The Executive Committee of the SPHS Alumni Association is proud to announce the recipients of the Award of Excellence.
Banquet to be held October 18, 2025 at the Waterfall Room, 2015 S. Water Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148.
Philip Romani, Community Service
Phil Romani is an alumni of SPHS Class of 1979. He is an outstanding citizen who always follows the “Pay if forward” ideology. Throughout his life Philip has given a helping hand, volunteered and been a wonderful example of how all should aspire to be. Phil has gone to soup kitchens to help feed people. He has sat on several non-profit boards and PTA’S. If something needed to be repaired in schools, he was the first volunteer to start doing the repairs. He has worked closely with the Mummers Museum. He is the co-captain of the Flying Dutchman Mummers Brigade. The Flying Dutchman is the only Brigade that the members are people with special needs.
Philip evolved the Flying Dutchman Brigade to the Flying Dutchman Foundation, a non-profit organization that aids parents and caretakers of people with special needs. Being a part of the ‘Brigade’ is not limited to only the New Years Parade but several Parades throughout the year. The Foundation provides monetary support to anyone that has special needs to pay for their costumes or whatever fees are required for participate in any parade
Phil has spent many weekends throughout the year setting up for festivals and selling merchandise (autism awareness) at festivals, craft fairs, and flea markets to help raise money to be able to buy the costumes, tee shirts and hoodies for the people in his group. The foundation also donates at the end of the fiscal year to Children’s Hospital Autism research.
Every Christmas Season on the 1500 block of 18th Street is turned into the ‘Miracle on 1 3th St”. “Santa’ is in attendance and stands outside the foundation headquarters available to all visitors for taking pictures regardless of if they are special needs or not. A donation is requested for this special visit with Santa to support the work of the Foundation. Children can get a cookie, smile and a High 5.-
Phil does this and so much more with joy and love in his heart. He is an excellent candidate for the Award of Excellence for his service to South Philadelphia Community and beyond with his work with the Flying Dutchman Foundation.
Larry Sechuk, Alumni Board Member
Larry Sechuk became a member of the Executive Committee of the SPHSAA in September of 2019. He was an asset to our committee from the beginning because of his retail experience with the Macy’s organization. He immediately asked to help organize and maintain a school store of various types of merchandise that would benefit not only the school but the alumni.
Because of him being a Macy’s employee, he knew so much about retailing, how to pick vendors that would be invested, he had a great eye for picking items and knew how to select good merchandise and the quality of the fabric that the merchandise was made from along with the greatest prices. Due to this fantastic experience that he has had with Macy’s he was a gift to the SPHSAA!
He officially started as the purchaser for the school store in 2022. He couldn’t do much before that due to the covid situation. But since then, he has opened up various doors for us with wonderful manufacturers listening to him and producing items that the alumni wanted. Not only does he sell items on our website but he also appears at our various class reunions, the May Hall of Fame Banquet, the Award of Excellence Luncheon and is a big hit showing his wares at the Southern-Neumann Thanksgiving football game.
A few of the items that he developed have really become fashion items for both male and female, one being the sleeveless vest, and the other being the pullover sweatshirts. Another item that cannot be kept in stock is the baseball caps!
Larry was inducted into the SPHS Athletic Hall of Fame in May, 2019.
Bill Ronayne, President, Mario Lanza Institute
Bill Ronayne, is the president, treasurer and publicity director of the Mario Lanza Institute, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization which honors the memory of the late great singer by sponsoring scholarships to promising young singers to further their training and careers. More than 300 scholarships have been awarded and many of the recipients have gone on to perform at major opera houses. Ronayne connected with the Mario Lanza Institute after it had established its first few locations initially at Nick Petrella’s Record Shop on Snyder Avenue in the 1970s, then a quick stop on Broad Street before moving to the Settlement Music School in Queen’s Village in the 1980s. In 2002, it moved to 712 Montrose Street where Ronayne became heavily involved as part of the Institute. He took over as president in 2010 after holding the position of vice president and publicity director and has engineered several fundraisers and events to keep the ball rolling. Ronayne is a Brooklyn, NY resident who makes the two-hour commute on weekends to open and entertain at the museum, now located at 1214 Reed Street, with guided tours. He also regularly provides educational programs such as lectures, concerts and the screening of Lanza’s films and television appearances.
Fran Schneider, Former SPHS teacher
Fran Schneider taught Health and Physical Education from September 1969-to June 1997. She also served as the Department chairperson Physical Education Department
She coached Intramural after school floor hockey.She currently is the Business owner of- Sportworks which imprints sportswear, uniforms, ad specialties, and the plaques we purchase for our awardees
