Harris has carried his family’s stake in real estate investment in the Pasadena community into a new era.
A developer and entrepreneur, he is owner of John O. Harris Properties, a leading development and
management company. Mrs. Harris has expanded his business interests to North Carolina, where he now
makes his home. He remains active in the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and as a generous contributor to
the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation.

GLEN LUTZ

Class of 1978

 Lutz serves as manager of the Extravehicular Activity Office at NASA. Lutz has put together a
distinguished 23-year career with the space agency, all of it dedicated to the technology of spacewalk
assignments. He currently manages all activities associated with hardware, standards, capabilities and techniques
of EVA, including spacesuit design. In 2010, he was awarded the Exceptional Service Medal by NASA. Lutz
continues to follow the footsteps of his father, Charles, who pioneered spacesuit design and coordinated EVA endeavors for NASA from the agency’s inception. He is the third Lutz sibling to be inducted into the Hall of
Honor. His brother Wayne, a member of the Class of 1968 and a former test pilot, and sister Ann Lutz Pearson,
a member of the Class of 1981 and a honored San Jacinto College faculty member, were inducted in March.

Dr. ANN LUTZ PEARSON

Class of 1981

  The younger sister of Hall of Honor inductee Wayne Lutz, Dr. Pearson is an English professor at San Jacinto College. An author, an editor and a featured speaker at numerous conferences and symposiums, she was
recently nominated for the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award. Last year Dr. Pearson was honored as
Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year at San Jacinto College.

DANA JOHNSON PHILIBERT

Class of 1985

  The owner of Philibert Allstate Insurance, Ms. Philibert is recognized as one the most active of all
Pasadenans in government, business, education and other community service circles. A former Pasadena City Councilwoman and an energetic supporter of the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation, Ms. Philibert is the
current chairman of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.

CHRIS TREMIE

Class of 1988

  The most accomplished baseball athlete in South Houston history, Mr. Tremie was a college standout at the University of Houston before playing four seasons as a catcher for four major league teams. After playing
stints with the Chicago White Sox, the Texas Rangers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mr. Tremie was acquired by
the Houston Astros in 2004. He is now the manager of the Eastern League’s Akron’s Aeros in the Indians
organization.

KYLA HALL HOLAS

Class of 1990

A former college All-American in softball, Holas has served as head softball coach at the University of
Houston since 2001. Starting the program from scratch, Holas has propelled the Cougars to the highest tier in Conference USA and consistently high national rankings. This spring Holas’s team earned an NCAA Super
Regional berth for the second time in the past four years.  As an All-American pitcher at Louisiana-Lafayette
from 1991-94, she set numerous records, won 84 percent of her games, hurled 17 no-hitters and five perfect
games. She was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

MARY BOWEN

Class of 1991

  A graduate of UTSA and the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Ms. Bowen has established
herself as a much-acclaimed mezzo-soprano on the New York City opera scene. She is currently preparing for a
May 2011 opening in the title role of “Carmen,” produced by the Amore Opera Company. A year ago, she
made her Carnegie Hall debut in Beethoven’s “Mass in C” with the New York City Youth Orchestra.

JASON JOLLIFF, Major, United States Marine Corps

Class of 1992

  Major Jolliff is an F-18 fighter pilot and a decorated veteran of the conflict in Iraq. His flying skills have
qualified him to perform in various show units requiring close formation maneuvers.

Dr. JUSTIN REGNER

Class of 1993

  The youngest of our inductees, Dr. Regner has already established himself as a noted surgeon,
professor of surgery and an innovator of medical devices and surgical procedures. Although in residence in
California, he remains associated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.