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A firefighter who magically knows about accidents before they happen is something Berkeley High could have sorely used a few weeks back, and also happens to be the pretense of a film directed by one of the school’s six new Hall of Fame honorees. 

In a twist of fate perhaps even a bit too much for Hollywood, director Gregory Hoblit’s film “Frequency” opened nationwide on Friday, the same day he and five others were honored by their Alma Mater. 

“I did not exactly graduate at the top of my class. Or the middle. In fact, I was toward the bottom, and lucky to graduate at all. But I did,” said Hoblit to the amusement of the students at the morning assembly. “I have a vivid memory of coming home with some particularly bad grades in 1961. My father did little other than suggest we take a drive. We got in the car and perused through some rather nice neighborhoods. Then we came to some not so nice neighborhoods and perused them. Dad pulled up the car and simply said, ‘your choice.’ It took several years for that reality check to come to me.” 

Hoblit joined longtime BHS English teacher Jacqueline White, famed jazz critic Philip Elwood, the husband-and-wife nature photography team of Stephen and Sylvia Sharnoff and navy pilot Capt. Kenneth Cameron in Friday’s 11th annual induction ceremonies. 

White was a recent hire when Hoblit and the Sharnoffs graduated in ’62. The Berkeley native taught 25 years at BHS, from 1961 to 1986. The former chair of the English department recalled a few words her own teachers had told her: “‘You’re irreverent toward tradition’, ‘your tone is impertinent’ and, I think my favorite is ‘Jacqueline, you are incorrigible.’” 

Elwood – whose grandson is a Berkeley High student and was in attendance – has been recognized as “the Dean of West Coast Jazz Critics.” The 1943 graduate has been a San Francisco Examiner music critic since 1965, and his 44 years hosting a jazz archives show on KPFA stand as the longest continuous stint on the same show in radio history. Elwood recalled coming of age in Berkeley during World War II (in which he served as a Navy ensign). 

“When I came here in 1940, Germany had invaded Poland and World War II started. We thought that was a long way away, and had nothing to do with our lives as 10th-graders here in Berkeley,” said Elwood. “The war disrupted the whole fabric of the community. Most boys were into the draft at age 17. We also saw the loss of all our Japanese students, who were sent away to concentration camps. I’d like to point out that the student body here was appalled at the act. They were our friends and classmates, they’d gone through Berkeley schools and loved Berkeley and Berkeley High as much as anyone else.” 

The Sharnoffs’ induction to the Hall of Fame came as a bittersweet honor, as Sylvia died in 1998 after battling cancer. The couple’s upcoming book, “Lichens of North America” is slated to be published in 2001, and the pair’s photographs have graced the pages of National Geographic. 

“The French painter Matisse once said, ‘There are flowers everywhere for those who want to see them,’” said Stephen Sharnoff, who met his future wife at Berkeley High. “Sylvia was one who did see them ... Find an interest to pursue, you might find a whole new world. And you don’t need to go it alone. The combination of work and love is completely fantastic.” 

The award also came late for Cameron, a career Navy pilot who flew 40 missions over North Korea and was shot down while serving in Vietnam, where he died as a Prisoner of War in 1970. Cameron’s son, Kenneth Jr., accepted the honor on his behalf. 

“I’ve taken a journey through a part of my life that was always missing,” said Cameron. “I was too young to know how my father grew up, what he was like and how he went to school. In the last few days, I’ve met some of my father’s friends, and they’ve brought my father back to life for me. The memories of the stories they’ve told about my father will live forever.”