David Budin

Both of my parents graduated from Heights High. Both of my kids graduated from Heights. My son and his wife both went through the Heights system. My daughter-in-law now teaches at Heights High and is the swim team's diving coach and one of the softball team's coaches. My son is the coach of the swim team.

I quit Heights High on my 18th birthday, a couple of weeks before graduation, and I have yet to graduate -- though my band did play for the after-graduation party at the YMCA on Lee Road. I went to New York City shortly after that and joined the band that later evolved into Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I signed as a solo artist with Sire Records. I eventually returned to Cleveland and became a music journalist, and then, for several years, the editor of Northern Ohio Live and Cleveland Magazine. I'm still a professional musician and I'm still writing -- working on three music-related books, etc.