God. Family. School. Basketball
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Noah Johnson Showtime Stags Serve ‘Gaming’ His Way For The At Special To Victory DeMatha Players Needs Prom WWW.DEMATHA.ORG SPRING 2020 God. Family. WWW.DEMATHA.ORG | SPRING 2019 School. Basketball. REVIEW Morgan Wootten, 1931-2020 A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI, PARENTS, & FRIENDS OF DEMATHA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL REVIEW WWW.DEMATHA.ORG | SPRING 2019 REVIEW DM_R&B_Spring_2020.indd 1 3/10/20 10:56 PM A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI, PARENTS, & FRIENDS OF DE MATHA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL Contents Spring 2020 FEATURES 9 Noah Johnson ‘Gaming’ His Way To Victory 12 Funeral Service For Morgan Wootten 16 Showtime for The DeMatha Players PAGE 9 17 2019 DeMatha Hall of Fame 26 Stags Serve At Special Needs Prom PAGE 10 DEMATHA BOARD OF DIRECTORS 3 From The President’s Offic 4 School News 5 Principal’s Perspective 7 CMO News 8 Faculty News 10 Music Notes 18 Sports Notes 20 Alma Matters 27 In Memoriam PAGE 12 PAGE 17 DEMATHA’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS These 20 members of the DeMatha Board of Directors will develop, implement and monitor short and long- term plans in keeping with the school’s mission in collaboration with the President and, if necessary, the Trinitarian Board of Members. You can see the names making up DeMatha’s Board of Directors on Page 3. DM_R&B_Spring_2020.indd 2 3/10/20 10:56 PM DeMatha Catholic High School WWW.DEMATHA.ORG Red & Blue Review From the President’s Office VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1, SPRING 2020 Fr. James R. Day, O.SS.T. PRESIDENT Dear Alumni and Friends of DeMatha, Dr. Daniel J. McMahon ’76 PRINCIPAL ll of us are blessed when we can review our life and dis- Th Red & Blue Review is cover that we have met many wonderful men and women produced by the Advancement who became models of what it means to be holy, happy and Office f DeMatha Catholic High School. Any comments about this A successful. During this personal inventory, if we can name publication should be directed to a few who fit this category, we realize very quickly that they were a Mr. Connor Glowacki singular presence in helping us become the person we are today. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS Everyone connected with DeMatha has truly been blessed by DeMatha Catholic High School the life and faith and memory of Morgan Wootten! 4313 Madison Street During the recent weekend services surrounding the death Hyattsville, Maryland 20781 (240) 764-2120 and burial of Morgan, it would be safe to say that thousands of individuals came to not only pay [email protected] their respects to Kathy and the family, but also to stop and share “Morgan stories” about how CONTRIBUTORS he made a difference in their lives. While the name of Morgan Wootten was connected with Mr. Th mas Ponton ’78 being a renowned high school basketball coach, the majority of conversations that I shared or DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT witnessed were not centered on his coaching skills; rather the stories centered on Morgan, the (240) 764-2222 Family Man. Morgan, the Teacher. Morgan, the Faith-Filled Man. And Morgan always had time Mrs. Teresa Farrell ADVANCEMENT SERVICES MANAGER for anyone…no matter who they were. (240) 764-2223 We only had to have a brief conversation with Morgan to realize that God, faith and fam- Ms. Maureen McCart ily were more than words in a sentence or a conversation. They were guiding principles that ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT SERVICES, GRANTS, AND STEWARDSHIP directed his life, and from observing all of the people who took the time to visit, to pray with us (240) 764-2221 and to comfort each other and the family, no doubt his personal creed in life touched us all. Mr. Ben Fleri ’11 God bless the memory of Morgan and the values that he advocated and demonstrated. God ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE DEMATHA CATHOLIC FUND bless his family who mourns this loss, and God bless the DeMatha Catholic High School com- AND ALUMNI RELATIONS (240) 764-2212 munity who will continue to let his legacy endure every day within our mission to form Faith- Filled Gentlemen and Scholars. 2019-2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mr. David DiLuigi ’88, Chairperson Mr. Jeffrey Hathaway ’77 Secretary Mr. Richard Harrington ’84, Treasurer Fr. James R. Day, O.SS.T. Mr. Timothy O’Brien ’77, Past Chair PRESIDENT Mr. David Aldridge ’83 Ms. Karen Cook Fr. Shawn Foggo ’95 Ms. Grovetta Gardineer Mr. Timothy Hill ’95 Mr. Tom Hoff Mr. Michael Johnson ’80 Mr. Thomas Kane ’86 Mr. Charles Kenny ’68 Mr. Kenneth Mellett Mr. Frank Persico Mr. Brian Sheahan ’80 Dr. Lisa Slade Ms. Penelope Thornton Talley Deacon Curtis Turner ’86 Mr. Brendan Wootten ’88 Fr. James R. Day, O.SS.T., President, Ex Officio ember Thousands paid their respects to the late Morgan Wootten at the Viewings and Memorial Service in January. Red & Blue Review | Spring 2020 3 DM_R&B_Spring_2020.indd 3 3/10/20 10:56 PM ANTLER POINTS School News Faculty member Mike Curran ’99, pictured here with several other faculty members, received the Fr. James R. Day Award for Teaching Excellence at the NHS Induction Ceremony in January. The Valois Chapter of faculty member who exemplifie and patience they provided them and Patricia Galan are club advisors the National Honor Society the four distinguished qualities throughout their lives. and are assisted by Faculty Council welcomed 41 new members at of the Society. He spoke of the “You don’t have to carry members Virginia Mentz, Paul Clark this year’s Induction Ceremony successes and obstacles he faced your failures with you in life,” ’01, Tom Krawczewicz ’81, Michael on January 22nd. The evening academically during his time at Mr. Curran said. “You guys are Ayala ’04, and James Roper. also included the induction of DeMatha. He also advised the quite the opposite. You’re ahead New senior members are Mark the 2020-2021 officers and th inductees on three requests: of us, but that means the bar Baker, Bryan Coley, Nigel Newby, presentation of the Fr. James R. Take chances, get to know their and standard is now that much and Benjamin Taylor. Newly Day, O.SS.T. Award. Students fellow NHS brothers, and to give higher.” inducted juniors are Thomas apply for membership based their mothers a hug for the care Faculty members Paul Davies Burkhardt, Braeden Degnon, on the qualities of character, Keith DeVaux, Ethan Gough, scholarship, leadership and Herbert Lacy, William Lawrence, service. This year, DeMatha now Colin Licavoli, Anders Murphy, has a total of 89 members who Daniel Patino, Vincent Snearly, Kai meet the high standards required. Stammnitz, Lincoln Teti, Callum Students must continue to Wainwright, and Adam Zgol. New maintain their academic standing sophomore members are Worthy and perform service, including Beilman, Cyrus Carey, George peer tutoring and volunteering Currie, Nick Doyle, Therman at DeMatha and in their Hawkins III, Jay Jacobs, Luke Kelly, community. The new officer Evan Knott, Thomas Krukar, Ian for the 2020-2021 school year Lathrop, Keaton Lovely, Dylan are President Connor Eady, McKelvy, Sean Morgenstern, Joe Vice President Matthew Davis, Morley, Justin Muraya, Owen Secretary Ryan Smolen, and Senior Oslyn Mejia, pictured here with former DeMatha Registrar Mrs. Carol O’Connor, Talib Reddick, Louis Treasurer Daniel Budowski. McKee and Fr. James, received this year’s Johnny McKee ‘67 Memorial Sarwal, Keyvar Smith-Herold, Faculty member Mike Curran Scholarship. The award is given to a student who demonstrated integrity, Langston Stovall, Preston ’99 received this year’s Fr. James dependability, responsibility, and a strong work ethic. Johnny McKee was a Valentine, Gavin Weddington, and R. Day, O.SS.T. Award, given to a wonderful volunteer at DeMatha for several years. Joshua Young. 4 DeMatha Catholic High School | Spring 2020 DM_R&B_Spring_2020.indd 4 3/10/20 10:56 PM ANTLER POINTS Principal’s Perspective hen Morgan Wootten passed away last month, Whether it was I was, like numerous others, overwhelmed with “ memories of my time spent with him. Even though WI coached in the program for five years and attended many history or football games, it wasn’t the basketball that I remembered -- it was countless acts of decency, kindness, curiosity, and thoughtful- or basketball or ness that came rushing back. And, in the course of the viewings and in seeing people from seven different decades of DeMatha, speaking at retreat or I don’t think a single conversation was about a particular game or play in a game. Morgan was a great teacher--right up through the end. dealing with illness; Whether it was history or football or basketball or speaking at retreat or dealing with illness, he was always teaching. I don’t remember games but I remember detailed practice plans with Morgan was always quotations, prayers, instruction, review, and camaraderie. I remember that when I was teaching his sons or grandsons that he always had questions for me about their work in class that dem- teaching. onstrated how he talked deeply with each of them about their work in the class. ” I had two brothers play basketball for Gonzaga and they were the starting point guards for the 1980 and 1984 Gonzaga teams. The 1980 team came to DeMatha and behind Tom Sluby (my brother Chris always says that he and Sluby teamed up for 31 points--and Sluby got 27 of them) beat DeMatha in our gym for the fi st time since the 1950s. What my brother most remembers about that game is that Morgan came to their locker room just moments after it was over, congratulated them, told them they had played wonderfully, and that is was a pleasure to have his team on the court with them.