2012 Inductees
Class of 2012
Congratulations to the following on their induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame!
HISTORICAL
Nutley (1860-1926)
As the major attraction at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she captivated audiences by shooting pistols, rifles and shotguns. After overcoming poverty and becoming a legendary markswoman, her life was immortalized through Irving Berlin’s hit musical “Annie Get Your Gun.”
ENTERPRISE
Cinnaminson (1873-1930)
A chemist by profession, he went to work for the Joseph Campbell Preserve Company, now renamed the Campbell Soup Company, where he invented condensed soup. He went on to become the company's president for 16 years, turning the business into a household name.
Bayonne (1895-1979)
A legendary publisher and media giant, he founded Advance Publications which now owns The Star-Ledger and magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
GENERAL
Princeton (1938 - )
A professor in the creative writing program at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978, she is also an accomplished writer, having won the National Book Award and being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
SPORTS
East Rutherford (1916-2005)
Legendary owner of the New York Giants who was responsible for bringing the team to New Jersey in 1976; although he lived in Rye, New York, he was beloved by New Jersey fans and proved you could be a successful sports owner as well as a gentleman.
Plainfield (1933 - 2012)
The first African American to win a gold medal in the decathlon of the Summer Olympic Games, he also played football for the Cleveland Browns and the Montreal Alouettes; inducted into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
Jersey City (1947 - )
Legendary basketball coach at St. Anthony High School, Coach Hurley has amassed 26 state championships and more than 1,000 wins in his 39 years at the school. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, Hurley has devoted his life to coaching high school, turning down many college coaching offers.
ENTERTAINMENT
Princeton (1952 – 2004)
Most remembered for his role as Superman in the movie franchise, he was a seasoned actor who became a quadriplegic after a horse accident and later lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries and founded the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
Newark (1924-1990)
After winning an Amateur Night performance at the Apollo Theater, she opened for Ella Fitzgerald and later became one of the greatest of all jazz singers, winning a Grammy Award and the National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters Award.
New Brunswick (1944 - )
Following in the steps of his father Kirk, he became a prominent actor who won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards and can currently be seen in the action film Haywire.
Asbury Park (1974 - )
Best known as Bruce Springsteen’s band, the group has also recorded with a wide range of artists from Bob Dylan to the Grateful Dead. The band members include Clarence Clemons, Steve Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, David Sancious, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, PattiScialfa and Ernest “Boom Boom” Carter.
How We Get The Inductees
At the New Jersey Hall of Fame we hold some of the strictest criteria for Halls of Fame throughout the country. With only rare exceptions, nominees must have resided in New Jersey for a period of at least five years and must have made a signature contribution to New Jersey and beyond. We employ a three-phase process to identify our inductees.
Phase One is conducted with our Expert Panelists. A group of more than 30 of the most prominent individuals in their selected fields, from historians to journalists, sift through a master list of nominations. They then nominate and vote to create a list of 25 individuals in each category, which is then prepared for presentation to our Voting Academy.
Phase Two incorporates our Hall of Fame Voting Academy, a group of approximately 100 of the most prominent organizations throughout the state. This list is posted on the Hall of Fame website. The Academy is presented with the Expert Panelist list of the top 125 and votes to narrow the field to six individuals in each category.
Finally, the third phase incorporates the public. During the fall of each year the public is offered an opportunity to vote for whom they would like to see inducted into the Hall of Fame. Following the certification of the public vote, the New Jersey Hall of Fame inducts the top vote getter in each category, as well as one or two others as the board deems deserving. The public is able to vote on line through the Hall of Fame website. The prominent consulting and accounting firm of J.H. Cohn, LLP certifies the accuracy of this vote.
