University High School Alumni Association Announces Alumni Awards

As part of their Homecoming, University High School will present the annual Alumni Awards at a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 28, at 10 a.m. in Stroud Auditorium.  The award recipients will speak in classes Friday afternoon.  Homecoming will kick off with an alumni and booster pre-game gathering at 5 p.m. in Horton Field House, prior to the Homecoming game.

David Brown ’65 is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award.  Brown earned his juris doctor degree from Drake University and is a trial attorney in Iowa.  Prior to receiving his J.D., Brown taught at Bloomington School District #87.  He has been honored by the bench and bar through invitation to fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the American Board of Trial Advocates (president, Iowa Chapter 1999-2000) and the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers (president, 2000-2001).

Brown received the Iowa State Bar Association’s highest honor, the Award of Merit in 1999 and received the President’s Award for his service to the legal profession and the citizens of Iowa in 2005.  Most recently, he was named as the first-ever dean of the Iowa State Bar Association.

At Illinois State University, Brown has served as an ambassador for the Laboratory Schools’ fundraising campaign.  In honor of his parents and in recognition of his planned giving to the University, the Illinois State University Board of Trustees in 2005 officially named the Bone Student Center ballroom the Dr. and Mrs. Francis R. Brown Ballroom.  Brown is a lifetime member of the Legacy Society for the Laboratory Schools and the Illinois State University Heritage Society. He also serves on the Illinois State University Foundation Board.

Douglas R. Bey Jr. ’56 is a recipient of the Pioneer Hall of Fame award.  He received his doctor of medicine degree at the University of Illinois, completed his civilian medical training, entered officers’ training as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and served in Vietnam.  Bey became board certified in psychiatry in 1971 and board certified in geriatric psychiatry in 1991. 

Bey has written many books and is currently writing his memoirs, which include forty years as a practicing psychiatrist.  He was named a Fellow, Life Fellow and Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. 

Bey’s practice is in Normal, and he was on the staff at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, BroMenn Regional Health Center and OSF St. James Hospital in Pontiac.  During his time at BroMenn, Bey developed the inpatient psychiatric program, trained the psychiatric staff and was chief of the psychiatric department for several years.  Bey served as a former president or chairman of the McLean County Medical Society, the McLean County Board of Health, BroMenn Medical Staff and the Illinois State Medical Society’s Counsel on Mental Health and Addiction. 

Judy Wright ’61 is a recipient of a Pioneer Hall of Fame award.  She completed orthopaedic surgeon training at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City, and then came back to Bloomington to partner with her father, Dr. John Wright, in his practice,

Family Orthopaedics, Ltd.  Wright earned her board certification from the American Board of Neurological and Orthopaedic Medicine and Surgery.  She has been on staff at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, BroMenn Regional Health Center and John Warner Hospital in Clinton.  Wright is a member of the McLean County Medical Society, the Central Illinois Orthopaedic Society, the Illinois Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society.  She is also an American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons Fellow. 

Wright is on the Board of Governors of the American Fracture Association, served as chairperson for an annual meeting and is currently their regional vice president and historian.  She is vice president of the International College of Surgeons.   Wright has been active in many community organizations, including as a member of the Community Advisory Board for the Illinois Wesleyan University School of Nursing, a physician on-call for the Rainbow Girls Summer Camp, with the MARC and as a member of Girl Scout Centrillio Council Board of Directors.

Ted Nichelson ’88 is a recipient of a Pioneer Hall of Fame award.  He became the first person to earn a Doctorate of Arts degree in harp performance from Ball State University. Nichelson enjoys an active career as a freelance harpist in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.  He serves as staff harpist for Hollywood Forever Funeral Home and teaches in the public schools of Beverly Hills and Glendale, Calif.  Nichelson has appeared on Comedy Central’s “Distraction.”  Upcoming projects include a featured role in the independent film “God Complex” and a coffee table book with Susan Olsen, the original Cindy Brady, highlighting the 40th anniversary of “The Brady Bunch.”

Eric Ruud ’71 is the recipient of the Service Award.  He received a juris doctor degree from Southern Illinois University and has worked in the McLean County State’s Attorney Office for over 26 years, currently as the first assistant state’s attorney.  Ruud’s emphasis has been on civil litigation, taxation, contract negotiations, legislation, school law, zoning and environmental law.  He has been instrumental in the successful appeal blocking a landfill development, creation of a county-wide 911 system, organization of a law enforcement merit system, implementation of Ethics in County Government legislation, authoring of contracts for computerization of county government and negotiations for settlement of major industrial & commercial tax cases. Ruud is a representative of the State’s Attorney Office to all agencies, boards and commissions associated with McLean County government, all McLean County elected and appointed officials, and the Regional Office of Education.  He is also a hearing officer for the City of Bloomington Human Relations Commission and received the Outstanding Service Award from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools. 

Ruud is a member of the Lab School’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee and the University’s Friends of the Arts program as well as an ambassador for the Lab School’s fundraising campaign and the Illinois State University Foundation.  Ruud has been an adjunct instructor in the College of Business teaching Business Law courses and has chaired his 10-year and 30-year class reunions.

Robert Metcalf is the recipient of the Friend of University High School Award.  He received his doctorate in physical education at Indiana University.  Metcalf came to U-High as director of athletics and served as an assistant professor of health and physical education at Illinois State.  Metcalf retired from the directorship and as a professor from Illinois State University in 1982.  During his tenure, Metcalf’s coaching accomplishments included taking the boys basketball team to the Sweet 16 four times and under his leadership the 1971 team was inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association (ICA) Basketball Hall of Fame.  Metcalf himself is also a member of the ICA Basketball Hall of Fame, the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) Hall of Fame, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Valparaiso University Athletic Hall of Fame.  Eleven years after retirement, Metcalf came back to U-High and served as a consultant to the boys basketball team for 14 years.

While Metcalf was the boys head golf coach, the Pioneers took 26 championships, held second place in the State twice and won the state championship once.  He was named ICA Golf Coach of the Year twice and named NHSACA District Golf Coach of the Year.  Metcalf was the first coach in the State to be in both basketball and golf ICA Hall of Fames.  He started the boys cross country and the girls golf programs at U-High.  He served as head coach for both programs two and three years, respectively.  He also served as the girls assistant basketball coach for eight years after he retired. 

Since his retirement, Metcalf has been very active teaching and coaching basketball around the world.  He has made over 11 trips to China and taught over 1,000 Chinese coaches in both national and provincial workshops. Metcalf has also coached national and professional teams in Mongolia, Indonesia, Sudan, and Hong Kong.  He is also founder, chairperson, and co-organizer of the ICA/Bloomington-Normal Shrine Club annual high school all-star football game, which in its first ten years raised over $200,000 for Shriner Hospitals.       Metcalf has been recognized with local, national, and international awards.

Walter Scott has been awarded a Posthumous Award.  Scott graduated from Illinois State and Northwestern University and received a bachelor of divinity degree and a doctorate of psychology from the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Scott, who was named head of the Psychology department at Northwester, created a test for prospective salesmen to forecast if they would be successful.  His increasing business knowledge and insights led him to also be named a professor of advertising and applied psychology at Northwestern.  This work led to a later position with the United States Army during World War I.

While in the Army, Scott was named director of the Committee on Classification of Personnel in the Army.  He originated and implemented a system which has been used to classify over four million service personnel and is still in use today.  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for this achievement.

In 1920, Scott was named president of Northwestern University.  During his tenure, he saw the creation of the medical, dental and law schools; the Evening and Graduate Commerce Divisions; the Deering Library; and Dyche Stadium.  At the same time, Northwestern doubled its faculty, tripled enrollment and quadrupled assets. Scott retired from the presidency in 1939 and passed away in Evanston, Ill. in 1955.