# Worcester Academy

Worcester Academy is a co-ed private boarding school in Worcester, Massachusetts serving grades 6-12. It is the oldest school founded in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the oldest day-boarding schools in the United States. A coeducational preparatory school, it belongs to the National Association of Independent Schools.

## Demographics

As of 2018, 451 out of 600, or 68% of the school's students were white, 66 (11%) were Asian, 32 (5%) were Black, and 15 (2.5%) were Hispanic or Latino. The corresponding numbers for the community were 56% white, 8% Asian, 12% black and 21% Hispanic or Latino.

## Clubs

In the springs of 2010 and 2011, the We the People club won the Massachusetts championship and traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national championship.
In 2011, Worcester Academy's math team won its seventh (and fourth straight) Worcester County Mathematics League championship, its seventh (and sixth straight) state championship, and its fourth New England championship (the third in six years).

## Notable alumni

Notable faculty and alumni include:
* John Barrett 1883, American diplomat
* William H. Bates 1936, U.S. Congressman
* H. Jon Benjamin 1984, actor, comedian
* Aliyah Boston 2019, first overall pick of the 2023 WNBA Draft
* George Boardman the Younger, 1846, missionary
* George B. Boomer 1847, Civil War General
* Bernard Briskin 1943, businessman, philanthropist
* Albert H. Bumstead 1894, Chief Cartographer, National Geographic Society, and inventor of sun compasses
* Kimberly Burwick 1993, poet
* Ralph A. "Doc" Carroll, 1909, Major League Baseball player, Philadelphia Athletics, 1916
* Edwin W. Clark, 1841, Missionary to Nagaland, India
* Bill Cooke 1970, National Football League player
* Major General Norman Cota 1915, portrayed by actor Robert Mitchum in the 1962 movie classic The Longest Day
* Lou D'Allesandro 1956, educator, coach, and elected official
* Jim Davis 1962, chairman, New Balance Athletic Shoe
* William Stearns Davis 1896, historian and educator
* Dane DiLiegro 2007, actor and professional basketball player
* Clarence Dillon 1904, co-founder of investment bank Dillon, Read & Co., father of C. Douglas Dillon
* John F. Dryden 1857, Founder Prudential Insurance, U.S. Senator
* Arthur Duffey 1899, Olympic Sprinter, 1900 Paris
* Mark Fidrych 1974, former Detroit Tigers pitcher
* Bernie Friberg 1919, Major League Baseball player
* Jim Forbes 1978, multiple Emmy, ALMA, AP and Golden Mic award-winning writer, producer, correspondent and narrator of VH1's Behind the Music
* Major General Hugh J. Gaffey 1916, Patton's Chief of Staff
* Robert Gilchrist, 2010, professional basketball player
* Willis Goldbeck, 1910, movie producer and writer
* Robert Goldwyn, 1948, surgeon and health care advocate
* Kaz Grala, 2017, stock car racing driver
* Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor 1893, founder and first editor of National Geographic magazine
* Herman Gundlach 1931, Harvard football captain, Boston Braves lineman, NFL
* Bruno Haas 1915, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher and NFL player
* Alan Haberman 1947, supermarket executive credited with popularizing the barcode
* Ned Harkness 1939, college and professional hockey coach
* Brian Herosian, 1969, former NFL player with the Baltimore Colts and CFL player
* Louis Jean Heydt, 1921, stage and movie actor
* Arnold Hiatt, 1944, American businessman and election reformer
* Abbie Hoffman 1955, social and political activist in the 1960s
* Tom Holland 1962, film director
* John Hope 1890, educator and president of Atlanta University
* Ernest Martin Hopkins 1896, President of Dartmouth College
* Frank Reed Horton 1914, founder Alpha Phi Omega fraternity
* Tony Hulman 1920, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner
* Lyman Jewett 1840, Baptist missionary who translated the Bible into Telugu
* Edward Davis Jones 1873, co-founder of Dow Jones
* Arthur Kennedy 1932, stage and screen actor
* Stephen Knapp 1965, artist
* Stefan Lano 1970, symphonic conductor
* Dick Lasse 1954, NFL football player and college coach
* Armand LaMontagne 1958, sculptor of prominent athletes
* Andy Lee, 1998, actor, singer, and rapper of South Korean band Shinhwa
* Doug Leeds 1965, advertising/media executive and Broadway benefactor
* Lou Little 1912, college football coach
* Andrew Mamedoff, Battle of Britain pilot
* John W. Mayhew 1904, All-American football player and coach
* Roy McGillicuddy 1915, a.k.a. Roy Mack son of Connie Mack; co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics
* Rep. Jim McGovern 1977, U.S. Congressman
* Charles E. Merrill 1904, co-founder of Merrill Lynch
* Alfred Henry Miller, 1923, NFL football player Boston Bulldogs, 1929
* Paul Mitchell, 1968, Major League Baseball pitcher
* Robert Munford, 1944, artist
* Jim O'Day, politician
* Neil Patel, 1987, publisher of The Daily Caller
* Jessica Phillips, 1989, actress
* Arthur Pope 1899, Persian art scholar and administrator
* Cole Porter 1909, Broadway composer
* Guy H. Preston, 1883, US Army brigadier general
* Sidney Hollis Radner, 1937 magician and expert on Houdini
* Joseph Raycroft 1892, college basketball and football coach; considered the "father of intramural athletics" at Princeton University
* Frank Rooney 1940, business executive
* Donald "Dee" Rowe 1947, basketball coach
* Thomas M. Salmon 1982, Vermont State Auditor
* John Edward Sawyer 1937, President of Williams College
* Canaan Severin 2012, NFL Player
* Dennis Shulman 1968, clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, author, rabbi, and Democratic Party nominee for the United States Congress in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District
* Mark Slade 1957, TV actor
* Jonathan Starr 1994, financial executive and philanthropist
* Charles Starrett 1922, the "Durango Kid"
* Robert Waring Stoddard 1924, businessman and benefactor
* Ira Stoll 1990, author and former managing editor of The New York Sun
* Jacob Stroyer 1872, ex-slave, minister, and author
* Prince Nandiyavat Svasti 1927, member of the Thai Royal Family and grandson to King Rama IV (1851–1868), a.k.a. Mongkut, the king of Siam depicted in the musical, The King and I
* Royal C. Taft 1872, Governor of Rhode Island
* Stanley F. Teele 1924, fourth dean of Harvard Business School
* Eli Thayer 1840, founder of the Oread Institute and the New England Emigrant Aid Company
* Webster Thayer 1876, Massachusetts judge, presided over the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1920.
* Michael Tien 1968, Deputy, National People's Congress, Hong Kong and International clothing retailer
* Willard Tibbetts 1922, bronze medalist in the 3000 meter race in the 1924 Paris Olympics
* William Toomey 1957, gold-medal winning decathlete in the 1968 Summer Olympics
* Cyril G. Wates 1902, mountaineer, amateur astronomer, and author
* Lawrence Whitney 1911, Olympic athlete
* Walt Whittaker 1913, Major League Baseball pitcher
* Lewis Wilson 1939, actor
In certain instances, student-athletes attend Worcester Academy solely for their senior year, or for a single postgraduate year, to increase their exposure to college coaches or to improve their academic standing. Notable student-athletes include:
* David Ball 2003, New York Jets
* Colt Brennan 2003, quarterback for the University of Hawaii, voted third in 2007 Heisman Trophy Voting
* Dick Capp 1961, wide receiver for Green Bay Packers who appeared in Super Bowl II
* Rick Carlisle 1979, former NBA player, former coach of the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, current coach of the Indiana Pacers
* Mo Cassara 1993, basketball coach and television analyst
* Jeff Cross, 1980, former NBA player
* Steven Daniels, 2012, former NFL player
* Pat Downey 1993, former NFL player
* Obinna Ekezie 1995, former NBA player
* Chet Gladchuk, Jr. 1969, Director of Athletics United States Naval Academy
* Jarrett Jack 2002, Brooklyn Nets of the NBA
* Aaron Jackson 2005, Houston Rockets of the NBA
* Mark Johnson 1986, former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, and Pittsburgh Pirates
* Jordan Lucas 2012, Chicago Bears of the NFL, Super Bowl LIV Champion
* Michael Malone 1989, Head coach Denver Nuggets
* Donn Nelson 1982, former NBA and international basketball coach, current Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations; son of former Boston Celtics star Don Nelson
* Joe Philbin 1980, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins
* Sean Ryan 1998, former NFL player
* Craig Smith, former NBA player
* Tim Welsh 1980, former Providence College coach and sportscaster
* Mike Wilhelm 1986, Assistant Coach, Chicago Bulls

## Headmasters of Worcester Academy

| Number | Name | Years |
| 1st | Silas Bailey, D.D. | 1834–1838 |
| 2nd | Samuel Stillman Greene, LL.D. | 1838–1840 |
| 3rd | Nelson Wheeler, A.M. | 1840–1847 |
| 4th | Eli Thayer 1840, A.M. | 1847–1849 |
| 5th | Charles C. Burnett, A.M. | 1849–1852 |
| 6th | Eleazer J. Avery, A.M. | 1852–1854 |
| 7th | William S. Greene, A.M. | 1854–1858 |
| 8th | Werden Reynolds, A.M. | 1858–1860 |
| 9th | James R. Stone, D.D. | 1860–1862 |
| 10th | Ambrose P. S. Stuart, A.M. | 1862–1864 |
| 11th | Charles Ayer, A.B. | 1865–1866 |
| 12th | Albert Prescott Marble, PhD | 1866–1868 |
| 13th | William C. Poland, A.B. | 1868–1870 |
| 14th | Willard T. Leonard, M.A. | 1870 |
| 15th | Rev. David Weston, A.B. | 1870–1871 |
| 16th | John D. Smith, A.B. | 1872–1875 |
| 17th | Nathan Leavenworth, A.M. | 1875–1882 |
| 18th | Daniel Abercrombie, Litt.D., LL.D. | 1882–1918 |
| 19th | Samuel Foss Holmes, A.M. | 1918–1933 |
| 20th | Harold H. Wade | 1933–1942 |
| 21st | LeRoy A. Campbell, PhD | 1942–1950 |
| 22nd | Paul K. Phillips, A.B. | 1950–1954 |
| 23rd | William S. Piper, Jr., Ed.D. | 1954–1968 |
| 24th | Harold G. Rader, Ed.D. | 1968–1969 |
| 25th | David R. Jefferson, B.A., B.D. | 1969–1970 |
| 26th | Robert A. LaBranche 1946, M.S. | 1970–1974 |
| 27th | John A. Bloom, M.A. | 1974–1985 |
| 28th | Ben Williams, M.A. | 1985–1991 |
| 29th | John Mackenzie, M.A. | 1991–1997 |
| 30th | Dexter P. Morse, M Ed., C.A.G.S. | 1997–2012 |
| 31st | Ronald M. Cino | 2012–2021 |
| 32nd | Kevin Breen | 2021–Present |