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New Jersey Hall of Fame nominates 30 for inclusion
(by Daniel O'Keefe, special to CJ - September 25, 2008)
Rutherford native and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet William Carlos Williams is among 30 nominees for the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s 2008 class of inductees. Narrowed down from about 170 potential nominees, the 30 possible inductees are grouped into historical, general, sports, enterprise and arts and entertainment categories. The nominees range from former presidents Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland, fellow literary luminaries Walt Whitman and F. Scott Fitzgerald, actors Abbot and Costello and Jack Nicholson, musicians such as Jon Bon Jovi and Count Basie, athletes Shaquille O’Neal and Joe Theismann and inventors David Sarnoff and Guglielmo Marconi.
"The high level established by the first group will continue," said Don Jay Smith, the Hall of Fame’s executive director. Though the organization was established by the New Jersey Hall of Fame Act in September 2005, it is a non-profit organization and relies on private sources of funding.
If inducted, Williams will join the ranks of last year’s 15 inductees, which included Albert Einstein, Frank Sinatra, Buzz Aldrin, Harriet Tubman, Vince Lombardi and Thomas Edison. The nomination process began earlier this summer with a list of about 170 potential nominees chosen by a panel of experts, university professors, scientists, editors and authors. The list was narrowed down to 125 candidates and then presented to the Hall of Fame’s voting academy, which is made up of about 100 representatives from various state organizations and has Governor Jon Corzine as its honorary chair. The academy narrowed the 125 into six candidates each in six categories.
Voting is open to the public on the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s Web site, www.njhalloffame.org, and began Sept. 17. It continues until Nov. 30.Voters are asked to choose one person in each category. The results of the voting will be announced in early January and the official induction ceremony will be held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on May 3. Smith said they’re hoping Meryl Streep and Bill Bradley, two of the 2007 inductees who couldn’t make it to the last ceremony, will be in attendance this upcoming May.
"You pick up the newspapers and you always read about those people who have done wrong by us," said NJ state senator Paul Sarlo, who was in attendance at the announcement. "This demonstrates what the Garden State has really produced." He announced that the Hall of Fame would be creating two satellite museum locations (to eventually be followed by others): one at the Izod Center and one at the NJPAC in Newark.
Daphne Williams Fox, Williams’ granddaughter, attended the announcement and presented the list of nominees in the "enterprise" category. Fox recently moved back to town after living in Summit for several years. She admitted that even though his great-grandfather is on the list, her son really wants to meet Jon Bon Jovi.
State educators are starting to use the Hall of Fame as a teaching tool. Marie Blistan, a teacher, and Ann Hill, a school librarian, both from Washington Township High School in Gloucester County, created an interdisciplinary unit in which students can use the Hall of Fame as a jumping off point for doing their own research projects on candidates they think should be in inducted or, more broadly, on the qualities that merit induction. Last year at their high school, students did a variety of projects on various candidates ranging from oral and written presentations to filmed commercials with the help of the technology department. Blistan and Hill also noted that the concept is wide-ranging enough to be applicable across grade levels, from kindergarten through high school.
The 2008 New Jersey Hall of Fame Nominees
Historical
n Grover Cleveland - the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms
n Molly Pitcher – carried water to the troops during the Battle of Monmouth
n Paul Robeson – actor, singer, and political and civil rights activist
n Elizabeth Cady Stanton – women’s rights and suffrage activist, worked with Susan B. Anthony
n Walt Whitman – author of "Leaves of Grass," considered by many to be America’s greatest poet
n
Woodrow Wilson – president of Princeton, governor of New Jersey and 28th president of the United States
Enterprise
n Milton Friedman – highly influential Nobel Prize-winning economist and free market theorist
n Guglielmo Marconi – Italian born inventor and Nobel Prize-winner known for development of the radiotelegraph
n Mary Roebling – the first female bank president
n Carl Sagan – world famous astronomer, scientist and author
n David Sarnoff – businessman, founder of RCA, and electronic communications pioneer
n
Wally Schirra – the only astronaut to fly in America’s first three space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
General
n Justice William J. Brennan – U.S. Supreme court justice from 1956 to 1990
n F. Scott Fitzgerald – widely regarded as one of America’s greatest novelists, author of "The Great Gatsby"
n Admiral William Halsey – five-star Navy Admiral who commanded the U.S. Third Fleet during World War II
n Dorothy Parker – writer and poet long affiliated with The New Yorker magazine
n Philip Roth – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, author of "Portnoy’s Complaint" and "The Human Stain"
n
William Carlos Williams – Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, doctor, author of "Paterson"
Sports
n Larry Doby – second black baseball player in the Major League and first in the American League
n Althea Gibson – first African American to win a Grand Slam Tennis Event at French Open in 1956
n Carl Lewis – nine-time Olympic gold medal winner in track and field
n Shaquille O’Neal – basketball player, two-time All Star MVP, star of Kazaam
n Phil Rizzuto – baseball Hall of Famer, Yankees shortstop, and radio announcer; nicknamed "The Scooter"
n
Joe Theismann – former starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins
Arts and Entertainment
n Bud Abbott and Lou Costello – comedy duo, best known for their "Who’s On First" routine
n Count Basie – big band jazz pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for "One O’Clock Jump," "April in Paris"
n Jon Bon Jovi – famous rock musician, known for "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Livin’ on a Prayer"
n Jerry Lewis – famous comedian, actor, writer, producer and director
n Jack Nicholson – three time Academy Award-winning actor, star of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," "The Shining"
n Sarah Vaughn – famous jazz singer and three time Grammy Award-winner
To vote, go to www.njhalloffame.org. Voting is open to the public until Nov. 30.
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