During his brief acceptance speech during Tuesday night’s Salute to Catholic School Alumni, S. Bradford Rives took a moment to honor those at the core of Catholic education.

“If you’re a teacher, a principal, a school administrator, please stand up for a moment,” Rives said during his time at the Galt House dais.

As several dozen in the crowd of 1,500 or so rose from their seats, Rives noted their impact on not just his life but on the lives of all those who benefit from going to a Catholic school.

“I want to thank each of you for all you’ve done for our community,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Rives, a St. Xavier High School graduate who now serves as chief financial officer for E.ON U.S., LLC, said he was taken aback when told he’d been chosen to be honored at the annual Salute.

“When Phil McHugh (president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank and the night’s master of ceremonies) called me last year to tell me about this honor, I couldn’t respond at first,” Rives said. “It took me a moment, and he said, ‘are you still there,’ before I finally said I gratefully accept.”

“I’ve attended this dinner so many times, and I never thought I’d be on this side of the microphone,” he said.

Rives was one of seven Catholic school alumni and two others honored at the March 9 banquet, the annual Salute to Catholic School Alumni.

Also honored were W. James Host, the Lexington man many feel is most responsible for the construction of Louisville’s new downtown arena, and Sheila Mattingly, a teacher from St. Joseph School in Bardstown, who was given the Father Joseph McGee Award for her outstanding teaching career.

Host, who was given the annual Community Service Award by the banquet’s sponsor, the Catholic Education Foundation, is from Ashland, Ky., and his communications companies are noted throughout the state for their coverage of University of Kentucky athletics. He said that some might think it unusual for someone with his ties to lead the development of an arena where the University of Louisville will play its home basketball games from now on.

“What are the percentages of this happening to someone from Ashland, from Eastern Kentucky, from UK, who thought when he was growing up that Louisville was another nation?” he said with a grin.

But he also noted that this city is “the economic engine of Kentucky, even more than you can imagine.”

And the new arena, he said, will help drive that economic engine in the future.

The keynote speaker was Dr. T. Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech, Inc., an international animal health company that employs more than 1,900 people.

Lyons is a native of Ireland and as storytellers from the Emerald Isle are wont to do, he laced his address with humor and whimsy.

“You know, in Catholic schools we learn a great deal about faith, hope and charity,” he said at the start of his presentation. “When an audience claps before you talk, that’s faith; when they clap during your talk, that’s hope — as in ‘I hope this son-of-a-gun shuts up pretty soon.’ And when they clap at the end, it’s an act of charity. I’m hoping for lots of charity from you tonight.”

He also used his address to promote the upcoming World Equestrian Games to be held later this year at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington. Lyons’ company, Alltech, is “the title sponsor” of the games, he noted.

“It’s the biggest single sporting event to come into the United States this year,” he said, “and it’s coming to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

During his brief remarks to the crowd, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz thanked the four major sponsors of the annual Salute banquet, noting their influence on the 20-year history of the event. Those four sponsors are Hardscuffle, Inc., Fifth Third Bank, Brown-Forman and Norton Healthcare.

Mary Claire Alagia also received recognition as one of the seven Catholic school alumni honorees. She leads the Bittners interior design firm, and she told the crowd that her Catholic education was no accident. In her family, she said, there was never any question but that she and her four siblings would attend Catholic schools and graduate from college.

“My parents always said, ‘You can’t put a price tag on education,’ ” she said.

Jill Joseph Bell, vice president of public affairs for Passport Health Plan, took a moment during her acceptance speech to “dedicate this award to my parents and all the parents who work so hard to make ends meet so they can send their kids to Catholic schools.”

She noted that her father worked a second shift each week at a cookie factory, and her mother, a bookkeeper, took on additional clients to help pay tuition costs. Bell attended Mercy Academy, she said, and throughout her professional career has remained “a woman of Mercy.”

John P. Hackett, president of Kroger Mid-South Division, attended St. Patrick School in London, Ohio, and today he and his wife Kay are members of St. Margaret Mary Church.

“I came to the first (Salute to Catholic School Alumni) dinner, and I’ve been to every one since,” he said.

Hackett said he wanted to pay special attention to “the common people, and I say that with great respect.”

“I mean the teachers who taught us and continue to teach, with little pay but with great integrity and leadership,” he said. “If you’re sitting beside a teacher tonight, reach over, shake their hand and say ‘thanks.’ ”

James V. Hartlage Jr., is CEO of Accumetric, LLC, a manufacturerer of industrial sealants and adhesives that has facilities in Elizabethtown, Thailand and India.

“It’s common knowledge that the basics of any education are reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said. “But in Catholic schools there is a fourth ‘R’, respect. We learned respect for our fellow man, for the environment, for people who work hard, and respect for a higher being. All the people on the dais tonight are a product of those four ‘Rs.’ ”

Carl G. Herde, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Baptist Healthcare System, Inc., noted in his brief but energetic remarks that his “life has been so blessed.”

“St. Martha was a great parish to grow up in; I married my high school sweetheart, who is also my very best friend,” he said. “We’ve been blessed with three wonderful daughters and blessed with attending Ascension parish. I have the best job in the world and work with dear friends. I’m very humbled to be on the stage with these honorees and share this honor with those of the past.”

S. Dean Corbett is a nationally renowned chef who owns three area eateries — Corbett’s: An American Place, Jack’s Lounge and Equus. He lied about his age when, at 14, he went to work at a local Red Lobster restaurant, a move that launched a career that has led to cooking at the prestigious James Beard House and winning the culinary award called the Golden Toque.

“I learned the value of Catholic education from my parents,” he said. “We moved a great deal in my early life, and my parents would often locate a school and church before they found a house.”

In his classes at Our Lady of Lourdes School and Trinity High School, Corbett said, he learned the value of applying the Golden Rule.

“My employees are like family to me,” he said. “I’ve learned that you can be an excellent chef and care about your employees, too. And my years at Lourdes and Trinity had a lot to do with that.”