Hall of Fame: Class of 2010

2010 Inductees

R. Curtis Jordan III 1970
Frances K. Dobbin Thayer 1975
Joseph W. Poletto 1975
W. Norris Jordan 1980
Craig Q. O'Callaghan 1985
David M. Coratti 2000

Coach: Mark C. McWhinney 1975

Team: The 1980 Boys Crew

R. Curtis Jordan III 1970

During his Kent School career, Curtis earned two varsity letters
in football and was captain of the 1970 New England Champion
crew. He went on to Trinity College where he rowed for four years
and served as co-captain in his senior year. After a few years in the
business world, Curtis returned to the sport of rowing, and the rowing
world is better because of it. For nearly 30 years Curtis coached at
Princeton University, where he took the program to the highest levels
in collegiate racing. Highlights of his career include two Eastern
Sprint Championships with the women’s varsity program and five
with the men’s varsity heavyweights; a victory at the Henley Royal
Regatta in 2006; one National Championship with the women’s
program in 1990 and two with the men’s program in 1996 and 1998.
He was named Coach of the Year twice by the Eastern Association of
Women’s Rowing Colleges and four times by the Men’s Association.
When he retired in 2009, he was the all-time winningest coach in the
130-year history of Princeton heavyweight crew.

Curtis has also coached at the international level for many years – he
was a U.S. National Team coach 16 times, including four Olympic
Games. Under his guidance, the U.S. lightweight four took a
bronze medal at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Curtis also served
as Chairman of the USRowing High Performance Committee from
1998-2001 and was a member of the World Rowing’s Competitive
Commission from 1998 to 2009.

Frances K. Dobbin Thayer 1975

Francie Dobbin Thayer excelled in three sports at Kent and Trinity
College. At Kent, Francie was a three-year member of the varsity field
hockey team and co-captain in her sixth form year. She played for
two years on the varsity basketball team, and three years on the varsity
lacrosse team, serving as captain in the spring of 1975. During her
Kent School athletic career, her teams never had a losing season, as she
and her teammates, including fellow Hall of Famers from the Classes
of ’73, ’74 and ’76, put Kent girls athletics on the map.

At Trinity College, Francie was a three-sport varsity athlete in her
freshman year, and in the following three years she focused on field
hockey and lacrosse. In her senior year, she captained the undefeated
Trinity field hockey team as well as the varsity lacrosse team. In 1979
Francie was the recipient of the Trinity Club of Hartford Award, given
to the top female athlete in the senior class.

In the years that followed, Francie coached lacrosse wherever she
moved with her family. If there wasn’t a lacrosse team in place, she
started one. With the help of two other women, she brought high
school lacrosse to Denver, CO, where, over the course of seven years,
they developed programs in ten schools; ran a league and trained
officials; promoted the sport and ran instructional clinics; created a
women’s club team that went to the National Tournament; and ran
the first state championship tournament in 1987. When she moved to
Lancaster, PA, and there were no high school programs in place, she
started the process all over again, beginning with Saturday clinics and
developing the sport in schools around the county. In 2007 Francie
was inducted into the Baltimore, MD, Chapter of US Lacrosse Hall of
Fame.

Joseph W. Poletto 1975

During his four years at Kent, Joe Poletto earned three varsity
letters in both football and baseball, and one letter in basketball. In
football, Joe was the leading rusher in his fifth and sixth form years,
and co-captain in his senior year. Although not the biggest back,
he was fearless and tireless, using his size, speed and talent to run
past, around, and if necessary, through opposing tacklers. He was an
inspiration to his teammates who played beyond their abilities under
his leadership.

In baseball, Joe was a “natural,” combining all aspects of the game: hitting,
fielding and throwing. Captain of the ’75 team, he was
a leader offensively and a standout on defense as well. Coach Cy
Theobald described him as one of the top few he coached in 25 years
with the varsity baseball program.

As a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, Joe played baseball
and was named Rookie of the Year in the competitive Yankee
Conference. He was invited to baseball’s Cape Cod League, where
he drew the attention of a number of professional teams. After
transferring to Union College, Joe switched from the baseball
diamond to the gridiron, and was a starter on Union’s football
team. Following college, Joe pursued new challenges through
mountaineering, scaling heights around the world.

W. Norris Jordan 1980

Norris Jordan left Philadelphia and arrived at Kent in the fall of
1977. He immediately established his athletic credentials by earning
a spot on three varsity teams as a sophomore – soccer, hockey and
lacrosse. By the time he graduated, Norris had distinguished himself
as a two-time league all-star and the MVP of a soccer team that
won the WNEPSSA league title in the fall of 1978 and was a top
contender in 1979. In hockey he was a three-year offensive star and
a pivotal member of the 1980 hockey team that rebounded from an
early-season loss to dominate and win the Housatonic Valley League
Championship. After graduating from Kent, Norris attended the
University of Vermont where he played varsity hockey for Jim Cross
and won three letters, completing his collegiate hockey career with 24
goals and 26 assists over 69 games.

Peter Bragdon, who guided his teams to fourteen winning seasons
and four consecutive Housatonic Valley League Championships in the
mid 1970s, reflects on Norris’ role on his last championship team in
1980: “Norris Jordan’s remarkable contribution to the Championship
season of 1980 was a culmination of his showing up for every game,
every season, for three years. Norris possessed unbelievable speed and
acceleration; he was fast and fearless. Furthermore, Norris was always
a positive presence in the locker room.”

Craig Q. O’Callaghan 1985

In his four years at Kent, Craig established himself as an all-around
athlete known for his heart and hustle. A three-year member of the
varsity football team, Craig was co-recipient of the Mitchell Trophy in
his fifth form year, and received the Theobald Award for best defense
in his senior year when he also served as tri-captain. Craig earned
three varsity letters in basketball, and was the most improved player
in his fourth form year, the winner of the Woodward Bowl in his
fifth form year and co-captain in his senior year. A mainstay on the
lacrosse team, Craig was a starter for three years on teams that had
a collective record of 38 and 6, and won two league championships.
His personal accomplishments in his senior year included being
named co-captain, co-mvp and co-recipient of the Gowan Bowl, as
well as a Division I All-Star. At Prize Day 1985 Craig was the co-recipient
of Pater’s Mug.

Craig went on to the University of North Carolina, where he was a
four-year player on the Tar Heels lacrosse team. During that time
he contributed to two ACC Championships, two NCAA Final Four
appearances, and a National Championship in 1986. In his senior
year, Craig was awarded the Robert Needham Unsung Hero Award.

David M. Coratti 2000

David is a worthy inductee into Kent School’s Athletic Hall of Fame
based on a distinguished Kent and post-Kent career. While wearing
the blue and gray he earned nine varsity letters – three each in soccer,
basketball and baseball – while captaining soccer and basketball.
Winner of the Pater’s Mug in 2000, his individual honors included
the following:

Soccer – David was awarded the Captain’s Cup in his junior year. In
his senior year he received the Partridge Bowl for love of the game,
was named to the Founders League All-Star team and received All-
State and All-New England honors.

Basketball – in his junior year David was co-MVP, winner of the
Jenkinson Trophy for free throws, and was named to the Tri-State
League All-Star Team. In his senior year he repeated as MVP and
Jenkinson Trophy winner and was All-Tri-State League, Founders
League All-Star and All-New England.

Baseball – in his senior year David received the Founders League All-
Star Award, shared the MVP award with two teammates, won the
pitching award, as well as the RBI award and the Leading Batter Cup.
After dominating Kent’s playing fields, David went on to play four
years of basketball at Middlebury College, captaining the team both
his junior and senior years. He received the John Hart Award his
sophomore year for leadership, while being named the Defensive
Player of the Year his final two seasons. A fiery competitor, skilled
athlete and hard worker, he exemplifies the best of Kent Athletics.

Coach - Mark C. McWhinney 1975

Mark McWhinney returned to Kent in the fall of 1980 as a math
teacher and coach. At the time, the girls rowing program was
beginning its eighth season, having been started on the Skiff
Mountain pond in 1973. That first year Mark served as assistant
coach, and the following fall he became head coach of girls rowing.
Over the course of his 20-year tenure, Mark developed girls rowing
from a fall-only sport that competed in five races, to a national caliber
program.

The first steps included adding races and scrimmages to the schedule
and an early week of training before classes began. In his third year
of coaching in the fall of 1982, the girls crew won the high school
division at the Head of the Charles Regatta, a landmark victory. With
this success, the decision was made to move the program from the
fall to the spring, when there were more opportunities to race other
high schools. In the spring of ’83 the first eight proved their mettle
when they went undefeated through the dual race season and won
both the Stotesbury Regatta and the New England Championships.
Under Mark’s leadership, the next four years included numerous
highlights: three undefeated seasons in ’85, ’86 and ’87; three New
England Championships at both the first and second boat levels; and
two national championships in 1986 (in an eight) and 1987 (in a
four). The mid-’90s brought more championships as the ’96 and ’97
crews won the New England Championships, the ’96 crew breaking
the existing course record by 8.2 seconds – a record that stood for 13
years.

Many of the young women Mark coached throughout his 20-year
career continued on to collegiate rowing programs, four rowed on the
Junior National Team, and two on the National Team. But whether
or not they rowed beyond Kent, all the oarswomen learned what
was possible with discipline, hard work and holding oneself to high
standards.

Team - The 1980 Boys Crew

The challenge is: thirty years out, create a brief, coherent
recapitulation of a ten-week season that represented the coalescence
of a four-year journey from the Hillsborough down the Housatonic
and Thames Rivers and a couple of notable lakes, resulting in the most
rewarding team experience of a lifetime. No problem.

The season began, like most before, with spring training in Tampa;
back before the aquarium and the gentrification of the waterfront.
We rowed in the ship’s channel, around Davis Island and up the
Hillsborough River. Since the rowers never looked out of the boat,
they, of course, missed all the close encounters with freighters and
water skiers that we, who could look, dreaded. By then cox boxes
had been invented and the early versions featured a voice pickup
device that, somewhere in Tampa Bay, we discovered also picked up
radio stations. Unfortunately the tuning was not as responsive as my
oarsmen.

The competition highlights of the season were beating Holy Spirit
for the first time in my four years, winning at Worcester, and best
of all, winning at Stotesbury under harrowing circumstances. This
was a truly special victory against long odds that, Hart has told me,
had only been done by one other KSBC boat before us and none
since. This was a tangible symbol of the grit and determination of this
particular group.

My favorite memories, now seen as formative experiences drawn from
this season, are a by-product of the cohesiveness, not just of the first
boat, but of the entire team, including our coaches and manager. We
had successfully earned and internalized the confidence bestowed and
fostered by our coach and mentor. We could roll into town in our
two vans, each with a boat on top in two pieces, hop out in our blues
and grays, assemble and restore the boats to immaculate clean, change
into our perfectly matched uniforms, lower and run out our oars in
perfect unison and then row away from the dock in a perfect hands-only
pic drill. Ah, the hubris. But, man we were good and anyone
seeing us knew it, knew we knew it, and knew they didn’t stand a
chance.

Those are the fundamentals of character that we all gained from our
KSBC experience that have brought us to where we are today, and I
am forever grateful to all involved for the monumental unity of effort
realized to bring these results to us all. Oh, and I screamed at them a
lot too; but they always came back for more.

Peter H. Charbonnier, Captain, 1980 Boys Crew

 

Lee Crawford
Kent School
Technology Department
crawfordL@kent-school.edu
860.927.6153