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Students at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx only need to look up as they enter their school auditorium to see that a good education sets the stage for life. Etched above the door is the name of one of the school’s most famous alumni, Regis Philbin—the media personality who is co-host of the popular morning talk show “Live With Regis and Kelly.”
The renovated auditorium was rededicated and named for Philbin—a generous annual supporter of the school’s growing endowment—at a Mass and ceremony Oct. 20, which the 1949 Hayes graduate attended. Also present was his wife, Joy, and the author and editor Helen Gurley Brown. Archbishop Dolan was the main celebrant of the Mass; Father Joseph Tierney, president of Cardinal Hayes, was a concelebrant.
After the Mass, Philbin announced that Ms. Gurley Brown, retired editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, had donated $1 million for scholarships and special programs at Hayes.
Philbin himself has a history of generous donations to his alma mater. He gave $500,000 in 2000 for the renovation of the auditorium. Throughout the years, he has also donated winnings from game shows to his alma mater, including $175,000 from his appearance on the television program “Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader?” and $50,000 from his appearance on “Celebrity Jeopardy” in 2006.
During his personal remarks at Hayes, Philbin shed his usual light-hearted demeanor, telling the students, “I’m a little choked up here, to tell you the truth…I remember sitting in those seats.” He told the students that one of his regrets in life was “not working harder” as a student.
“This is your chance,” he said. “What you are learning here will stay with you the rest of your life.”
With pride, he told the students, “You’re a Hayes man,” to which the students replied with loud applause and cheers. He said their teachers all do the best they can to help each of them learn and succeed. He also noted that their future depends on their own personal efforts. “A lot of it depends on what you do right now,” he said.
Archbishop Dolan told the students and faculty gathered that Philbin is to be admired for his “love, devotion and loyalty to Cardinal Hayes.” Speaking directly to Philbin, he thanked him for his dedication to the school saying that students “learn a lot more by example than they do by words.” Philbin, he said, is a good example of a man of “faith,” “hope” and “charity.”
At the end of the ceremony, both Archbishop Dolan and Philbin were given red and gold Hayes letter-jackets, which they immediately put on.
William Lessa, principal of Hayes, told CNY that it’s “extremely important for students to see positive role models and know they sat in the same seats, walked the same hallways. We want them to see that there is something to what we do here every day.”
Steven Abreu, a Hayes senior, in an interview after the event, said, “It’s great to have successful people from Hayes as idols. We’re thankful for him giving us this great auditorium that we can use for meetings and Mass.”
