Fort Hamilton High School Alumni Association P. O. B ox 9 0 5 5 5 独Brooklyn, NY 11209 www.fhalumni.org [email protected] Jody Hedlund Campderrich ’77 2017 - 2018 Fall / Winter, Volume 23 ’60 LIFETIME MEMBER Frank DeMario ’73 upgraded to GOLD LIFETIME MEMBER upgraded to Thomas F. Greene obbins Marilyn Lynaugh Strafer Fac. ’66 - ’04 SILVER LIFETIME MEMBER upgraded to GOLD LIFETIME MEMBER Sheila Johnson R ‘66 Ann Huntington,DVM A Message From The FHHSAA President Cathy Gigante-Brown upgraded to Dear Alumni Association Members: LIFETIME MEMBER ’77 Tom Greene At the Fort for the Alumni Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I did a bit of running around between the boys’ gym and the library. And I encountered a lot of singing. Tere was a girl entertaining classmates in the stairwell. Ten there was another one serenading a group on the bridge. Just when I thought I’d stumbled into some alternate ’65 reality on the set of Glee or High School Musical, it was explained to me that talent show Janet & Ray auditions were taking place. Tese students never cease to amaze me and I’m really Kvalheim Alfred Rendeiro LIFETIME MEMBER looking forward to seeing what they do with their production of West Side Story in the spring. Join us for Teater Night on May 4 and see what I’m talking about. Of course, Ft. Hamilton has never had a shortage of talented students. It was a thrill to Amelia Gilberg Sobel induct two stars from the class of 1977 into our Alumni Hall of Fame. Billiards great Jean Balukas and basketball legend Albert King are names known far beyond our halls. Tese honors were long overdue - and a snowstorm delayed the event even a bit longer! But that storm may have been a blessing in disguise. Tough we had to update the programs and plaques (and Bob Hedlund had to eat a couple of Costco sheet cakes), in Mary Naughton the end with the induction ceremony rescheduled to coincide with the naming of the boys’ basketball court for the late Coach Ken Kern during a boys varsity game, it Bob Alberti seemed like everything fell perfectly into place - plus the Tigers won that afernoon! David Whitebook is called “Mr. Fort Hamilton” by former principal Dr. Alice Farkouh Bob Casale for a good reason. He’s a favorite teacher of many and an unwavering supporter and a founder of the Alumni Association. Last September, David celebrated his 75th birthday, so we reached out via email to the membership (do we have your current email address in our roster?) and his friends with the opportunity to make a monetary donation to Robert Hedlund the FHHSAA in his honor. Tose gifs are represented by the virtual balloons you see foating around this page. Te stars are for our newest lifetime members. Tank you all! oug Tis newsletter is packed with info about our alumni, recent events and a few fun Valerie & D upcoming chances to get together. I hope you’ll keep in touch and that we see you soon. Anonymous Best wishes, Valeie Hodgso THANKS President, FHHSAA to all members who continue to Grace Zito Di Martino “Support the Fort” ’49 Joe Pancila Thomas Ryan Fac. ’65 - ’92 LIFETIME MEMBER LIFETIME MEMBER Additional Donation Phil Rosen Dr. Alice Farkouh “5 Boro Phil” Judith Haber Halioua Tidbits fo Send your news to [email protected] Tom Ryan ’49 checked in to let us know that although his home was fooded due to Hurricane Harvey, he’s safe (after being rescued by boat!) and he’s moved from Houston to Katy, Texas. In 1953, Tom married his high school sweetheart, Francis Bergen, who passed away in 2015. With the Fort in their blood, while visiting NYC, two of Tom’s grandchildren made a point of visiting Bay Ridge and photographing our beautiful alma mater. Lee Alperin ’51 passed away in 2016, but his dream of being a published author was realized in September, 2017. This FHHS Alumni Hall of Fame member who taught English at the Fort was obviously a skilled writer himself. Available at Amazon.com, his novel, The Northland Version is a tale of international intrigue and espionage set in Finland and Russia at the height of the Cold War. Robert Casale ’53 is the proud grandfather of Robert Maisano who just published Finding Bunny and Picaroon Coast, satiric novellas in the Grigsby Series. They are also available at Amazon.com. Vincent Gentile ’77 had a big promise to keep before leaving his position on the City Council. On October 28, at the school’s homecoming game, he had the honor of unveiling plans for a new multi-sport feld, track and scoreboard for which he helped secure the funding. Pictured here with Principal Kaye Houlihan, Fred Maley of the School Construction Authority and Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann, Vinnie outlined the plans for the 5.5 million dollar project which should be completed by early 2019. Lynn Lewis ’77 was posthumously inducted into the United States Flag & Touch Football League National Hall of Fame (Class of 2017) as Coach/Contributor on January 13, 2018 at Premier Sports Campus, in Sarasota, FL, during the 47th Annual USFTL National Flag Football Championships. Stella Mitchell-Porto ’86, head softball coach at the College of Staten Island was recently named ECAC & CUNY Athletic Conference Coach of The Year. CSI’s head coach since the 2003 season, Stella is already one of the most successful, as she has won 9 CUNYAC championships, made 9 NCAA tournament appearances and earned CUNY Coach of the Year honors fve times. The Dolphins have posted 20-win seasons under her guidance in 9 of the last 11 years, and her 323 wins rank frst in CSI history. Under her guidance, over 30 CSI women’s softball single-season individual and team records have been broken. While Stella has broken many coaching records, this proud Tiger credits her success to her coaches at the Fort such as Steve Gurin (softball), Roger Canal (basketball), Ed Savage (volleyball) and Coach Kern, who was always there for her. Nick Fiorito ’10 and Mike Fiorito ’14, have made a lot of news recently. The brothers were honored by Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams for their Blankets of Hope program, which raised money via a Go Fund Me page for purple blankets (delivered with handwritten inspirational notes) that they hand out to the less fortunate. Numerous media outlets extolled their social entrepreneurship as the “Two Bros from Brooklyn” attempt to “change the world, one blanket at a time.” You can learn more at happyfreaks.com or follow the guys on Facebook. on Ann Huntington ’66, DMV Ann Huntington doesn’t mind being called a “Navy brat” who proudly considers Brooklyn her hometown afer having lived on both US coasts - and in Japan. Now settled in Connecticut, Ann, a lifetime FHHSAA member, still keeps up with friends from the Fort and made a point of celebrating her class’s 50th reunion and the school’s 75th anniversary celebrations. Ann has fond memories of Mr. Ralph Davino’s English class and enjoyed playing the trumpet in the band led by Mr. Hefron though she was disappointed that, in those days, there was no marching band to play in. Dreams of playing the trumpet at UPenn were stymied by their ban on females in their marching band. Afer receiving her degree in economics from the Wharton School at UPenn and working for a time in marketing, Ann realized her true calling was to become a veterinarian. So, she enrolled in science courses at SUNY, Binghamton and became Dr. Huntington in 1977 afer completing the doctorate program at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Ann and her late husband Nick Mickelson founded the Sufeld Veterinary Hospital in 1983, the year their frst son, Brett, was born. Her second son, Jared, was born in 1987 - just two days afer Ann became the frst woman president of the Connecticut State Veterinary Association! Te Sufeld Veterinary Hospital, with a staf of 39, including fve vets, specializes in canine reproduction. Teir expertise has even resulted in successfully breeding male Labradors from Connecticut with females as far away as Australia. In addition to the work at her vet practice, Ann keeps busy as a chairperson for the Labrador Retriever Club and she further gives back to her community by holding elected ofce as a member of Sufeld’s Board of Finance. As one would expect, Ann has a few pets. But who would have guessed that in addition to her three Labs and a border terrier, she has a pair of miniature donkeys (named Edith and Clara)? Keep in touch with Ann on Facebook and you’ll get to see the donkeys in ever-changing seasonal attire. Honoring the Class of ‘77s Gentle Giants: Jean Balukas & Albert King Perhaps the most striking thing about today’s Fort Hamilton High School “Hall of Fame” inductees Jean Balukas and Albert King is their humility. Although there was often a flurry of attention around them in the halls of Fort Hamilton, they seemed unaffected by it. They were always so humble and poised, even as teenagers. Both Jean and Al were in my homeroom—4E18. In our class photo, I stood next to Jean, who towered over me. Al, as usual, was camera-shy. The only pictures you’ll see of him in our yearbook are of him playing basketball. Al, FHHS’s small forward/shooting guard, went on to the NBA. Jean, a pocket billiards champion at age 13, played on FHHS’s basketball, bowling and softball teams, and is still considered one of the world’s best pool players.