SUSD Honors 2
Quest for the Best Gala honors
former U.S. Vice President
Dan Quayle and Olympic silver
medalist Michele Mitchell
One is a successful attorney, senator, congressman and vice president of the United States. The other is a two-time Olympic silver medalist platform diver, inducted into three Halls of Fame and recognized as an American Gladiator Champion.
But they share two things: Vice President Dan Quayle and Dr. Michele Mitchell both are former students of the Scottsdale Unified School District and both were inducted into the SUSD Foundation Hall of Excellence at this year’s Quest for the Best Gala on Sept. 6. The event was held at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch. It drew 350 guests and raised $50,000 for the foundation.
Developed to showcase the academic, athletic, scientific and artistic achievements of SUSD and its alumni, the event honors graduates who have excelled in their fields and whose achievements reflect admirably upon the school district. Last year Dr. Jeffrey Trent, president and scientific director of TGen, and Lynda Carter, a singer, songwriter and actress most recognizable for her television role as Wonder Woman, were honored..
This year’s inductees include Vice President Dan Quayle. In 1976, at age 29, he was elected to Congress representing the state of Indiana. In 1980, he was elected to the Senate, becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Senate from the state of Indiana. He was re-elected in 1986, making Indiana political history again, winning by the largest margin in a statewide race. In 1988, he became the 44th vice president of the U.S., serving under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.
Quayle attended SUSD elementary schools and Scottsdale High School before moving to Huntington, Ind. In 1969, he graduated from DePauw University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He then joined the United States Army (National Guard) and while serving, earned his law degree in 1974 from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Since 1999 Vice President Quayle has served as chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, a private equity company with offices in Asia, Europe and New York and $23 billion under management. Cerberus also has an asset-based lending company, Ableco Finance, which originates $5 billion in loans annually, and a $2 billion real estate fund, Cerberus Real Estate. He and his wife, Marilyn, live in Paradise Valley.
Sharing the stage was Scottsdale native Dr. Michele Mitchell, a USA Olympic diver and the most decorated diver in the history of the University of Arizona. Mitchell graduated from Arcadia High School in 1979 as a state champion in gymnastics and diving, and then attended the University of Arizona on a diving scholarship where she was named a four-time All-American athlete, a nine-time U.S. national champion and a three-time academic All-American. Dr. Mitchell went on to win two silver medals on the 10-meter platform at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. To date, she holds the American record for platform diving with 479.40 points for an eight-dive list. She has been inducted into the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. She also won the 1992 Olympic Gladiator show and took home the $10,000 grand prize. After 17 years as the head diving coach, Dr. Mitchell is currently in her third season as the Director of Operations at the University of Arizona and a commentator for the Pac 12 Network. She holds three degrees from Arizona: a bachelor's degree in English and Athletic Coaching, a master's degree in Sports Administration, and a doctorate in Educational Psychology. Her daughter, Ariana, is a freshman diver at West Point, and her son, Dakota, is a junior at Sonoran Science Academy in Tucson.
Top photo: Vice President Dan Quayle with Dr. David Peterson, superintendent of Scottsdale Unified School District
Bottom photo: Dr. Michele Mitchell with Price Nosky, chair of the Scottsdale Unified School District Foundation
