North High School Hall of Fame

Photo provided by Goodyear Tire & Rubber

Russell DeYoung - North High Class of June 1927

Born 3 April 1909 in Rutherford, NJ to Abram and May DeYoung; one brother Ogden Earl and a sister Myra. Joined Goodyear after graduation from high school under a University of Akron cooperative program in which he worked his way through a five year industrial engineering program and became a full-time employee in 1932. Chosen in 1935 to supervise construction of a new Goodyear plant in Java. In 1939, he received a Sloan scholarship enabling him to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtain a masters degree in business administration. Became assistant to Goodyear's Chief Executive Paul W. Litchfield and placed in charge of production at Goodyear Aircraft during its expansion in World War II. Elected ninth president of Goodyear on 6 October 1958 and was Chairman and CEO from April 1964 till April 1974. Named Management Man of the Year in 1967 by the National Management Association. 

Photo provided by the US Air Force 

Major General Howard Davis - North High Class of 1934

Born in Coshocton, OH in 1915. Graduated from North High, received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration form Miami University in Oxford, OH in 1939 and a Masters Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Cambridge, MA in 1949. Completed courses of study at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL in 1955.

Entered flight training school in 1941 soon after Pearl Harbor, completed Advance Flying School in 1942, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He flew 51 combat missions in B-24 aircraft over North Africa and Europe.

Assignments over the years of his military career included: Headquarters Strategic Air Command Offutt Air Force Base NE, Headquarters 7th Air Division in London, England where he was Chief of Staff of the Division, War Plans Division at US Air Force Headquarters, a two year tour with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Commander of the B-47 equipped 379th Bombardment Wing at Homestead Air Force Base FL in 1958, Commander of the B-52 equipped 4138th Strategic Wing at Turner Air Force Base GA, Chief of Staff of the Eighth Air Force Westover Air Force Base MA in 1961, Commander of the 72nd Bombardment Wing at Ramey Air Force Base Puerto Rico, returning to Westover he became Commander of the 57th Air Division, Deputy Director of plans at SAC Headquarter in NE, and then Vice Commander of the Eighth Air Force at Westover in August 1968.

Wartime decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, and the Croix de Guerre with Palm from France. The Legion of Merit was awarded for during his stay at the 4138th Strategic Wing.

Big Edward Frank "Stretch" Sadowski - North High Class of 1935

Born 11 July 1917. Member of the 1935 North High School State Champion Basketball team. Attended Seton Hall. NBA player on several teams in the 1940s. 

40-41 Detroit Eagles
44-45 Fort Wayne Pistons - teammate of the legendary Bobby McDermott
45-46 Fort Wayne Pistons 

Growing up in Fort Wayne in the ‘50s was exactly - for those who remember the show - like living in Happy Days. Everyone, all the adults, worked at one of the big industries like General Electric, Fruehoff Trailers, Capehart-Farnsworth, Magnavox, Wayne Pump, or Zollner Pistons, or at one of the stores downtown. Unemployment was strictly voluntary and there were always more jobs than job seekers. My father was a letter carrier and, later, a clerk at the Post Office and my mother, when she felt like getting out of the house or the need for extra money, worked at a local drug store dispensing cold remedies and panty hose.

Old Fred Zollner, before he moved the whole shebang to Detroit, had a huge hand in making Fort Wayne a sports town. Not only did he sponsor the professional basketball team then known as the Fort Wayne Pistons but also a men's fast pitch softball team that regularly won the world's championship. Until I got old enough to be on my own, going to Piston games with my parents was a frequent and thrilling activity. I especially liked basketball, and my father and I spent many a winter night at the North Side High School gym where the games were played. We watched with awe and admiration the glorious rain-bringing 30 foot two-hand set shots of Bobby McDermott and the raw strength of center Ed Sadowski - at 6'6" and 260 pounds the biggest man we ever saw. We were there the night Sadowski got exasperated with the opposing center and threw him into the third row and we witnessed the set shot duel between McDermott and Eddy Sailor for the scoring championship of the season.

Robert J. Scholes

46-47 Toronto Huskies & Cleveland Rebels - Team high scorer with 686 for the season and 16.0 points per game
47-48 Boston Celtics - Team high scorer with 910 for the season and 19.4 points per game
48-49 Philadelphia Warriors
49-50 Philadelphia Warriors & Baltimore Bullets

 

Ambassador John E. Dolibois - North High Class of 1938

Born 4 December 1918 in Luxembourg. Arrived in Akron with his father in July 1931. Attended Findley Elementary School. Charter member of North Hill Boy Scout Troop 67. First lived on Spaulding Avenue. Spent many days at Camp Manatoc. One of the five interrogators of the top Nazi war criminals at the Nurembug trials following World War II. Appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The first American Ambassador posted to his native country.

Phil Palumbo - North High Class of 1946

Jack Edward DiLauro -

Born 3 May 1943. Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent in 1963. Member of the 1969 World Series Champion New York Mets and the 1970 Houston Astros.