The Hinsdale Central Hall of Fame will induct four new members tonight, Sept. 22, at its dinner at Ruth Lake Country Club. The annual event has taken place every year since the inaugural class was inducted in 1997.
The Class of 2022 inductees are as follows.
Douglas Newby
The 1970 graduate credits his upbringing in Hinsdale for stoking his interest in community involvement and his high school friends and mentors for instilling confidence and vision to venture into uncharted territory with new ideas and initiatives. Newby played tennis and basketball in high school, but his greatest thrill came from writing for the Hinsdale Courier, founding the upperclassmen cheering squad — Sons of Satan — and his role as Varsity Club social chair, overseeing homecoming assemblies and serving as pep rally chairman.
Newby went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration at SMU and developed a passion for revitalizing a once prominent Dallas neighborhood that had fallen into decline. As a real estate broker, he founded Douglas Newby and Associates, specializing in architecturally significant homes, and was the first in the country to promote the greater economic value of historic home preservation. Newby’s efforts initiated the largest Dallas’ largest rezoning — from multifamily to single-family zoning — which became the platform for Fannie Mae’s first inner city loans in the nation. Munger Place was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and became Dallas’ first historic district, and all 2,000 homes in the 100-block rezoned area, now known as the Peak Suburban, Munger Place and Junius Heights historic districts, have been preserved.
Newby created the Dallas Restoration House of the Year Award, the first residential restoration house of the year award in the country, and organized the first Dallas architectural survey of significant homes while also writing two books, with a third on the way: “Organic Urbanism: Nurturing the Evolution of a City with Vibrancy and Nature.”
Kerstin Regnery
Kerstin Regnery, nee Ronning, is 1998 graduate who went on to earn a degree in marketing and management information systems from the University of Dayton in 2002. Regnery quickly became involved with Radiation Oncology Consultants, starting as the assistant to the business manager before assuming the business manager post herself in 2005. Under her leadership, ROC has grown to be one of the largest radiation oncology practices in the country, with 27 physicians and five advanced practice clinicians serving at 12 community-based hospital cancer centers and four specialty cancer centers in the Chicago area. Kerstin was named the firm’s executive director earlier this year.
The Hinsdale resident has been active in her community, helping develop the Associates Board, a branch of the Hinsdale Hospital Foundation, in 2014 to raise money and create awareness for the Cancer Institute that opened later that year. She later was asked to join the Wellness House Board in 2015 and served a six-year term, chairing the programs committee for three of those years and co-hosting the Wellness House Ball in October 2020.
Regnery is married to Central class of 1997’s Geoff Regnery and the couple has three children, Peyton, 13, Riley, 11, and Logan, 8. She and her daughter are members of the local National Charity League chapter, a group of mothers and teenage daughters that engage in community service, develop leadership and experience cultures. Regnery volunteers at her children’s school and has served as coach for many soccer and softball teams over the years. She enjoys traveling, golfing and playing racquet sports.
David Stone
David Stone is a 1968 graduate and the embodiment of Red Devil Spirit. A committed scholar-athlete throughout high school and as a student at Washington & Lee University, David taught English and coached basketball at a private boy’s school in Virginia before moving back to Hinsdale with his wife, Meg, to raise their three children.
David coached both his sons’ basketball teams and was involved with the Hinsdale Falcon Football league before starting a traveling baseball team for his oldest son, Matt. Throughout all these years of coaching and raising a family, David carried out a professional career in financial and wealth management services.
After the untimely death of Central classmate and swimming legend Charlie Nieman, David founded a fund in Charlie’s memory to provide scholarships to members of the Central swim team. The annual golf outing to support the fund is now in its 31st year and has provided ongoing educational financial assistance to countless swim team members.
When the class of 1968 had its recent 50th reunion and volunteers for the planning committee were scarce, David and Meg jumped in with both feet and made it an event to remember for everyone in attendance. Emails from or phone calls with David almost always conclude with the words, “Always a Red Devil,” and he demonstrates that through his commitment to family, friends, community and service. All of his children are Central alums: Jennifer (class of 2000), Matthew (class of 2004) and Jim (class of 2007).
Jeff Tolbert
Jeff Tolbert is a 1976 Central graduate and former standout Red Devil wrestler. After earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial management and industrial engineering from Purdue University, where he was captain of the wrestling team, Tolbert returned to the Hinsdale-Burr Ridge area in 1983 and started an age-group wrestling program to help develop future members of the Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South programs. He has coached at all levels for the Hinsdale Central wrestling program and has also served as a sectional director, treasurer and board member for the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation. The organization provides instruction and participation in the sport for children ages 5-18 through the sanctioning of organized wrestling events and training.
Outside of wrestling, Tolbert was a Falcon Football coach and helped organize the Burr Ridge Little League when Burr Ridge left the Hinsdale Little League.
Tolbert and his wife Cindy reside in LaGrange Highlands and are the proud parents of three sons, all of whom all graduated from Hinsdale Central. His oldest, Jeffrey, was a swimmer for the Red Devils, and his other two sons, Matthew and George, were wrestlers like their father. Tolbert has generously given of his time to work with the youth in local communities and to support his alma mater in the form of coach, mentor and friend.
