PARSIPPANY — Parsippany High School inducted the new members of 2017 Hall of Fame Class on Tuesday, February 7, 2017 in the Media Center. The ceremony was attended by community members, alumni, parents and students that celebrated this year’s induction ceremony. This year’s class consists of five impressive inductees.
Fei-Fei Li – ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT – Presented by David Sabella
When Fei-Fei Li moved to New Jersey from China when she was 16 years old, she couldn’t speak a word of English. However, despite this disadvantage, and through an incredible amount of diligence, she graduated sixth in her class gained acceptance to Princeton University where she received a BA in Physics. She then earned her MS and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Fei-Fei has had a successful career teaching at the college level: Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in both the Psychology and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments; Assistant Professor at Princeton
University in the Psychology and Computer Science Departments; and Assistant Professor and, currently as an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Computer Science Department. Fei-Fei’s accomplishments are astounding. She is currently the Director of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL), and she is one of the Directors for the SAIL OutReach Summer Program, designed to reach out to rising 10th grade girls and expose them to the world of Artificial Intelligence (Al). Fei-Fei also leads the partnership between Stanford and Toyota, along with MIT, where the focus of the partnership is on A1 – assisted driving. She is also the Director for the Stanford Vision Lab, which explores issues in computer and human vision.
In March of 2015, Fei-Fei gave a TED talk describing the way we teach computers to understand pictures as humans do; this video has been viewed over 1.7 million times. She was recently named one of our country’s 2016 Great Immigrants by the Carnegie Corporation, and she was interviewed by CNN about her life story. Fei-Fei has given dozens of keynote speeches, talks and seminars around the world. She has been the Chair, Co-Chair, or organizer of more than two dozen committees and workshops. She has co-authored more than a hundred papers, journals and book chapters in addition to numerous.
LEROY COLLINS, JR. (’78) – MILITARY SERVICE Presented by Ron Foreso (former teacher)
Roy graduated from PHS with academic honors as a member of the National Honor Society, earned 7 Varsity Letters and held leadership positions in several after school activities, including INTERACT, Institute for Political and Legal Education (IPLE), and Student Council, and contributed to the Daily Record’s publication of “None Outsings Parsippany”, a history of Parsippany-Troy Hills. Upon graduation, he reported to the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, where he earned a BS degree in Ocean Engineering and was commissioned an Ensign. During his ten-year Coast Guard career, he received several personal and unit awards; at the age of 24, was one of the youngest sea service officers to assume command afloat; and was selected to serve as a military Aide to Presidents Reagan and Bush. He subsequently transitioned to private industry where he has assumed executive leadership positions in the defense/aerospace industry, pioneered the delivery of internet services via satellite, and earned an MBA. He currently serves as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Senior Advisor contributing to the agency’s space-based environmental monitoring mission (i.e. weather) by managing satellite acquisition programs, international partnerships, and science-based climatic research. Roy is an international cycling enthusiast who has competed in numerous endurance cycling events, such as the Race Across America (RAAM), where he and his team hold the world record for the Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD (3010 miles) race in under 5.5 days, has served as the US Naval Academy’s cycling team Head Coach for the past 9 years, earning 6 ACC Division 1 Conference Champion and National Championship Titles, and mentors his Nationally ranked son (or is mentored by him). He, his wife Kim, and son, Ryan, currently reside in Annapolis, MD.
JOE BERNABE -TEACHER Presenter: Greg Dalakian (former student, colleague)
Joe Bernabe served as the PHS Band Director for thirty-one years (1977-2008), instilling a love of music in thousands of students and inspiring dozens to pursue careers as professional musicians or music teachers.
As Band Director, he prepared and conducted over 150 concerts with his students. At various times of his career, he also worked with the Pit Band, Marching Band and North Jersey Area Band in addition to serving as coach of the Golf Team for many years. In his retirement, he has managed to keep in touch with PHS, attending every concert and Hall of Fame ceremony and continuing to mentor and assist the music department in any way that he can including the school’s 60th Anniversary. Mr. Bernabe was beloved by his students and colleagues for his talents, passion and his neverending sense of humor.
BOB SABELLA – Teacher. Presented by Jean Sabella (wife, colleague)
Bob Sabella was a Mathematics teacher in the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District for 31 years; he taught at Parsippany High School for 23 of those years serving as Lead Teacher of the Math Department for all of them. An accomplished teacher and lead.er in the District, Bob held numerous positions and won numerous awards over the years, including the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2001, Vice President of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Education Association, Co-Director of the Iron Hills Conference Math League; chairing the Parsippany High School Middle States Steering Committee in 1989-1990. Bob was also a published writer, with numerous articles in the New Jersey Mathematics Teacher, Who Shaped Science Fiction and co-edited Nanking 1937: Memory and Healing. But where Bob really stood out was in his love and advocacy for his students. Despite the fact that his standards and expectations for his students were extremely high (his students’ AP scores can attest to that), he was beloved by the students he taught and/or mentored. A long-time advisor to the Indian Cultural Club and the Asian American Club (in addition to the Math Team, of course), he celebrated the diversity that is the student body of PHS.
1977 FOOTBALL TEAM – ATHLETICS. The 1977 Football Team is widely regarded as the best football team in PHS history. Coming off a 2-7 season the previous season, expectations were not high for this group. Fortunately, they worked hard and banded together to finish their regular season with an Iron Hills Conference title and a perfect 9-0 record. They won their first state playoff game to advance to the Group 3, Section 2 State Finals at home versus state powerhouse Phillipsburg. In front of the largest crowd in PHS history, they lost a tough game but left their mark on the school and community. They were ranked the 2nd best team in Morris County and were heralded as one of the area’s
top defenses. They succeeded under the direction of Head Coach/PHS Hall of Famer Bob Martin, and his Assistant Coaches: PHS alumni/teacher Mike Yesunas, and former PHS Athletic Director Joe Grippaldi. The roster consisted of the following players and coaches: Bob Mainardi, Steve Pucilowski, Steve Kaufman, Robert Fulton, Bill Freeman, B. Picinich, Bill Stivaly, Timothy Pucilowski, Michael Caruso, Steve Russo, John Spagnola, K. Connell, Richard dePierro, B. Dalrymple, H. Horowitz, Terry Pine, J. Molinare, T. Gonzales, R. Scrivani, R. Aber, S. Furini, N. Stone, T. Blazier, B. Knott, J. DiGiacinto, T. Pescherine, Jim Miele, R. Krush, V. Mini, S. Simonetti, G. Lepre, S. Miczak, M. Hopkins, M. Brady, K. O’Connell, Al Paradise, E. Weinstein, F. Paradise, C. Pizzi, B. Matthias M. Plath, K. Miele, E. McGarry, M. Pignatelli, T. Behrle, Charles Lategano, Tony Santangelo, Peter DelGazio, D. Tubby, F. Bolcar, Pat Fahy, John Burke, J. Schkolnick, M. Thompson, B. Snedberg, Darrel Knops, Coach Grippaldi, Coach Yesunas, Coach Radice, and Coach Martin.
