John Osborne
(Track, 1962)
One of the earliest stars of Coach Dan O'Grady's Cross Country and Track teams was distance man, 1962 DHS graduate John Osborne. John was two time All County in Cross Country and two time All County in Track. He also held the school record in the 880 for over 40 years. The Cross Country teams were undefeated while John was a Hatter harrier. In 1962 he won the Rotary Club Track Athlete of the Year. Besides his exploits in running John was also an outstanding basketball player and made the All County team in 1962 while leading the Hatters to the first Fairfield County Championship in 25 years as well as their leading scorer. After graduation John attended Boston University and ran track for a year before transferring to Danbury State Teacher's College (WestConn) and went into education as a major. While at Danbury State he went back to basketball and played for four years and ended his career as the all-time leading scorer and rebounder for the Colonials. To show his versatility as an athlete even more John played baseball for Danbury State for two years. For his efforts John was selected to the WestConn Athletic Hall of Fame. John Osborne's accomplishments as an athlete are pale in comparison to his career as a coach and teacher for the North Salem School District in New York. In his 36 year teaching career he was a social studies department chair, the national Council of Social Studies, the Westchester County for the Social Studies and the New York Council for the Social Studies and he has written three textbooks for the teaching of Global Studies. As a coach he was the Cross Country and Track Coach at North Salem and Ridgefield High School for 28 years and was the recipient of the Westchester County Track Coach of the Year. His civic contributions are also extensive as he has served as a justice of the peace, the school board in New Fairfield and has been 2nd Selectman in Brookfield just to name a few of the long list of community service he has performed over the years. His contributions in all phases of his life are certainly deserving of the title "Hall of Fame."