The 1982 state championship girls basketball team gather to ring the bell wearing their championship jackets. Front row, from left: Cindy (Yeaton) Wade, Biz Williamson, Hannah (Russell) Laday, and Traci (Nelson) Halvorson. Back row, from left: Kim (McFarland) Bailey, coach Walt White, Britt Hatch, Lori (Belknap) McCullagh, coach Dan Pinkham, and Heather OBryan. (Photo courtesy Lincoln Academy)
Lincoln Academy welcomed alumni, students, families, and staff to a special bell-ringing ceremony during homecoming weekend.
More than 150 guests joined to celebrate the new belfry and refurbished Hooper Bell at the Alumni Dining Commons on Saturday, Sept. 28. Special invitations were sent to Eagle champions and their families who have been unable to ring the bell since construction started 2022, as well as historic championship teams and special guests.
The event opened with remarks from Director of Community Engagement and Development Heather D’Ippolito.
“We have just $45,000 remaining in our goal of $282,000. The progress on this project so far has been made possible thanks to a generous outpouring of community support,” said D’Ippolito.
A roll call of Eagle champions in attendance started with Marjorie (Fish) Baldwin, of the class of 1965 who was a member of the first Lincoln Academy girls track team coached by Andy Williamson. Baldwin was the softball throw state champion her senior year.
The Lincoln Academy boys soccer team, coached by Head of School Jeff Burroughs, celebrate its second consecutive KVAC championship in 2023 during a bell-ringing ceremony Saturday, Sept. 28. From left: Jeff Burroughs, Drew Hunt, E.J. Hunt, George Seigel, Nestor Powers, Adam St. Cyr, Will Bradley, Cole Workman, and Peter Thelander. (Photo courtesy Lincoln Academy)
The most recent champions to ring the bell on Saturday were members of the 2024 KVAC boys championship tennis team coached by Michael Blake.
There were speeches by Julia Deitrick and Jake Masters. Deitrick spoke about her debate team’s accomplishments as qualifiers for the national debate competition and LA school spirit.
“Typically, schools acknowledge athletes and performing artists, but here at Lincoln, we recognize the contributions of many ranging from all sports teams, math team, MUN, performing arts, and much more,” she said. “There’s always a place for everyone at LA and I think that is what makes this community so special.”
Masters spoke of his late grandmother, Janice Sprague from the LA class of 1954, who instilled the value of an LA education in future generations.
“For those unfamiliar, ringing the bell is a rite of passage for any student who has won a championship in Lincoln Academy uniform. In the fall of 2022, I had the honor of ringing that bell alongside my teammates after we won the first KVAC soccer championship in 22 years,” Masters said. “There was an overwhelming sense of pride I felt as I rang that bell — because I had accomplished something that only a few students and alumni can claim. It’s a tradition like this that continues to set Lincoln Academy apart, and that thankfully is continuing to endure.”
The new support pillars for the bell tower were sponsored by Sprague, who passed away in summer 2023. She was named “Mrs. LA” during her time as a student at Lincoln Academy.
Head of School Jeff Burroughs noted that without the work of Bob Manning, chair of the LA Board of Trustees Buildings and Grounds Committee, the bell tower project would not have happened. He also noted that the teamwork and communication between LA Director of Facilities Casey Stevens and lead contractor Rob O’Brien, both LA grads themselves, was critical.
After the speeches, the crowd moved to the sunny courtyard below the tower and cheered as championship teams, individuals, and honored guests entered the main building and climbed the stairs to the Library Annex to ring the bell. Teams used to ascend to the attic to ring the bell, up an original staircase and across the attic rafters, but the new pulley system that was installed as part of the renovation makes it possible to ring the bell from the second floor, making it both safer and more accessible to ring the bell.
Arlene Cole, who repaired the bell in 1996, is the first to ring the newly refurbished bell from its new pull in the library annex of Lincoln Academy. (Photo courtesy Lincoln Academy)
The first to grasp the bell pull was local historian Arlene Cole, of the class of 1947. Cole headed a previous restoration project in 1996 with her late husband Geroge Cole, a member of the 1946 graduating class. Cole attended the ceremony with her son, Raymond Cole, and Mike Titus, vice president of the Newcastle Historical Society.
The 1982 girls basketball team coached by Walter White and Dan Pinkham arrived together, donning their original wool letter jackets.
The 1987 state championship field hockey team coached by Paula Roberts also returned to campus to celebrate their victory. Roberts was an advocate for the repairs undergone in the mid nineties and again this past year.
Several teams, including the 1982 state championship boys basketball team coached by Philip Page and the 1982 and 1987 state championship boys soccer teams coached by Jeff Bradbury and Garret Bensen were not able to attend, but plan to come to campus for reunion events and ring the bell at a later date.
“It was incredible to see the room filled with generations of LA champions. We couldn’t anticipate how many people would attend, so to have the turnout we did was especially heartwarming,” Burroughs said.
There is still time to contribute to the Bell Tower Fund. Several championship teams are taking this opportunity to raise funds in honor of their beloved coaches. Teams that give $1,000 or more in honor of their coaches will be named on a stone placed in front of the tower as well as a wall plaque mounted next to the rope pull inside the main building.
For more information or to set up a fund in honor of a team or coach, email D’Ippolito at dippolito@lincolnacademy.org.
