2013 Inductees
Steve Smith - 1961
Smith, who graduated in 1961, was one of the school’s top all-around athletes, earning 13 varsity letters in basketball, baseball, cross country, and track and field.
He helped the Wildcats to a cross country State title as a senior, finishing among the top 10 runners at the state meet.
That winter, he was an all-state selection in basketball. Smith was also nemed to the All-Aroostook basketball team and the Easstern Maine all-tournament team both in 1960 and 1961.
In the spring of his senior year, he batted .490 for the PI baseball squad. He also played American Legion baseball for three years, with his teams winning tow Division I titles to advance to the state tournament.
As a track and field athlete, Smith was second in the 220 at the state meet and set a County record in the same event at 22.2 seconds.
Steve was the recipient of the Herky Adams Memorial Award in 1961. He participated in Junior Classical League, French Club and Dirigo Boys’ State. He was student council and senior class president and also claimed National Merit honors. He went on to play four years of basketball at Brandeis University, playing for Celtics legend and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer K.C. Jones as a senior. He also competed in indoor track while at Brandeis, breaking the 50 second mark in the quarter mile in his one year on the squad. He placed fourth in the Greater Boston track meet.
Smith competed for the U.S. Army basketball team while stationed in Hawaii, with the roster also including one NBA player and two collegiate All-Americans.
He later coached varsity basketball at Belfast High School for several years. He currently resides in Stockton Springs.
Paul Plissey - 1983
Plissey, a 1983 graduate, was a standout in both cross country and track and field, lettering in both sports all four years. He won a state championship in cross country as a senior and also collected three Eastern Maine titles during his career. He also owns a state championship in the 5,000 meter run as a track athlete.
While competing in the AAU National Cross Country Championships for the 15-16 year-olds in Amarillo, Texas in 1981, Plissey turned in a second-place performance. He was honored back in his hometown with a huge welcome and received a key to the city. Later in the AAU National Junior Olympics in Bonner Spring, Kansas, he placed seventh in the 17-18 year-old division while taking 12th at the Eastern Division of the Kinney Race.
While in high school, Plissey was a member of the National Honor Society, played in the high school band and stage band four years. He also sung in the chorus and made All-Aroostook all four years while achieving All-State status in 1982.
He received numerous scholarship offers, but chose to attend Boston College and was captain of the Eagles’ cross country team. His time of 30.18/50 in the 10,000 meter run remains the fourth fastest in school history and he stands ninth all-time in the 5,000 meter run and third in the 4X1600-meter relay. As a freshman, he placed seventh in the 10,000-meter run in the TAC Junior National Track Championships in Los Angeles, Calif. His career was cut short by a knee injury sustained during his junior season.
Plissey, who resides Charlottesville, Va., is in the midst of a very successful career in the music industry under the stage name of Ellis Paul. He is a singer/songwriter and folk musician who has released 17 albums and has won 14Boston Music Awards. He has sung the National Anthem at Fenway Park. Two of his songs have appeared on the soundtracks of the movies “Me, My-self and Irene” and “Shallow Hall.” He is the recipient of the 2004 Boston College Arts Council Alumni Award for artistic achievement.
Danielle Donovan - 1997
A 1997 PIHS graduate, Johnson captured four Aroostook League championships, three Eastern Maine Class A titles (1993, 1994, and 1995) and two state championships (1993 and 1994) during her cross country career.
She participated in the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship for 13-14 year-olds and garnered a third-place finish to earn All-American status.
In track and field, Johnson owns the County record for the 1,600-meter run at 5:24, established in 1996, and also set school records as a freshman in the 400 (1:02), the 800 (2:23.9) and the 1600 (5:08.24). She finished as high as second in the state in both the 800 and 1,600 and 3,200 and was part of the victorious 4 X 400 relay team. She was a state runner-up in both the 800 and 1,600.
Johnson was also the starting point guard for the state champion basketball team in 1997 and was a Big East Conference honorable mention. She also was a starter her sophomore and junior seasons.
She went on to compete in track and field at the University of Maine at Orono and ran all four years, serving as captain as a senior. She was part of the 4 X 800-meter relay team that established a school record in both outdoor and indoor track and she is also ranked seventh all-time in the 800 outdoor, sixth in the 1,000 and 10th in the 1,500. Johnson earned nine varsity letters and made the America East Academic Honor Roll six times. She received the University of Maine Scholar-Athlete Gold Award.
She graduated with a degree in Spatial Information Science and Engineering. Danielle now teaches science and is an assistant cross country coach at Hampden Academy.
Brianna Blanchard Rodgerson -2000
Rodgerson was one of the top girls basketball players in the state during her era. She graduated in 2000 and was a freshman (and teammate of fellow inductee Danielle Donovan Johnson) when the Wildcats won the state title in 1997.
She became an All-State player both her junior and Senior seasons and was a Miss Maine Basketball finalist as a senior. Rodgerson was a three-time Big East all-conference selection and was on the all-tourney team on two occasions. She finished with 1,502 career points and her 540 points as a senior is a school record.
Rodgerson also was a two-time all –state selection in soccer and set school records in the long jump, high jump, shot put and 4 X 400 relay while competing on the Wildcats’ track and field team.
Brianna attended St. Anselm College and was the Northeast-10 Rookie of the year in 2001 and that season made the NCAA Div. II All-American freshmen team.
She made either Northeast-10 all-conference or received honorable mention three seasons and despite missing 20 career games due to illness and injuries, still finished with 1,220 career points, 400-plus rebounds, 400-plus three point field goals, 175 assists, 160 steals and 40 blocked shots.
Rodgerson served as an assistant basketball coach at both PIHS and the University of Southern Maine. She currently resides with her husband, Derek, at McChord Air Force Base in Washington State and the couple have two children.