Clarion Area Alumni Association 2026 Hall Of Fame Class Anounced
(Clarion Area Alumni Association Release)
The Clarion Area Alumni Association will present the 2026 Hall of Fame Awards on May 2nd at
6:00pm in the Clarion Area High School Auditorium.
Tours of the high school will be offered at 4:00pm and a reception will be held in the cafeteria at 5:00pm.
The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted for future events.
“The Clarion Area Alumni Association is thrilled to honor these five outstanding individuals. We
had many more nominations this year compared to last year, making the selections very tough.
We look forward to seeing this event grow year after year” -Jess (Funk) Seary (‘13), Clarion
Area Alumni Association President.
For more information, call Jess Seary at (814) 227-7534
The awards were selected in four areas: achievement, arts, athletics and service to the school.
The selection committee is composed of current administrators, current and retired teachers,
current and former coaches and alumni. Nominations will open annually each December and
close in mid-February.
This year’s winners are:
ACHIEVEMENT: Stacy McWilliams (‘89)
Stacy McWilliams has been shaped by sports from an early age, emerging as a standout athlete
at Clarion Area before building a career in professional basketball. She spent 24 years with the
National Basketball Association in New York City, holding leadership roles across U.S. marketing, sponsorship, and business operations before shifting her focus to international development.
In 2011, Stacy relocated to Beijing, where she played a pivotal role in advancing the NBA’s global strategy and expanding its international presence.
Upon returning to the United States, she held multiple senior leadership roles spanning Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, ultimately leading the creation of the NBA’s International Team Marketing Program, a board-approved initiative that continues to influence the league’s global growth.
In 2023, she joined the Los Angeles Lakers to lead the organization’s global commercial strategy.
Earlier in her career, Stacy held positions with Madison Square Garden and the American Basketball League.
She earned a Master of Science from Smith College and a Bachelor of Science from Montclair State
University, where she played collegiate basketball.
Stacy currently resides in Los Angeles with her wife, Nicole, and their children, Max and Mila.
ARTS: Alex Jaeger (‘91)
Alex Jaeger, son of Dr. George and Dianne Jaeger, and brother to Ericka and Kurt Jaeger, grew
up in Clarion from preschool through high school and graduated in 1991.
While he initially dreamed of film design, Alex felt automotive design was a more tangible path, leading him to study transportation design at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Alex then found a fondness for telling stories through his art and decided to pursue the dream job of becoming a film designer—and the best place for this was George Lucas’s creative visual effects company in Northern California, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
In February 1995, at the age of 21, Alex found himself working in the model shop of Industrial Light & Magic on the films Congo andMission Impossible.
One year later, he was offered the chance to art direct the visual effects for Star Trek: First Contact. On that film, he got to draw storyboards, concept art, and designed new spaceships that added to the lore of the franchise.
The fantasy was now a reality.
Alex has been working with ILM for the past 30 years in many roles. He has added his creative design touch to such film franchises as Star Trek, Transformers, Galaxy Quest, Star Wars, Pacific Rim, Avengers, Bumblebee, and Ready Player One, to name a few.
On Ready Player One, Alex served as a creative lead in the role of Virtual Production Concept Design Supervisor. In that role, he spanned pre-production design, virtual production art direction, and ILM’s Global VFX Art Director.
In such a capacity he could be a creative eye overseeing all steps of the production to carry through a cohesive design aesthetic.
In the past few years Alex has been working with many directors and producers creating art to help green-light their projects.
He has also been writing his own stories with the hope of getting them told, to inspire others like the films and stories that inspired him.
Still working for ILM remotely, Alex now lives in northern Texas with his wife Missy and their three children, Venice, Flynn and Anastasia.
ATHLETICS: Dave Kiser (‘70) ATHLETICS: Jack Morgan (‘80)
Dave Kiser (‘70)
Dave Kiser was Clarion Area’s first ever State Champion.
An accomplished thrower, he threw the javelin a distance of 210’ 5” at the PA State Meet in 1970. He also was a standout discus thrower with a top throw of 142’5”.
Following graduation, Dave threw for Western Michigan University. During his freshman year, he threw his all-time best javelin throw with a distance of 230 feet.
A serious elbow injury affected his remaining years, but he competed all four years.
Dave graduated from Western Michigan University with a BS in Physical Education and Earth
Science.
During his teaching career, he also coached track and cross-country.
With a continued interest in physical training, he resumed his education at Penn State where he earned both an M.S. and PhD in Physiology.
After completing his education, Dave served in various capacities at the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, NY. In this role he was able to find ways to make the workplace safer and even worked with the United States Senate and House on the Clear Air Act Amendments of 1990.
In 2010, Dave transitioned to International Paper in Memphis,TN, where he served as Vice President of Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability where he retired in 2018.
Dave and his wife Rita established the David M. and Rita C. Kiser Scholarship in
the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State in 2017.
Dave and Rita have two grown children, Jared and Julie, as well as two grandchildren, Olivia and Joshua.
Jack Morgan (‘80)
Jack Morgan, a member of the Clarion Area High School Class of 1980, established himself as
one of the most accomplished distance runners in the school’s history.
During his high school career, Morgan earned statewide recognition in cross country and track while setting numerous records and achieving several historic firsts for Clarion Area High School.
In cross country, Morgan became the school’s first state medalist in 1977 and later finished as the Pennsylvania state runner-up in 1979, making him the first two-time state medalist in program history.
Morgan’s success continued on the track. In 1980 he captured the Pennsylvania indoor state
championship in the two-mile with a school-record time of 9:24, becoming Clarion Area’s first
indoor state champion and helping lead the school to its first team state championship in any
sport. During his high school career he established school records in multiple events, including
the half mile, 1000 meters, mile, and two-mile. His records for the 3200 meters and the 4×800
relay still stand today.
In outdoor track, Morgan won the 1980 Pennsylvania state championship in the 3200 meters with a state-record time of 9:12, marking the first individual state championship on the track in school history. He also earned All-State honors as part of the3200-meter relay team and finished among the nation’s top runners in the 3200 meters in Chicago, earning All-American recognition.
Morgan went on to compete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a history major and became one of the program’s top distance runners. He was a three-time All-ACC performer in track and field from 1983 to 1985 and earned Second Team All-America honors in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 1985.
Morgan ranks second all-time at UNC in the steeplechase with a time of 8:43.70 and served as
team captain for both cross country and track during his senior year.
In 1984 he qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Morgan later transitioned into coaching, serving as head coach of cross country and track and field at Chapel Hill Senior High School from 1986 to 1990. During that time he coached multiple individual and team state champions, including a Harrier Magazine High School All-American.
He also founded the cross-country program at Woods Charter School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he served as head coach from 2009 to 2012.
Professionally, Morgan works as a senior project manager at Carolina Meadows Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is also the owner and manager of Thin Edge LLC, an investment property business.
He is the son of the late Don Morgan of Clarion, Pennsylvania, and Lois Morgan of Boise, Idaho, and has three sisters: Carrie, Terri, and Lorri. Morgan has one son, Hayden Fleet, who resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL: Robert Murphy (teacher, coach, AD, ‘57-’93)
Robert Murphy, affectionately known as “Bob” or “Murph”, dedicated 36 years of service to the
Clarion Area School District, from 1957 through his retirement in 1993.
Mr. Murphy spent his teaching career instructing junior high science for three years and then driver and safety education for 33 years. Over that time, he taught approximately 6,200 students how to drive, emphasizing responsibility, safety, and confidence behind the wheel.
Mr. Murphy was a standout athlete at East Brady High School and later Slippery Rock and Clarion State Colleges.
Mr. Murphy served as the Clarion Area boys varsity basketball coach from 1960 to 1976. Under his
leadership, the teams won four county league championships, nine league runner-up titles, two
District IX championships, two District IX and X championships, three Western PA Championship
appearances, one Western PA title and one PA State runner-up title.
Mr. Murphy founded the golf program at Clarion Area in the late 1950’s. He coached the team for 33 years. His leadership produced two District IX championships, three league championships, 15 state qualifying golfers, two District IX individual boys champions, one District IX individual girls
champion and three golfers who finished in the top ten at the State Championships.
In addition to his teaching roles, Mr. Murphy served as Clarion Area’s Athletic Director from 1976-1993. He was an active member of the PA State Athletic Director’s Association and served on the PIAA Athletic Directors Executive Council. He also served on the District IX Committee for 10 years
and served as the District IX representative to the PIAA Board of Control.
Mr. Murphy and his wife Janice raised seven children, all of whom are Clarion Area Alumni.
He was raised with a twin sister, Carolyn.
In addition, his family further expanded to ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mr. Murphy passed away on August 19th, 2022 at the age of 87.
(Congratulations to all the members of the 2026 Clarion Area Alumni Hall of Fame Class!!!!)