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Jody Gerut was called
up to the Cleveland Indians on April 26, 2003. Originally he was
to play for two weeks until an injured player returned. Jody
seized this opportunity and played so well that the Indians cleared a
roster spot for him. He distinguished himself with his
consistent offensive production and defensive play. At the end
of the season, the sports writers in Cleveland voted Jody the Indians'
top offensive player, top defensive player and the biggest surprise of
the year. After the season he was selected as The Sporting News
American League Rookie of the Year. While at Willowbrook, Jody distinguished
himself in three sports as well as |
| in
the classroom. Jody was awarded an athletic scholarship to
Stanford University where he played as the starting center fielder for
three years and won honors as an All Pac Ten center fielder. He
graduated from Stanford in 1999 with a bachelor's degree, majoring in
history and minoring in Spanish. Jody played two years with the
Colorado Rockies farm system before being traded to the Cleveland
Indians. |
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Rick Akira Nishimura, M.D. has been on
the staff of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic
(Rochester, MN) since 1983. He teaches in Mayo's graduate medical school as a professor of
medicine. He has merited several Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Cardiovascular
Disease Teacher awards since he joined the Mayo faculty. |
| Nishimura excelled in academic
and athletics at Willowbrook, lettering in varsity football and wrestling, and serving as
class president his junior year. He has coached youth football and soccer in Rochester.
Nishimura completed undergraduate studies at Knox College (Galesburg, IL) in 1975, and
attained his M.D. at Rush Medical College (Chicago) in 1978. He Joined the Mayo staff and
medical school faculty while completing his residency there (in internal medicine). |
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Robert Falls has been the artistic
director for Chicago's Goodman Theatre since 1986, after serving in that capacity
at Wisdom Bridge Theatre from 1977 to 1985. He also serves as adjunct professor of theatre
and artistic director of the graduate directing program at Northwestern University. One of
Falls' triumphs as a student-actor at Willowbrook was in "Death of a
Salesman." His direction of the |
| Arthur Miller play at the Goodman
and in New York brought him further acclaim and awards: a Broadway Tony last spring and a
Chicago Joseph Jefferson Award in November. Falls also is involved in musical theater and
opera production, including his current staging of "Aida" (Elton John/Time Rice)
for Walt Disney Theatricals. He is preparing future productions in Chicago and elsewhere
of "The Consul" (Menotti), "Thais" (Massenet) and
"Rigoletto" (Verdi). |
