Inducted 2005
When Walt and Judy Green came to Cardinal Gibbons in 1968, little did they realize all the “hats” he would be wearing.
Father Dennehy hired him as the head football coach and that job grew into head baseball and freshman basketball coach. In his 5 years of coaching football, Walt never had a losing season and each year won the league championship. In 1973 Father Dennehy bestowed the job of Dean of Students on Walt, and from that time he was given the title of “Dean Green” (sometimes with the word mean added to the beginning). For 27 years Dean Green held the responsibility of disciplining students, as well as conducting our annual school raffle and raising money for “Kids in Distress.” All three of Dean and Judy Green’s children (twins Carrie and Gail, and son Chris), are Gibbons graduates and their grandchild is now a freshman here as well.
The Greens are now enjoying retirement in Sapphire, North Carolina, where he was elected to the local area council and serves in a position comparable to municipal mayor. They love traveling and most of all spending time with their children and grandchildren.
Inducted 2005
A coach once stated, “Joe LaRocca is the most complete and competitive ballplayer I have ever seen.” Joe certainly lived up to that statement throughout his athletic career. At Gibbons Joe was a three sport athlete, playing football, basketball, and baseball. In all three sports, he received seven varsity letters, All County, All Diocese, and All State recognition. He was the South Atlantic Conference baseball Player of the Year and led Broward county in batting average his senior year. Joe was a top student here at Gibbons and he was the recipient of the Bank Atlantic Broward County Student/Athlete Award.
Joe received numerous offers from various colleges, but followed his dream and attended the University of Notre Dame, where he was a “walk-on” for the Fighting Irish baseball team, playing all four years. He was selected “captain” his senior year. He led the team in batting average that year. Joe’s name appears on Notre Dame’s “Wall of Fame” for his accomplishments, and he is still recognized each year in their media guide.
After graduation, Joe was drafted and played for the Texas Rangers. Joe was moving up in the organization when he was drafted again, but this time by the United State Army, where he served our country in the war in Vietnam. Joe resides in Ft. Lauderdale with his wife, Lydia, and their two sons, Joe (’98) and Nick (’01), also Gibbons alumni and athletes.
Inducted 2005
When Jude Abrams graduated from Gibbons in 1973 and went on to Florida Atlantic University, there was no doubt in her mind as to where she wanted to teach and coach when she graduated college. Jude did not wait to graduate. She immediately came back to Gibbons to start her coaching career, beside her mentor, Coach Louise Crocco. Jude began the junior varsity sports program for girls in volleyball, basketball and softball and was the first head JV coach of those three sports. During this time, Jude also was the assistant varsity coach of those three varsity sports. Judge coached JV volleyball for 20 years while attending college, becoming a teacher and coaching for her first two years after college at St. Coleman’s. Her goal was to introduce the players to the fundamentals and instill the Lady Redskin pride and tradition. Because of Jude’s unselfishness about her teams’ win-loss record, the varsity team had many state champion players come through her programs. Jude never sacrificed her principles and philosophies to win. JV was to her a building to make the varsity teams as successful as possible. Even with this in mind, her JV volleyball team still amassed an incredible 88 match winning streak at one point in her career. At that time it was a state record. In 1995 she was awarded Outstanding Assistant Coach of the Year by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association at a reception in Jacksonville. This is the highest award given to a coach in the state of Florida. Jude is the unsung hero of the girls’ sports program at Cardinal Gibbons H.S.
Inducted 2005
Except for “two years off for good behavior,” Glenn Lee has been teaching English and coaching cross country and track at Gibbons for twenty-nine years. He is married to Joann Philbrick Lee (’71) and has three daughters: Amy (’04), Jessica (’06), and Allison (’08)
Coach Lee’s teams have been very successful with 351 wins and 22 losses, including 15 district championships, 11 regionals, and 6 state runner-ups. Glenn has been inducted into the Florida Coaches Hall of Fame and has won the Coach of the Year award several times in both cross country and track. Coach Lee is especially proud to have worked with many of the finest young men and women at Cardinal Gibbons High School.
Coach Don Marino felt that Donnell was “the perfect athlete to have for a one-back offense, and defensively the inside linebacker to cover from tackle to tackle.” Obviously, Donnell didn’t sit much during any football game. Donnell was one of Gibbons’ premier athletes, and a standout in football, wrestling, basketball, and track for his years here. He was a state champion runner-up wrestler. Donnell was a First Team All County selection in both The Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel in football and wrestling. He was selected to the All-American team in football and led Gibbons to a 9-1 record. Courted by 75 colleges, Donnell went on to play his college career for the Hurricanes at the University of Miami, where he started 2 years at fullback. His stats include 258 carries, 1,075 yards, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. His career there is highlighted by a national championship in 1991. In 1994 Donnell was drafted in the 2nd round by the Kansas City Chiefs, where he led the team in rushing in both 1998 and 1999. In 2001 Donnell moved to the NFC and played for the Washington Redskins. As a “Redskin” for the second time in his athletic career, he paved the way for Steven Davis to have a 1,000 yard season, by being a solid run-blocking back.
An asthma sufferer himself, Donnell was active in both the Kansas City and Virginia community through his Clearing the Way Asthma Foundation which he is in the process of bringing here to Florida. Besides working with numerous charities and community service, Donnell is married and has 3 sons, Matthew, Donnell III, and Coleman Taylor.