Ridgewood High School (NJ) Award For Excellence In Athletics

History And Recipients By Class

The Ridgewood High School Award for Excellence in Athletics is the highest honor a student athlete can receive from RHS. The athletes listed below were voted as the outstanding athletes of their class for their participation as a student athlete over the entire duration of their high school career.

With the advent of women participating to a greater extent as varsity athletes because of title IX legislation, the first class to recognize a female athlete for this prestigious award was the class of 1974. Our research of the RHS Athletic Department archives shows that women participated in varsity (major sport) athletics with the creation of the Ridgewood Athletic Association (RAA) in the period of 1913 to 1916 and continued participating in various sports until the 1930’s. Female participation in interscholastic athletics can be traced back to the formation of the “Girls Athletic Club” in the 1904-05 school year. There were no male or female athletes recognized during that early period of athletic participation to receive this award.

The awards first recipient, Earle Hopper a male, was in 1914 which coincides with the development of the RAA. From that point on the records show a drop off of female participation in varsity athletics starting in the late 1920’s and disappearing entirely in the first part of the 1930’s. Participation by females in varsity interscholastic athletics expanded dramatically again in the 1970’s with the passage of title IX legislation to the point where it is today, sharing half the athletic participation of the student body. The first female recipient of the award, Nancy Hogan, was recognized in 1974.

The award originally was entitled the “Ridgewood High School Award for Excellence in Athletics.” It was renamed the “Rutgers Cup” in the 1940s through sponsorship of an award given by a local patron. The original award name, The Ridgewood High School Award for Excellence in Athletics, was reinstated in the 1950’s. Then with the retirement of former Athletic Director Dave Vanderbush was renamed and now is called the “Dave Vanderbush Award for Excellence in Athletics.” —Jeff Yearing, RHS Class of 1966

Jeff Yearing Update (August 12, 2021)

I was doing some research for our Hall of Fame banquet book and ran across some new information that significantly changes the picture of how our most prestigious athletic achievement award “The Vanderbush Award for Athletic Achievement” was created.

I hope you enjoy it and acquire an appreciation for the significance and the history of this award that has been presented every year since 1914 to 118 Ridgewood High School male athletes and 57 Ridgewood High School female athletes. 

The origin of the award is found in a 1915 document “Yearbook Of The Schools November 1915” published by the Board of Education Ridgewood, New Jersey. It states, “Through the generosity of Mr. Geo Foster Sanford, a cup bearing the Rutgers College seal is annually awarded to that boy of the graduating class who has been distinguished during his high school course because of his excellence in athletics.” The 1915 Year Book also gives us the information that Mr. Sanford was a towns person who served as the coach of the RHS football team at that time and was given credit for training the team to championship caliber performances leading to their renown in the surrounding area and across the state for that period of time. The 1913 team dubbed “The Ridgewood Invincibles” were inducted into the Ridgewood High School Athletic Hall of Fame with the Hall of Fame Class of 2014.

The first recipient was Earl B. Hopper in 1914. In 1915 it was Peter Pagano. Somewhere between 1915 and 1926 the Rutgers Cup was renamed The High School Cup for Excellence in Athletics. This is evidenced by a report in the “Year Book Of The Schools The Ridgewood Public Schools” for 1926. In the commencement section (Page 61) under “Prizes and Awards 1926, it shows the names of all of the recipients of “The High School Cup For Excellence In Athletics” to date 1914-1926. The preface to the award recipients’ names for 1914-1926 states “The main prize awarded at graduation for athletic supremacy is the High School Athletic Cup presented by the High School Athletic Association to a member of the graduating class. This cup is given for the broadest participation in athletics during the four years.” The name of the award evolved over the years to “The Ridgewood High School Award For Excellence in Athletics” (eliminating the original concept of a cup given to the recipient). No date is available for that transition, but it is significant that the basis for the award has remained the same over the years. With the retirement of the former athletic Director Dave Vanderbush, the award is now named “The Vanderbush Award For Excellence In Athletics.” It is noteworthy that the award has been given every year since its inception with female athletes also being recognized with their male counterparts since 1974. There are also multiple winners in both the male and female categories in various years which began in 1981. This was not the case prior to that year.

Jeff Y.

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Renamed The Dave Vanderbush Award

Recipients (1914-2021)

2022

John Dunphey & Lucia Rabolli

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