Fox High School will induct three former students and three retired staff members into its newly created hall of fame.
The school’s alumni association announced that its first group of inductees will include alumni Jennifer Anders, Dr. Kent Branson and Jim Sweeney, as well as retired science teacher Art Kasey and retired principals Dan Glore and Kevin Rossiter.
A banquet to honor the Fox High School Hall of Fame inductees is scheduled for March 18 in the gym at Fox High, 751 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will start at 6 p.m.
Tickets cost $25 and may be purchased at bit.ly/FHSAlumni.
“I couldn’t be happier with the first class of six going in,” said Joe Salsman, a Fox High School assistant principal and member of Fox High School Alumni Association’s executive board. “ It is a great class and something Fox High School can be proud of.”
Fox High has had a Sports Hall of Fame since 2005, but no way to honor alumni and staff members for non-athletic accomplishments.
“We thought this is something that has been missing from our high school,” Salsman said. “The first graduating class was 1959. In over 60 years, we have had a lot of great alumni and staff do wonderful things, and we felt like now is the time to start recognizing these great individuals.”
Salsman said the alumni association sought nominations through social media for outstanding staff members who worked at Fox High for at least 15 years and former students who stood out in whatever field they entered following graduation.
He said 13 former students and 13 former staff members were nominated and those not chosen for the first class will be considered for the next two hall of fame inductions.
Salsman said the seven members of the executive board chose who entered the hall of fame.
He also said the board has since grown to eight members, who will choose future hall of fame classes.
“It is a diverse board,” he said. “We have members who graduated in the 1970s through 2012.”
Plaques honoring those chosen for the hall of fame will be hung up and displayed in the school’s commons area.
Salsman said the alumni association would like to induct hall of fame classes in October, hopefully on the Saturday before homecoming week.
“I have no doubt once we have this one, we will have a lot more nominations come in and the board will have even tougher decisions on who to induct,” Salsman said. “We have a lot of people who have done a lot of great things over 60-plus years, and we need to start honoring them.”
Anders
Anders, 44, of Fenton graduated from Fox High in 1996 and then earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Anders started a career at Black & Veatch, a Kanas City engineering firm, and is now the company’s senior vice president and member of the board of directors at Woodard and Curran, a consulting firm with an office in St. Charles that specializes in water and environmental projects.
“It is really an honor,” she said of being inducted into the hall of fame. “It is an honor for me to be recognized for my contributions in the world post-graduation.”
Branson
Branson, 63, of St. Louis County graduated from Fox in 1978 and completed medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and returned to the St. Louis area to start his private obstetrician-gynecologist practice.
“I work with a lot of families from Jefferson County,” said Branson, who works out of St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur and Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country. “I have delivered a lot of people from Jefferson County.”
He said he was surprised when he was told he was selected.
“There are certainly more people more deserving than me,” Branson said. “There have been so many people who have come through Fox High School who are amazing people. I owe the school district a lot. It gave me the right foundation to do this practice.”
Sweeney
Sweeney, 57, of Austin, Texas, is a 1984 Fox High graduate and went on to Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., where he graduated with honors and earned degrees in business and psychology.
Sweeney works in the insurance industry, and in 2010 he and a partner purchased American Senior Benefits and became that company’s managing partners. He said ASB was acquired by Integrity Marketing Group in 2019, and he became managing partner at Integrity.
“It is tremendously humbling,” Sweeney said of entering the hall of fame.
He said the hall of fame banquet will be a homecoming for him and his family, who also will be celebrating his mother’s 80th birthday.
“We are super excited,” Sweeney said. “My mom (Kathy Rhymer) turned 80 on Jan. 15. We will do a dual celebration. I am super proud to represent my family.”
Kasey
Kasey, 83, taught geoscience courses at Fox High for 44 years, 1971 through 2015. Along with teaching, he had stints leading the Fox Chess Club, Discovery Club and Weather Club.
Kasey earned the 2004 Walmart Good Works Teacher of the Year award, 1995 Jefferson County Educator of the Year and 1988 and 2014 Excellence in Teaching awards from Emerson Electric.
Arnold Mayor Ron Counts declared May 2, 2015, Mr. Art Kasey Day, and Kasey received an honorary diploma from Fox High with the 2015 graduating class.
“I treasure the diploma because it is a real diploma with the class of 2015,” he said.
Kacey said he appreciates the honor of being inducted into the hall of fame, and he said he plans to wear his trademark white lab coat and clip-on black tie at the banquet.
Glore
Glore, 74, of Barnhart worked in the Fox C-6 School District for 30 years, 16 years of those at Fox High School.
He taught history from 1971 to 1975, and he was an assistant principal and athletic director at the school from 1989 to 1997. He was the school’s principal from 1997 to 2001.
After retirement, he served on the Fox C-6 Educational Foundation for 22 years.
While Glore was the principal, Fox High achieved A+ School status, and students received more honors and dual credit class options.
“I am very honored,” he said about being among the first class of inductees. “I think it is very important to establish a hall of fame. It is a nice move by the alumni association.”
Rossiter
Rossiter, 74, of Glendale was an administrator at Fox High for 17 years, serving as an assistant principal from 1998 to 2001 and then principal from 2001 to 2015.
Before joining Fox High, he was an assistant principal at Belleville (Ill.) East High School for four years and had taught history and was a department coordinator for Naperville (Ill.) Community Unit School 203 for 20 years.
While principal at Fox High, he started the Heroes Assembly to highlight students’ academic achievements. Fox High also performed in the top 5 percent of Missouri high schools measured by ACT scores and other Missouri assessment tests.
“(The hall of fame induction banquet) will be memorable,” Rossiter said. “I am in great company with the other inductees. I am grateful and thankful for the opportunity, but I know there are a whole heck of a lot more people out there who will be well deserving in the future.”