Members of the 2006 Hall of Fame class are shown above with Dr. Linda L. Croushore, president of the McKeesport Alumni & Friends Association, who’s at left in the back row. In the front row are Bishop Keith L. Ackerman, left, and retired Justice Nicholas P. Papadakos. In the back row, left to right, are Dr. Croushore; Karin Kadar, who represented her late father, inductee Michael J. Kadar; William P. Leonard; Paul V. Carlin; Alvin L. Hillegass; and  George Meerhoff, who represented his late sister, inductee Dr. Corinne Meerhoff Barnes.

Seven more distinguished alumni were inducted into the McKeesport High School Hall of Fame as the McKeesport High School Alumni & Friends Association marked its 19th Alumni Recognition Night on Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Radisson Hotel, Monroeville.

The 2006 class includes:

The Hon. Nicholas P. Papadakos, Class of 1942, Retired Justice, State Supreme Court, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Michael J. Kadar (dec.), Class of 1944, banking professional and dedicated civic servant and volunteer.

Alvin L. Hillegass, Class of 1944, U.S. Steel Corp. executive and industrial entrepreneur.

Corinne Meerhoff Barnes (dec.), Class of  1946, nursing educator and pioneer in revolutionizing hospital care for children.

Paul V. Carlin, Class of 1963, attorney and bar association executive dedicated to furthering the goals and reach of the legal profession.     

The Right Rev. Keith Lynn Ackerman, Class of 1964, the Eighth Bishop of Quincy, Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

William P. Leonard, Class of 1983, whose athletic and academic careers have been marked by excellence.

Friday, Oct. 6, is the deadline for reservations. The evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. Dinner is at 7 p.m., followed by the program Tickets are $35 per person and available at the association office at 336 Shaw Ave. in downtown McKeesport (41-678-9215) or by mail to: McKeesport High School Alumni & Friends Assn., P.O. Box 432, McKeesport, PA 15134.

With the 2006 class, the number of people in the Hall of Fame climbs to 129 members.

The Honorable Nicholas P. Papadakos, retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, has pursued a long career in the law and public service.

It began in Washington, D.C., in 1950, where he was an attorney for the Department of Labor, and culminated in his election to Pennsylvania’s top judicial body, where he served for 20 years.

Justice Papadakos was elected to the Supreme Court in November of 1983 and retained for another term in the November, 1993, general election.

Following three years’ (1943-46) service in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific Theater during World War II, Justice Papadakos earned his undergraduate degree at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. He received his LLb. from  Columbus Law School, Catholic University, in Washington, D.C., in 1952 and was admitted to practice before the District of Columbia Courts in 1953, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1958, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975.

He was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in November, 1975. In addition to his community service, Justice Papadakos has long been active in the Greek Orthodox Church and has been the recipient of numerous awards, citations and commendations.

The late Michael J. Kadar’s life was marked by success in the region’s banking community and devotion to a wide array of civic and volunteer organizations in the Mon-Yough area.

He was called “a banker’s banker” in a citation read into the Congressional Record by former U.S. Rep. Joseph M. Gaydos upon Mr. Kadar’s designation as Citizen of the Year by the Greater McKeesport Jaycees in 1978, but Cong. Gaydos noted, “The world of finance is merely his vocation. He spends as much or more of his time on his avocation – helping others.”

Following his graduation from McKeesport High School, he attended Washington and Jefferson College and the University of Pittsburgh, earning his degree from Pitt. He later graduated from Northwestern University School of Banking and the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking.

Most McKeesporters knew him as part of the former Peoples Union Bank.

Mr. Kadar was active in the American Cancer Society as a charter member and president of the Mon-Yough Unit and board member of the Pennsylvania Division ACS. He was a board member and past president of Mon-Yough Chamber of Commerce and past president and 30-year member of the Kiwanis Club of McKeesport. He died in August of 2005.

Alvin (Al) L. Hillegass spent his professional life in the steel industry, rising through the ranks at U.S. Steel Corp. and then embarking on a career as an entrepreneur as a founder and owner of Camp-Hill Corp. and its three tubular producing plants.

With the Camp-Hill operation in McKeesport, his friends say he kept the city’s “Tube City USA” nickname intact and bolstered an economy hit hard by the demise of big steel.

Mr. Hillegass graduated from McKeesport High School with a four-year athletic and academic scholarship to Auburn University, but after six months there, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Following his Navy tour, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1949.  

When he subsequently was hired as a management trainee at USS National Works in McKeesport, Mr. Hillegass began a 33-year career with U.S. Steel, serving at all levels of management in numerous locations.

In 1981, Mr. Hillegass retired from U.S. Steel and began a new career as an entrepreneur. In 1987, he formed the Camp-Hill Corp. with partner P.C. Campana that ultimately led to the establishment of three  plants, including Camp-Hill in McKeesport.

Dr. Corinne Meerhoff Barnes, who began a 40-year association with the University of Pittsburgh when she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing Education there in 1960, was a champion for children and a pioneer in revolutionizing their hospital care.

She began her nursing career at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she practiced for 10 years as a staff nurse, head nurse and pediatric supervisor. After receiving her undergraduate degree at Pitt, she joined the faculty of the School of Nursing there. She subsequently earned her master’s degree in 1963.

She became the first pediatric clinical nurse specialist at Children’s Hospital. That job sparked her research interests, which focused on children’s in-patient experiences and the stresses they feel in the hospital environment. She expanded on that subject in her dissertation for her Doctor of Philosophy degree from Pitt. Her research on the nursing care of children paved the way for significant changes in intensive care units in children’s hospitals across the U.S.

A role model for colleagues and aspiring nursing professionals, Dr. Barnes was a fellow in the prestigious American Academy of Nursing and a founding member of the National Society of Pediatric Nurses. She was named to the elite group of Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania by former Gov. Richard Thornburgh and was one of Carlow College’s Women of Spirit. Dr. Barnes died in November, 2002.

Attorney Paul V. Carlin has dedicated his life to the law, furthering the goals and the reach of the legal profession and making legal services more widely available to all segments of the population.

Since 1985, he has served as Executive Director of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA). During his tenure, MSBA has experienced consistent growth – membership climbed from 10,000 to 21,800 in 2005 – and expansion in activities.

After earning his undergraduate degree at Grove City College, Mr. Carlin went on to Dickinson Law School in Carlisle Pa., graduated in 1970, and was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

He began his affliation with bar associations in 1975 when he joined the Philadelphia Bar Association as Director of Legal Services.

While there, he founded the Senior LAW Center, now the largest provider of legal services to the elderly in Philadelphia, and was a co-founder of the 59th Street Legal Clinic, which explored novel methods to deliver legal services to the middle class.

When he moved on to the District of Columbia Bar, he created the first Lawyer Referral and Information Service in the country. The services in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., stressed the provision of pro bono legal services to those clients unable to afford such help.

In 2004, the past presidents and Board of Governors of the Maryland State Bar Association honored Mr. Carlin for “20 years of exemplary service” to the organization. More recently he received the Maryland Bar Foundation Award for Legal Excellence in The Advancement of Professional Competence.

The Right Rev. Keith Lynn Ackerman is the Eighth Bishop of Quincy, leading both small rural parishes and urban parishes in the western portion of central Illinois.

Bishop Ackerman’s career in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America began in 1974, when he was ordained to the Diaconate and, in the same year, ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in Long Island, N.Y. He had earned his B.S. in Psychology at Marymount College in Salina, Kan., in 1971 while working at St. Francis Boys Home. He went on to receive a Master of Divinity from Nashotah House Seminary, Wisconsin, in 1974, and a Doctor of Divinity from the same institution in 1994.

He served as a Curate at the Church of the Transfiguration in Freeport, N.Y., from 1974-1976, and in 1976 was called to be Rector of St. Mary's Church, Charleroi, Pa., in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. There he established five outreach ministries for the unemployed and a Christian Counseling Service.

Bishop Ackerman founded St. Elizabeth Chapel in Bentleyville and was presented the Bishop of Pittsburgh's award. Active in Diocesan life, he served as President of the Standing Committee and as Deputy to the General Convention. Much of his ministry in Pennsylvania involved working with the unemployed.

In 1989, Bishop Ackerman was called to be Rector of St. Mark's Church in Arlington, Texas, in the Diocese of Forth Worth. He was elected Eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Quincy on January 8, 1994, and was consecrated June 24, 1994, at St. Paul's Cathedral in the See city of Peoria.

He is author of several articles and books, including his most recent publication, “To God be the Glory,” a book he wrote with his wife Joann.

William P. (Billy) Leonard excelled on the court and in the classroom at McKeesport Area High School and Towson University. When he entered the business world, the same drive that made him a basketball all-star fueled a rapid rise up the corporate ladder.

Today, he is President of the Refractive Division for TLCVision Corporation, a $300 million company that is traded on Nasdaq. He supervises 600 employees and leads the division that generates more than 75 percent of the firm’s revenues. TLCVision’s most famous spokes-person is golfer Tiger Woods, who underwent vision correction surgery with the company.

Just prior to his 40th birthday, Mr. Leonard was inducted into the Young Presidents Organization, a group of women and men who have become presidents in major corporations before turning 40.

In addition to his position at TLCVision, Mr. Leonard serves on the boards of numerous companies and community organizations, including Vision Solutions Technologies, LLC, a startup company focused on treatment for age-related macular degeneration; the Towson Athletic Foundation; and in multiple partnerships within TLCVision.

Mr. Leonard won a full basketball scholarship to Towson University, where he was named Rookie of the Year in the East Coast Athletic Conference. In 1984-85 and 1986-87, he made the all-conference basketball team and in his senior season he was named the university’s Senior Athlete of the Year. In 1997, Mr. Leonard was inducted into the Towson University Athletic Hall of Fame.

At McKeesport Area High School, he posted similar record numbers and led the Tigers to a 29-4 record in his senior year, a WPIAL championship, and PIAA runner-up honors. Mr. Leonard is active in his church and community, remains active in Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, and still hits the court – as a coach for his sons basketball teams.