Editor’s note: Deborah Healy Gilmore ’91 was inducted into the Williston Northampton Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 7, 2014 during Reunion weekend. Coach Ray Brown ’55 gave the following introduction during the ceremony.

What a pleasure it is to be up here on this stage to present a top scholar-athlete for induction to the Williston Hall of Fame! Debbie Healy set a very high standard in terms of her performance on the tennis and basketball courts and in the classroom.

As her tennis coach, John Kahane, talked to me a while back. He was excited to tell “… of her 6 varsity letters in that sport. Beyond her success in terms of victories, her demeanor on the court and her rapport with her teammates was extraordinary.” John was also quick to point out that Debbie lost only two regular-season matches in her entire career at Williston, both to the same opponent, once in her 7th grade year and once in the 8th grade. She then went on to win all of her singles matches for the next four years and topped off her prep tennis career winning the New England Championship! Debbie went on to play four years of tennis at Dartmouth and ended her career there as the Team Captain and All-Ivy League in both singles and doubles.

Of course, I was more familiar with Debbie’s contributions on the basketball court. She earned five varsity letters and during her junior year became the first girl at Williston to attain the 1,000 point mark and ended her prep career with 1,687 points. In her last three seasons she was in double figures in all but two games. You have to consider that those numbers were obtained in spite of the fact that her opponents played a box-and-one on her most of the time. Not only did she lead in scoring, she was the leader in both assists and steals. Debbie is the all-time leader in school history with a 75% foul shooting average, averaging 80% her last two seasons.

Among the many highlights of Debbie’s career are two that I would like to mention:
1) Scoring 38 points at Mount Hermon when we scored a huge upset 57-51 win; and
2) Scoring the first 9 points (including the first three-pointer) when the girls beat Pomfret in the first game ever played in the new Athletic Center. A lot of “firsts” there…..

Let us keep in mind that with all of the successes Debbie had on the courts she combined that with great success in the classroom with High Honors level work at Williston and being in the Green Key Honor Society at Dartmouth.

So it with great pleasure that I present Debbie Healy Gilmore for induction into the Williston Athletic Hall of Fame!