Paul VI High School honors its Hall of Fame inductees

Paul VI High School, Haddonfield, honored their 2019 Hall of Fame Inductees — eight individuals and two athletic teams — during a dinner and ceremony on Oct. 10 at the Tavistock Country Club.

The inductees were:

For Academic and Career Achievement

—Kelechi I. Acholonu, 01, attended Princeton University and Georgetown University Law Center, and is currently the co-chair of the New York Women’s Bar Association’s Advance the Status of Women in the Profession Committee. Kelechi also serves on the board of two nonprofits that provide immigration legal services and speaks to high school and college students about college and careers.

Lifetime Academic Service to PVI

— Bart Cranston began his teaching career at Paul VI in September 1970, one month after his discharge from the United States Army, where he had served in Vietnam. For 42 years he taught World and U.S. History to freshman, juniors and seniors, retiring in 2012. Outside of the classroom, Cranston’s interests include officiating high school cross country and track meets, and he was honored as the Southern Chapter Official of the Year in 1998, and as the New Jersey Boys Cross Country Official of the Year in 2017.

— Donald Stablein, Ph.D., ’72 currently directs a statistical coordinating center studying the natural history of myelodysplastic syndromes, a set of clonal bone marrow failure disorders. He was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the National Advisory Commission on Organ Transplantation.

For Athletic Achievement

— Under the leadership of head coach Jack Bottinger, the Paul VI State Championship 1971 football team had the school’s first perfect season. In addition, a 25-man Brooks-Irvine Committee voted the Eagles football team the best in South Jersey. Of this outstanding team, 16 players went on to earn individual honors.

— The Paul VI 1972 State Championship Girls Varsity Basketball Team won the South Jersey Parochial A Title, led by coach Vicki Orzechowski, and led the northern conference. Many team members went on to play for division 1, division 2, and division 3 colleges.

— Andrew Bailey, ’02, was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2006 MLB draft. As a reliever for the Athletics, he received the 2009 American League Rookie of the Year Award, and was an All Star for them in 2009 and 2010. After being traded to the Boston Red Sox, he was a member of their 2013 World Series Championship squad. He ended his career having played seven major league seasons with five different teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies. Currently, he is the bullpen coach for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

— Ronald Faith, ’86, had many athletic accomplishments at Paul VI and in college as a cross country star. In 1985, he was PVI’s first NJ Meet of Champions Cross Country winner and first Kinney (now Foot Locker) Cross Country National Qualifier. He was a member of the NJ Parochial A State Championship Team in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Faith has worked in software at Apple and has held multiple senior leadership positions in technology in Silicon Valley and Seattle.

— Priscilla (Frederick) Loomis, ’07, ended her high school track and field career on a high note, becoming the number one high jumper in New Jersey and the number four high school high jumper in the U.S.A. After breaking school and conference records at Saint John’s University, two years later she became a professional athlete. Her accomplishments include 2016 Olympic Games competitor. She was the head track and field coach for PVI from 2017-19 and is currently training for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Service to Paul VI

Since 1994, Michael Brady, ’82, has devoted his time to working with at-risk youth in probation and treatment. He is currently a treatment coordinator at the Juvenile Justice Commission residential program. He is an active member of the Paul VI Alumni Association, and has chaired the school’s Pauction fundraiser for two years.

For Lifetime Commitment to Catholic Education

Msgr. Russell L. Rock began his teaching career at Camden Catholic High School in 1963. For the next 13 years he served there, as assistant principal at Gloucester Catholic High School, and as principal at Saint Joseph High School in Camden, before entering the halls of Paul VI. During his 25-year tenure at Paul VI, the school became a thriving and fiscally sound institution.