Famed photographer Jack Mitchell steals the show at Cudas' CAPS awards program; more than a thousand enjoy spaghetti meal

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick. Photographer Jack Mitchell is highlighted in the video presentation here. Please see Peter Mallory's blog for addional coverage of the event.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Famed photographer Jack Mitchell stole the show at the annual CAPS awards program Saturday honoring him and five other Cudas graduates for their significant achievements.

Mitchell, whose poignant photo of John and Yoko Ono on the cover of People magazine a week before the former Beatle was assassinated, asked if anyone else from his class of 1944 was present.

When he got no response, Mitchell quipped: "I guess they're all dead -- I'm the last one."

Mitchell got a rousing cheer from the audience, which enjoyed a slide show of some of his famous photos, including actress and pinup model Veronica Lake.

Among the other honorees were Ron Hanna, John Gilmore, Michelle Zahner, Jane Allen and Harold Nichols.

"I'll always be a Barracuda," said Nichols, a 1985 New Smyrna Beach High School graduate, the star quarterback who has gone on to excel as a college football coach, most recently at his alma mater, Division I Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C.

Of his chosen profession and labor life, Nichols said rhetorically: "I've been coaching 21 years and it feels like I haven't worked a day in my life."

Last year's event raised more than $17,000 and organizers are hoping to at least match or even exceed that amount through 1,600 served meals that were served Saturday, with all the proceeds going to graduating seniors for college scholarships..