2024 Hall of Fame Inductees Announced
The Franklin Alumni Association & Foundation is pleased to announce the 2024 Hall of Fame inductees. The Franklin Hall of Fame was established in 1992. Additional inductions took place in 1998, 2001, 2004. Since 2013 they have taken place at the spring annual meeting and Hall of Fame Celebration. More information on the Hall of Fame here.
Tickets are now on sale for the Hall of Fame Annual Dinner
May 16, 2024
Columbia Tower Club
$100-$160
More information and tickets here.
David DuPree, Class of 1964
David, a graduate of the University of Washington, has been a staff writer for the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA TODAY and has won the prestigious Curt Gowdy Print Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a Capital Area Emmy Award and the Pioneer Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. He is also the author of the acclaimed novel Taylor: A Simple Love Story…In Not So Simple Black and White.
A three-sport star at Franklin, and a two-sport standout (football and track) at Washington, he went on to make his mark as one of the pre-eminent professional basketball writers in the world, covering five Olympic Games and 24 NBA All-Star games and NBA Finals and was a contributing writer for publications in South Korea, China, France, Spain, Lithuania, Croatia, Venezuela and Brazil.
While at Washington, David, in 1968, was the guiding force for the school’s 14 black athletes across all sports whose challenge of the racial practices in the athletic department led to monumental changes that re-shaped the institution’s policies concerning black athletes. At the age of 22 he became the youngest person ever elected to the National Urban League Board of Directors.
Helen Nguyen, Class of 2001
Raised in Seattle with roots in California and Vietnam, Helen Nguyen has always had a passion for food. As a first generation Vietnamese woman, Helen spent her childhood cooking with her mother and taking in both the flavors of her heritage and the American influence surrounding her. Her path to professional kitchens was a long one, but after many years working in real estate in Seattle, she moved to New York to pursue her culinary dreams, diving head first into one of the top kitchens at Restaurant Daniel. There she trained with the Feast and Fetes catering and private events team for 3 years.
Trained in classic French cuisine, Vietnamese comfort food is where her heart resides. Helen started combining the two and sharing her love for food, culture and community via her monthly Pop-Ups. After a few years of temporary kitchens, she set her sights on opening her first restaurant. She found a space, took a year to get ready and the plan was to open on March 13th 2020. With the pandemic, she had to reassess and quickly shifted to takeout/delivery as well as hospital and community meals. She became an active member in the community, not only making meals for organizations such as Heart of Dinner and More Than a Meal, but visiting the recipients and hand delivering their meals and has served more than 200k meals to date. These organizations hit home for Helen, who grew up in low income housing herself. She is deeply committed to providing meals for the community. Her partnership with Heart of Dinner and the work they provide has been featured on the Ellen Show, Glamour Magazine and Forbes.
Helen finally opened Saigon Social, serving Vietnamese comfort food with a twist, for full dine-in service in March 2022. She is a frequent guest judge on Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay, was recognized as a Heritage Hero on Hulu's Heritage Hero special as well as NBC. In 2022, Helen was a James Beard Award Semi-Finalist for Best Chef New York State and in the same month earned a 2 star write up in the New York Time for her work at Saigon Social. Helen remains an active participant in community organizations.