Oak Park and River Forest High School honored three alumni, two of whom won Olympic Bronze medals, last week with the school’s Tradition of Excellence award.
Speedskater Emery Lehman of the Class of 2014, Robert “Buck” Halperin of the class of 1927, and Major General Devin Pepper of the Class of 1987, were the latest alumni added to the list of recipients. Filmmaker Dan Halperin, the son of Buck Halperin, accepted the award on behalf of his father who died in 1985. Dan Halperin is making a documentary film about his father and had a crew filming the awards assembly.
Emery Lehman, 28, has competed in three Winter Olympic Games, winning a Bronze Medal in the team pursuit event in 2022 in Beijing. An Oak Park native, he now lives and trains in Utah when not competing internationally, and hopes to compete in a fourth Olympics next year in Italy.
He took a few days off from his competitive season to come back to his alma mater before heading back to competitions in Europe.
“It’s always fun to come back,” Lehman said.
Lehman was still a senior at OPRF when he competed in his first Olympic Games in 2014 as the youngest male Team USA athlete in that Olympics.
Lehman, along with Dan Halperin, were on hand Feb. 13 at an OPRF assembly, where they were interviewed by officers of the Student Council, which selected them from hundreds of nominees.
After captaining the football team at OPRF, Buck Halperin was recruited to Notre Dame where he played under legendary coach Knute Rockne before transferring to the University of Wisconsin. After graduating from college Halperin played professional football for the now defunct Brooklyn Dodgers football team.
Halperin won a bronze medal in sailing at the age of 52 in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He went on to win a gold medal in sailing at the 1963 Pan American Games But athletic achievements were just a portion of his many accomplishments.
A few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Halperin enlisted in the Navy at 34 years old. He was initially assigned to be a physical fitness instructor but moved on to more risky and challenging assignments. Halperin became part of the first class of a unit called Scouts and Raiders, a predecessor to the Navy Seals. In 1942 He commanded a scout ship in the invasion of North Africa, and in 1944, he guided two waves of assault troops as part of the D-Day invasion of France. In the last year of World War II Halperin commanded 2,500 Chinese guerrillas who fought behind Japanese lines in China.
Halperin rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy and received numerous honors for his service including the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, several presidential citations and the Chinese government’s highest recognition, the Yun Hui Cloud Banner.
Halperin also had a distinguished career in business working for the electrical and engineering company his father founded, Commercial Light Company, eventually becoming president and chairman of the board.
For good measure, he also co-founded the Lands’ End apparel company.
“He stood out of all the candidates,” said Student Council President Caroline Vietzen.
In fact, Vietzen was shocked that it took so long to honor Halperin, considering that the Tradition of Excellence awards have been awarded for the last 47 years.
“He should probably have gotten this the first round of the Tradition of Excellence,” Vietzen said.
Major General Devin Pepper now serves in the U.S. Space Force after a long career in the Air Force as a missile and space operations officer. He’s now deputy chief of staff for Strategic Plans and Policy at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Pepper couldn’t come to OPRF for the ceremony, but he prerecorded an interview with Student Council officers Nora Butterly and Tess Cronin.
In an engaging interview, Pepper talked of coming to OPRF from a small Catholic school in Chicago and playing freshman football and then joining the Orchesis dance group as a senior.
OPRF senior Megan Barajas said she always enjoys the Tradition of Excellence assembly.
“More and more there is diversity as to who is up here and what their jobs are,” Barajas said. “I think it shows the students that, no matter what you do you can always find yourself in a position of excellence.”
Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
