Sports Reporter
The third class of the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted at a Jan. 11, 2013 ceremony at the Crow’s Nest Restauran
Danielle Donovan Johnson, Paul Plissey, Brianna Blanchard Rodgerson and Steve Smith will be the new members.
The group will also be recognized the next day in between games of the Wildcats’ varsity basketball doubleheader against Washington Academy.
Danielle Donovan Johnson
A 1997 PIHS graduate, Johnson captured four Aroostook League championships, three Eastern Maine Class A titles and two state championships during her cross country career.
DANIELLE DONOVAN JOHNSON won a pair of cross country state titles, was a track and field standout and was a point guard for a state champion basketball team.
She participated in the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship for 13-14 year-olds and garnered a third-place finish to earn All-American status.
In track and field, Johnson owns the County record for the 1,600-meter run at 5:24 and set school records in the 400, the 800 and the 1,600. She finished as high as second in the state in both the 800 and the 1,600. She placed fourth in the National Junior Olympics in the 1,600 with a time of 5:15.29.
Johnson was also the starting point guard for the state champion basketball team in 1997.
She went on to compete in track and field at the University of Maine at Orono and ran all four years, serving as captain as a senior. She was part of the 4 X 800-meter relay team that established a school record in both outdoor and indoor track and she is also in the top 10 in three other events. Johnson earned nine varsity letters and made the America East Academic Honor Roll six times.
She now teaches science and is an assistant cross country coach at Hampden Academy.
Brianna Blanchard Rodgerson
BRIANNA BLANCHARD RODGERSON was a brilliant all-around basketball player for the Lady Wildcats and went on to star at St. Anselm College.
Rodgerson was one of the top girls basketball players in the state during her era. She graduated in 2000 and was a freshman (and teammate of Johnson) when the Wildcats won the state title in 1997. She became an All-State player both her junior and senior seasons and was a Miss Maine Basketball finalist as a senior. Rodgerson was a three-time Big East Conference all-conference selection and was on the all-tourney team on two occasions. She finished with 1,502 career points and her 540 points as a senior is a school record.
Rodgerson also was a two-time all-state selection in soccer and set school records in the long jump, high jump, shot put and 4 X 400 relay.
She attended St. Anselm College and was the Northeast-10 Rookie of the Year. She went on to have an injury- and illness-plagued career, but still finished with 1,220 career points, 400-plus rebounds, 400-plus three-point field goals, 175 assists and 160 steals.
Rodgerson served as an assistant coach at both PIHS and the University of Southern Maine. She currently resides with her husband, Derek, at McChord Air Force Base in Washington State and the couple has two children.
Paul Plissey
Plissey, a 1983 graduate, was a standout in both cross country and track and field. He won a state championship in cross country as a senior and also collected three EM titles during his career. He also owns a state championship in the 5,000-meter run as a track athlete.
PAUL PLISSEY was a state champion cross country and track and field athlete in th early-1980s at PIHS and also was a scholarship athlete at Boston College.
While competing in the AAU National Cross Country Championships for 15-16 year-olds in Amarillo, Texas in 1981, Plissey turned in a second-place performance. Later, in the AAU National Junior Olympics, he placed seventh in the 17-18 year-old division.
He was a scholarship athlete at Boston College and was captain of the Eagles’ cross country team. His time of 30:18.50 in the 10,000-meter run remains the fourth fastest in school history. His career was cut short by a knee injury sustained during his junior season.
Plissey, who resides in Charlottesville, Va., is in the midst of a successful career in the music industry under the stage name Ellis Paul. He is a singer/songwriter and folk musician who has released 17 albums and has won 14 Boston Music Awards. Two of his songs have appeared on the soundtracks of the movies “Me, Myself and Irene” and “Shallow Hal.”
Steve Smith
Smith, who graduated in 1961, was one of the school’s most well-rounded athletes. He earned 13 varsity letters in basketball, baseball, cross country and track and field. He helped the Wildcats to a cross country state title as a senior, and that winter was an all-state selection in basketball. In the spring, he batted .490 for the PI baseball squad.
STEVE SMITH was a successful multi-sport athlete at Presque Isle High School in the late-1950s and early 1960s.
Smith was also named to the basketball all-tournament team in 1960 and 1961.
He went on to play four years of basketball at Brandeis University, playing for Celtics legend and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer K.C. Jones as a senior. He also competed in indoor track while at Brandeis, breaking the 50-second mark in the quarter mile.
He competed for the U.S. Army basketball team while stationed in Hawaii and later coached varsity basketball at Belfast for several years. He resides in Stockton Springs.
