Updated
July 29, 2010

2009 Recipients

Last year an astronautical engineer, a former Rose Bowl MVP, a corporate executive, a literary scholar and a multimedia artist head the list of inductees to the John Muir High School Hall of Fame.

The 22nd annual induction ceremony was held Wednesday, April 22, 2009, at Rufus Mead Auditorium, 1905 Lincoln Ave., on the Muir High campus in Pasadena. “This year’s class of inductees was especially difficult to select because there were so many deserving candidates,” said Mark Levy, President of the Alumni Association, which manages the school’s Hall of Fame and Alumni Museum. “It speaks of the tremendous success Muir has had over the years in producing outstanding members of our society.”
 

He was devoted to his family and his church, the First AME Church in Pasadena.    He remained in the postal service as supervisor for 10 years until his retirement in 1972. 

The late Lewis Alexander Peters was the father of John Muir High Hall of Fame recipient Lewis Peters II (Class of 1963); marking the first time the prestigious honor has been bestowed on two generations of the same family.

Business
Jeff Ettinger, Class of 1976
Ettinger is the ninth CEO in the history of Hormel Foods Corp. He is also the president and chairman of the board for the Austin, Minn.-based company. He oversees all functions and operations for the $5.75 billion multinational business.

He began his career with Hormel in 1989 as a corporate attorney and, in 1993, was named senior attorney. In 1995, he became the Hormel chili product manager in the grocery products division. He was named assistant treasurer in 1997 and was promoted to treasurer in 1998. The following year, Ettinger became Hormel Foods vice president and Jennie-O Foods president.

In 2001, following the acquisition of The Turkey Store Company, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of Jennie-O Turkey Store. He was named a Hormel Foods Group vice president later that year. In 2003, he assumed the additional title of chief executive officer of Jennie-O Turkey Store. Ettinger was named president and chief operating officer of Hormel Foods in 2004 and was elected chief executive officer in 2005. He was elected chairman of the board for Hormel Foods in November, 2006.

Performing Arts
Barbara Mossberg, Ph.D., Class of 1966
Mossberg, a professor at California State University, Monterey Bay, is president emeritus of Goddard College (Vermont) and a senior scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland.

She is also an activist and educational leader who weaves between being a poet, lecturer, scholar, author, consultant radio hostess and actress, in a career that spans college and university teaching, and academic administration, community and national service and federal and international appointments.

She has won numerous teaching awards for her emphasis on promoting creativity and expression for greater consciousness in how humanity treats one another and the earth. She has received international acclaim for her work in American studies, global studies and the role of arts and humanities in public policy, leadership studies, interdisciplinary studies and environmental affairs.

Mossberg’s connections to John Muir go well beyond her high school days. According to the Sierra Club – the organization founded by Muir – Mossberg mentions her formative years at Muir in many of her presentations and how it was the foundation of her entire academic career and devotion to John Muir’s ongoing environmental legacy.

Government Service
Col. Donald J. Alser, Class of 1950
Col. Alser made significant contributions to the United States missile and space programs during his 32 years of military service in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force. After graduating from Muir High in 1950, and Muir College in 1952, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, where he lettered in football and track and field, playing quarterback and setting conference and Academy records in the javelin.

Upon graduating in 1956, he was commissioned into the Air Force and assigned as Launch Control Officer of the inaugural TM 76A missile squadron. He acquired a master’s degree in astronautical engineering, continued his involvement with space launch vehicles at the Air Force Rocket Lab at Edwards AFB, and was assigned to the Titan III Systems Program as project officer for the development of Stage I and II rocket engines. He also was assigned to the Secretary of Air Force Space Systems at the Pentagon, as staff officer supporting the acquisition of National Space Intelligence Systems.

For his achievements, he was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merits, a Meritorious Service Medal and two Commendation Medals.

Sports
Ricky Ervins, Class of 1987
Ervins participated in football, baseball and track and field at Muir. As a running back, he helped lead the Mustangs to California big-school Coastal Conference titles in 1985 and ’86, with a perfect 14-0 record his senior year. He is a member of the National High School Football Hall of Fame and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, gaining 126 yards for USC in the 1990 Trojan victory over Michigan.

Ervins was drafted in 1991 by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League, leading all NFC rookies with 4.7 yards per carry and became the first Muir grad to win a Super Bowl, gaining 72 yards on 13 carries to lead all rushers in Super Bowl XXVI vs. Buffalo.

Visual Arts
Sylvia Martin Walker, Class of 1960
Walker is an internationally known artist, whose work is displayed throughout the United States, including the principal’s office at Muir.

A Pasadena native, Walker studied at the California Institute of the Arts, earning a bachelor of fine arts degree. Her works include freelance children’s fashion illustration for clients Simplicity and McCall’s pattern companies. Other clients include Keystone Health Partners, the Coca Cola Company National Adoption Center, Antioch Publishing and Woodtones Publishing Group.

She expanded her focus to illustrating numerous children’s books for publishers Just Us Books, Dover Publications, Scholastic Harper Collins, Western Publishing, Essence Golden Books, Highlights Magazine and Penguin Putnam Books. She uses a variety of media to express herself, including watercolor, pencil, ink and acrylic on canvas. Her work is in the art collections of the late Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy’s), Ed McMahon, Maury Povich and Connie Chung.

Education
John Calmore, Class of 1963
Mr. John Calmore graduated from John Muir High School in 1963. He was a popular student with top grades, a top athlete and participated in school government activities. He was a natural born leader. After Muir, he attended Stanford University, one of only two graduates of the class of 1963 to attend Stanford. He then attended Harvard Law School and was one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Harvard with a law degree.
After law school, instead of launching into a career at a big corporate law firm, John devoted his life to helping to bring justice to the poor and disadvantaged. He worked for the National Housing Law Project and the Legal Aid Foundation.
He was a renowned attorney during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He met and advised many of the civil rights leaders of the time.
In 1985, John became a law professor at the University of North Carolina where he served until a few years before his death. He taught civil rights, critical race theory, and social justice.

Hall of Fame Award Recipients

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