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Hall of Fame highlights past,
present and future of athletics |
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It happens every year but the moment is so special, you almost wish to save it for posterity.
At the end of the fifth annual athletic hall of fame banquet and ceremony Saturday March 4 at the J. Walter Smith Student Center, nobody wanted to leave. Athletes and coaches who had not seen each other in 20, 30 or 40 years were swapping stories and posing for pictures they would cherish forever. They were talking and laughing about events that had taken place decades earlier, but were so vivid it seemed as if they happened almost yesterday. It was a reunion and a celebration of the things that make Glendale College so special to the almost 200 people who packed the room. Some came from as far away as Hawaii, as inductees Blanche Donovan and Lon Simmons did for this event. Donovan was walking with the aid of a cane after recent surgery but said, “Nothing could have kept me away from being here with my children and family and my extended family at Glendale College.’’
Inductee Mike Haney, a lifelong Glendale resident, spoke about his high regard for the college and how it helped him mature and reach his goal of playing golf for USC, where he was an All-American in 1973. He also challenged the college to find a way to resurrect the golf team so that local players could get a chance to play at the collegiate level as he did. No one was prouder of their son than his parents, Bettie and George, a Glendale alumnus, who attended the college when it was known as Tent City in the early 1930s. But as much as anything else, the success of the athletic hall of fame has been the catalyst for the creation of the athletic endowment fund in connection with the dedication of Sartoris Field in 2005. The renovated athletic field features a synthetic field surface as well as an all-weather track and a state of the art scoreboard. The fund is designed to generate funds for athletics that have been lost due to budget cuts over the past several years. Former head track coach John Tansley and the members of the 1980 men’s and women’s cross country teams that won state championships that year and were inducted into the hall of fame this year, have marveled that the facility is a long time coming and should do a lot to further Glendale College athletics. “If that field had been in place when I was here, I would never have left,” said Tansley in a recent visit to the college. The attendees at the ceremony and banquet were treated to a tour of the facility, which includes a replica of the hall of fame mural, with recognition tiles available for purchase at levels from $500 to $10,000. The athletic endowment has grown to over $200,000 since it was established last year; anyone who is interested in purchasing a tile can contact the Foundation at x5199. & |
