EO Hall of Fame hosts inaugural induction ceremony

EAST ORANGE, NJ — The inaugural East Orange Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 25, at the Cicely Tyson School of the Performing and Fine Arts Theater was a star-studded event that organizers and participants alike said accurately showcased the city.

The East Orange Hall of Fame categories are: arts and entertainment, athletics, law and government, education, science and industry; civic affairs and health care, and enterprise. Its first class is comprised of: actor John Amos, rap group Naughty By Nature, singers Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick, rapper Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens, Zain Abdullah, Kathy Baker, Linda Baker, Toya Beasley, Paulette Bigelow, Clyde Bradshaw, Mike Brown, Brigadier Gen. Richard Cardillo, Judge Robert Carter, Michael Dabney, Robert Davenport, Gale Fitzgerald, former Mayor William S. Hart, Fred Hill, John Hooper, Gary Garland Houston, David “Chip” Humphrey, Greg James, Baruti Kafele, Dr. James Oliver, Scott Patterson, Jerome Pierce, Col. Clyde Richards, Glenn F. Scotland, Fidelia Sturdivant, Norman Tate, Al Volpe, Janice Walker, Darryl White and the Rev. Russell White.

Tom Finch served as the master of ceremonies for the induction event and publicist Darryl L. Jeffries served as the announcer and presenter.

“We are an incorporated 501-C3 foundation. We are the East Orange Hall of Fame Inc., so we plan on being around for a while and, in addition to bringing the history and living history and history that we all should remember back to the city, we also want to be in position to raise some funds to support the efforts of this educational community that did so much for us,” Judge Ted Stephens, the Essex County surrogate, said Saturday, Nov. 25.

Stephens, who served on the Hall of Fame Selection Committee, added, “this effort tonight would not have been possible without the generous help and support of the East Orange Board of Education.”

On a night filled with highlights, many of the East Orange Hall of Fame inaugural ceremony’s most poignant moments involved some of the less famous but equally notable East Orange natives and new Hall of Famers, who made their marks in the world in practically every area of human endeavor, including the worlds of sports and entertainment.

“I’d just like to say that life is about the decisions you make and, being raised in East Orange, around the people and families of East Orange, it helped me make those good decisions,” said Oliver on Saturday, Nov. 25. “There’s no question about it. The families that lived in East Orange when I grew up were the families that really helped give you what you needed to get out into that world, wherever you went. Whether you went on to L.A. or you went into the Rocky Mountains or you went north to Maine or wherever you went, the foundation that was laid here that those families provided us made us successful.”

East Orange Hall of Fame’s first class includes world famous award-winning actors, singers, musicians, actresses and performers, such as Amos, Warwick, Houston, Queen Latifah and Naughty By Nature, so it seemed right for them to take center stage.

But the real highlight of the night came when the members of the Cicely Tyson Elementary School’s YPP group took the stage to perform their signature tribute to Naughty By Nature, featuring their version of the group’s breakout hit record “O.P.P.” They included the call and response chorus “You down with YPP,” a new take on the old “You down with O.P.P.” chorus that catapulted three East Orange youths to international fame and became a hip-hop music catchphrase. The YPP performance drew a standing ovation from everyone in attendance, including Warwick, Amos and Naughty By Nature.

Vinnie “Vin Rock” Brown, Keir “DJ Kay-Gee” Gist and Anthony “Treach” Criss, of Naughty By Nature, had much to say about what being honored by their hometown meant to them.

“It’s been a long time coming. You know we are kids from East Orange, born and raised right here in East Orange. We are street kids. We started off on the wrong side of the tracks. But it was music, it was arts, it was entertainment that put us on the right track,” said Brown on Saturday, Nov. 25. “We’re all born and raised here. We all graduated right here East Orange High School Panthers in the building. And all we ever wanted was this — the acceptance, the appreciation from our elders, from our people who came before us, and I think this was a great thing, because even when we were coming up, we did not have the East Orange Hall of Fame.

“I look up to all of the elders, all of the nominees, all of the people who won before us. So if we don’t know our history, we don’t know where we come from, we don’t know where we going. So this is a great day, man, and to have our young people out here witness this. If we keep this going, our kids would know better and, if you know better, then you will do better, so thank you for this honor and supporting us. We are hometown born and bred. We’re not going anywhere and East Orange is the greatest city on Earth, y’all.”

Gist thanked his parents for moving their family from Queens, New York to East Orange.

“I just want to say thanks to everybody who’s out here. You guys are truly an inspiration for us, like Vin said. You guys that came before us. Everyone from East Orange, you guys put us on the right path, you showed us the way,” said Gist on Saturday, Nov. 25. “And I just want y’all to know that, no matter where we go, no matter what country, no matter what state, when we step off that plane, we representing y’all to the fullest. East Orange, New Jersey, always. Thank you.”

Criss thanked his mother for punishing him after she caught him trying to practice his deejay record-scratching skills and techniques on her Sugar Hill Gang record, which motivated him to go out and get a “real deejay” for his young rap group. That deejay turned out to be Gist, they renamed the group Naughty By Nature and the rest is hip-hop, recording industry and now East Orange Hall of Fame history.

“We taught each other how to grow each other, be one tribe and everything. East Orange High School and Clifford J. Scott, 3 square miles you could walk everywhere around. Everybody knew each other, one way or another. Little City, from the projects to the pentagon, you see what East Orange does,” Criss said.

  Anthony Criss, Cicely Tyson School, Dionne Warwick, East Orange Hall of Fame, John Amos, Keir Gist, Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, Vinnie Brown, Whitney Houston