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Worcester Academy
School in Worcester, Massachusetts, US From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Worcester Academy is a co-ed private boarding school in Worcester, Massachusetts serving grades 6-12.[1] It is the oldest school founded in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the oldest day-boarding schools in the United States. A coeducational preparatory school, it belongs to the National Association of Independent Schools.
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History
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Worcester Academy was founded in 1834 as the Worcester County Manual Labor High School; the name "Worcester Academy" was adopted in 1847.[2]

Isaac Davis was a central figure in the school's early years, serving as President of the Worcester Academy Trustees from 1834 to 1873.[2]
The school had three locations in Worcester during its first decades.[2] The first site was a 60 acre farm on what is now Main Street.[2] In 1854 the school moved into the abandoned building of the American Antiquarian society at Belmont and Summer streets.[2] Around this time, principals were paid little, and "were given a free hand to charge whatever tuition they could get, pay the expenses, and pocket the profit."[2]
In 1869, Isaac Davis purchased the abandoned Dale General Hospital on Providence Street in the Union Hill neighborhood.[2] The building, a former Civil War military hospital, was donated by Davis and became a permanent home for the school.[3] The building was renamed Davis Hall in his honor.[3]
Davis Hall served as Worcester Academy's only building for many years; at times, it served as a dormitory, reputedly haunted by ghosts of Civil War soldiers.[3] Davis Hall was damaged by the hurricane of 1938, and demolished in 1965.[3] It was replaced by Davol Hall.[3]
Daniel Webster Abercrombie served as principal from 1882 to 1918.[4] He established the school's motto "Achieve the Honorable" in 1890.[4] He presided over an aggressive expansion of the school, including Kingsley Laboratories (1897) and The Megaron (1905).[4]
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Demographics
As of 2018, 451 out of 600, or 68% of the school's students were white, 66 (11%) were Asian, 32 (5%) were Black, and 15 (2.5%) were Hispanic or Latino.[5] The corresponding numbers for the community were 56% white, 8% Asian, 12% black and 21% Hispanic or Latino.[6]
Clubs
In the springs of 2010 and 2011, the We the People club won the Massachusetts championship and traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national championship.[7]
In 2011, Worcester Academy's math team won its seventh (and fourth straight)[8] Worcester County Mathematics League championship,[9] its seventh (and sixth straight)[10] state championship,[11] and its fourth New England championship (the third in six years).[12][13][14]
Notable alumni
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Notable faculty and alumni include:
- John Barrett 1883, American diplomat
- William H. Bates 1936, U.S. Congressman
- H. Jon Benjamin 1984, actor, comedian
- Aliyah Boston 2019, first overall pick of the 2023 WNBA Draft
- George Boardman the Younger, 1846, missionary
- George B. Boomer 1847, Civil War General
- Bernard Briskin 1943, businessman, philanthropist
- Albert H. Bumstead 1894, Chief Cartographer, National Geographic Society, and inventor of sun compasses
- Kimberly Burwick 1993, poet
- Ralph A. "Doc" Carroll, 1909, Major League Baseball player, Philadelphia Athletics, 1916
- Edwin W. Clark, 1841, Missionary to Nagaland, India
- Bill Cooke 1970, National Football League player
- Major General Norman Cota 1915, portrayed by actor Robert Mitchum in the 1962 movie classic The Longest Day
- Lou D'Allesandro 1956, educator, coach, and elected official
- Jim Davis 1962, chairman, New Balance Athletic Shoe
- William Stearns Davis 1896, historian and educator
- Dane DiLiegro 2007, actor and professional basketball player
- Clarence Dillon 1904, co-founder of investment bank Dillon, Read & Co., father of C. Douglas Dillon
- John F. Dryden 1857, Founder Prudential Insurance, U.S. Senator
- Arthur Duffey 1899, Olympic Sprinter, 1900 Paris
- Mark Fidrych 1974, former Detroit Tigers pitcher
- Bernie Friberg 1919, Major League Baseball player
- Jim Forbes 1978, multiple Emmy, ALMA, AP and Golden Mic award-winning writer, producer, correspondent and narrator of VH1's Behind the Music
- Major General Hugh J. Gaffey 1916, Patton's Chief of Staff
- Robert Gilchrist, 2010, professional basketball player
- Willis Goldbeck, 1910, movie producer and writer
- Robert Goldwyn, 1948, surgeon and health care advocate
- Kaz Grala, 2017, stock car racing driver
- Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor 1893, founder and first editor of National Geographic magazine
- Herman Gundlach 1931, Harvard football captain, Boston Braves lineman, NFL
- Bruno Haas 1915, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher and NFL player
- Alan Haberman 1947, supermarket executive credited with popularizing the barcode
- Ned Harkness 1939, college and professional hockey coach
- Brian Herosian, 1969, former NFL player with the Baltimore Colts and CFL player
- Louis Jean Heydt, 1921, stage and movie actor
- Arnold Hiatt, 1944, American businessman and election reformer
- Abbie Hoffman 1955, social and political activist in the 1960s
- Tom Holland 1962, film director
- John Hope 1890, educator and president of Atlanta University
- Ernest Martin Hopkins 1896, President of Dartmouth College
- Frank Reed Horton 1914, founder Alpha Phi Omega fraternity
- Tony Hulman 1920, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner
- Lyman Jewett 1840, Baptist missionary who translated the Bible into Telugu
- Edward Davis Jones 1873, co-founder of Dow Jones
- Arthur Kennedy 1932, stage and screen actor
- Stephen Knapp 1965, artist
- Stefan Lano 1970, symphonic conductor
- Dick Lasse 1954, NFL football player and college coach
- Armand LaMontagne 1958, sculptor of prominent athletes
- Andy Lee, 1998, actor, singer, and rapper of South Korean band Shinhwa
- Doug Leeds 1965, advertising/media executive and Broadway benefactor
- Lou Little 1912, college football coach
- Andrew Mamedoff, Battle of Britain pilot
- John W. Mayhew 1904, All-American football player and coach
- Roy McGillicuddy 1915, a.k.a. Roy Mack son of Connie Mack; co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics
- Rep. Jim McGovern 1977, U.S. Congressman
- Charles E. Merrill 1904, co-founder of Merrill Lynch
- Alfred Henry Miller, 1923, NFL football player Boston Bulldogs, 1929
- Paul Mitchell, 1968, Major League Baseball pitcher
- Robert Munford, 1944, artist
- Jim O'Day, politician
- Neil Patel, 1987, publisher of The Daily Caller
- Jessica Phillips, 1989, actress
- Arthur Pope 1899, Persian art scholar and administrator
- Cole Porter 1909, Broadway composer
- Guy H. Preston, 1883, US Army brigadier general[15][16]
- Sidney Hollis Radner, 1937 magician and expert on Houdini
- Joseph Raycroft 1892, college basketball and football coach; considered the "father of intramural athletics" at Princeton University
- Frank Rooney 1940, business executive
- Donald "Dee" Rowe 1947, basketball coach
- Thomas M. Salmon 1982, Vermont State Auditor
- John Edward Sawyer 1937, President of Williams College
- Canaan Severin 2012, NFL player
- Matt Shaw 2020, MLB player
- Dennis Shulman 1968, clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, author, rabbi, and Democratic Party nominee for the United States Congress in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District
- Mark Slade 1957, TV actor
- Jonathan Starr 1994, financial executive and philanthropist
- Charles Starrett 1922, the "Durango Kid"
- Robert Waring Stoddard 1924, businessman and benefactor
- Ira Stoll 1990, author and former managing editor of The New York Sun
- Jacob Stroyer 1872, ex-slave, minister, and author
- Prince Nandiyavat Svasti 1927, member of the Thai Royal Family and grandson to King Rama IV (1851–1868), a.k.a. Mongkut, the king of Siam depicted in the musical, The King and I
- Royal C. Taft 1872, Governor of Rhode Island
- Stanley F. Teele 1924, fourth dean of Harvard Business School
- Eli Thayer 1840, founder of the Oread Institute and the New England Emigrant Aid Company
- Webster Thayer 1876, Massachusetts judge, presided over the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1920.
- Michael Tien 1968, Deputy, National People's Congress, Hong Kong and International clothing retailer
- Willard Tibbetts 1922, bronze medalist in the 3000 meter race in the 1924 Paris Olympics
- William Toomey 1957, gold-medal winning decathlete in the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Cyril G. Wates 1902, mountaineer, amateur astronomer, and author
- Lawrence Whitney 1911, Olympic athlete
- Walt Whittaker 1913, Major League Baseball pitcher
- Lewis Wilson 1939, actor
In certain instances, student-athletes attend Worcester Academy solely for their senior year, or for a single postgraduate year, to increase their exposure to college coaches or to improve their academic standing. Notable student-athletes include:
- David Ball 2003, New York Jets
- Colt Brennan 2003, quarterback for the University of Hawaii, voted third in 2007 Heisman Trophy Voting
- Dick Capp 1961, wide receiver for Green Bay Packers who appeared in Super Bowl II
- Rick Carlisle 1979, former NBA player, former coach of the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, current coach of the Indiana Pacers
- Mo Cassara 1993, basketball coach and television analyst
- Jeff Cross, 1980, former NBA player
- Steven Daniels, 2012, former NFL player
- Pat Downey 1993, former NFL player
- Obinna Ekezie 1995, former NBA player
- Chet Gladchuk, Jr. 1969, Director of Athletics United States Naval Academy
- Jarrett Jack 2002, Brooklyn Nets of the NBA
- Aaron Jackson 2005, Houston Rockets of the NBA
- Mark Johnson 1986, former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, and Pittsburgh Pirates
- Jordan Lucas 2012, Chicago Bears of the NFL, Super Bowl LIV Champion
- Michael Malone 1989, Head coach Denver Nuggets
- Donn Nelson 1982, former NBA and international basketball coach, current Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations; son of former Boston Celtics star Don Nelson
- Joe Philbin 1980, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins
- Sean Ryan 1998, former NFL player
- Craig Smith, former NBA player
- Tim Welsh 1980, former Providence College coach and sportscaster
- Mike Wilhelm 1986, Assistant Coach, Chicago Bulls[17]
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Headmasters of Worcester Academy
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See also
References
Further reading
External links
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