Skip to Content
/ Articles / Education /

Conrad Weiser to Induct Three into the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame

By Conrad Weiser School District

Nov 16, 2022

Conrad Weiser High School is pleased to announce that three alumni will be inducted into the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium in Robesonia.

Being inducted that evening are Eric L. Gibson (class of 1988), James (Jay) Hoffman (class of 1968), and Dr. Pamela (Wagar) Smith (class of 2002).

“The Distinguished Alumni Program seeks to recognize CW graduates who have proven – through their lifetime achievements – to be a source of pride for the Conrad Weiser community, as well as a source of inspiration to its students.” In addition, nominees have distinguished themselves in a field or profession and earned recognition at a regional, national, or international level.

The induction will be part of the National Honor Society Induction held that evening.  Following the induction, a reception will take place in the high school cafeteria.  Family, friends, and community members are welcome to come and join in honoring the inductees.  Livestream link: https://youtu.be/HNY3vMMldwk

Eric L. Gibson – Class of 1988

Eric Gibson is a federal prosecutor who joined the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2016.  He is the Civil Rights Coordinator in criminal matters.  Eric is also the District Elections Officer and has previously served as the Deputy Chief of the Corruption and Civil Rights Unit.  From 2010 through 2016, he served in the Public Integrity Section in the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division in Washington D.C.  Immediately before joining the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, he served as the Acting Deputy Chief of the Special Operations Unit in the Justice Department’s Office of Enforcement Operations in Washington.

Eric has been the lead prosecutor on several high-profile matters throughout his career, including the successful prosecutions of former U.S. Congressman, Michael “Ozzie” Myers, for election fraud; U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah, for racketeering and fraud; Fattah’s son for fraud, and Ohio’s Deputy Treasurer, Amer Ahmad, for bribery and money laundering.

From 2006-2010, Eric was a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.  He was a member of the federal prosecution team in a capital case, United States v. Gary Eye, et al., that secured convictions and multiple life terms for Steven Sandstrom and Gary Eye arising out of a racially motivated killing in Kansas City, Missouri.  He was also a member of the federal prosecution team in a Civil Rights Era “cold case,” United States v. James Ford Seale.  Seale was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and was convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms in 2007 in Jackson, Mississippi, for the brutal kidnapping, torture, and murder of two African-American teens committed in May of 1964.

As a result of his work, Eric has received several commendations.  In 2008, he was awarded the Justice Department’s highest award for employee performance, the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service.  In 2009, he received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Department’s second-highest award for employee performance.  In 2016, he was awarded the Assistant Attorney General’s Criminal Division Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award for employee performance in the Criminal Division at Main Justice.  He has also been recognized twice by the FBI Director “for demonstrated excellence in successfully prosecuting major criminal cases.”

Eric has lectured at the National Advocacy Center, the FBI Academy at Quantico, and a variety of seminars over the years on trial advocacy, the prosecution of racketeering, public corruption, and civil rights crimes. Working with the U.S. State Department, he helped train prosecutors in anti-corruption strategies in Eastern Europe and Northern Africa.

Before joining the Department of Justice, Eric served as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia for over a decade.  Eric graduated from Conrad Weiser High School in 1988, Villanova University in 1992, and the Temple University School of Law in 1995.

James (Jay) Hoffman – Class of 1968

Jay Hoffman spent his forty-nine-year career both as a soccer coach and soccer coaching educator.  He has coached at all levels within the U.S. soccer environment including youth, collegiate, professional, and U.S. national teams.

In 2017, Jay was presented with the 2017 Walt Chyzowych Lifetime Achievement Award and was called one of the most dedicated and respected coaches in U.S. Soccer history.  This award is presented annually to individuals in thanks and recognition for a lifetime of dedication to preserving the spirit of the game of soccer, advancing its level of play, and promoting its growth and development.

Jay spent 4 years as a head collegiate coach before coaching professional soccer, both indoors and outdoors.  He held various national team coaching positions for the United States Soccer Federation, including assistant coach for the U-17 men’s team, head coach of the U-20 men’s team, head coach of the 1999 gold medal-winning women’s Pan American Games team, assistant coach for the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions, and 13 years as head coach of the U.S. Paralympic Men’s National Team, which qualified for the 2004 and 2012 Paralympic Games.

In addition to his coaching career, Jay has served as a coaching educator for 45 years teaching all levels of the U.S. Soccer licensing pathway and assisted in coauthoring several coaching manuals and technical reports.

Jay was honored with the 2008 Dr. Thomas Fleck, US Youth Soccer Excellence in Coaching Education Award recognizing his contributions to coaching and educating at every level of the game. He has been inducted into the Virginia and Ohio North Youth Soccer Halls of Fame.

Jay is a 1968 graduate of Conrad Weiser High School. He received his B.S. (’72) and M. Ed. (‘77) from East Stroudsburg University.

Dr. Pamela (Wagar) Smith – Class of 2002

Dr. Pam (Wagar) Smith is a pediatric endocrinologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Child Health at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine-Phoenix.  Dr. Smith has focused on developing Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s growing multi-disciplinary Skeletal Health and Dysplasia Clinic, now a recognized center by the national Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation for children with brittle bones.

Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease, Dr. Smith spent an extensive amount of her early educational experience on homebound instruction due to surgeries and hospitalizations.  Despite these challenges, she persevered and has used her personal experiences to positively impact the medical field.

Dr. Smith completed her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia and later completed her training in pediatric endocrinology at Washington University in St. Louis and Shriners Hospitals for Children in St. Louis.

In college, medical school, and as a doctor, Dr. Smith has presented research and personal testimony at conferences on “Resident physicians with physical disabilities”, “Living with a bone condition”, and “Life as a resident physician with OI”.

Pam Smith graduated from Conrad Weiser High School in 2002 and Alvernia University in 2006.  She received her MD from Penn State University College of Medicine in 2013.

We need your support!

Your contribution makes community media possible.

A donation of any size to your nonprofit media organization supports the future of media access in our community - the things you love, and the places you care about, by the people you know.

Live Streaming