If there is a common thread among those who have been inducted into the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame, it’s this: they all needed a support system of teammates, coaches and family members to help them ascend to newfound heights.
For Greta Wagner (class of 2014), soaring was literally a part of her daily training. Wagner is one of eight inductees in the 2026 LGHS Athletic HOF class, which includes Dan Dolen (class of 1970), Bill Berk (1990), Ben Winkelman (2000), Brian Brogan (2005), Danny Sullivan (2006), Sarah Safir Smith (2008), and Cady Chessin (2013).
The Induction Ceremony will take place on May 2 at La Rinconada Country Club. Tickets can be purchased at GoFan.co. Wagner won the 2014 girls pole vault event in the CIF State Track and Field Championships, a year after finishing in a tie for second.
Her winning mark in the 2014 Championships of 13 feet, ¼ inch was just shy of her all-time personal-best of 13-2, still a school record and one of the top 20 marks in state history.
“In that moment, you see where all your hard work paid off,” Wagner said. “I ended up missing high school graduation to compete at the state meet, and I don’t regret it. It was one of those moments where it all felt worth it. For me, it wasn’t about the competition or how I did in comparison to them. It was a moment where I thought about all of the sacrifices I made and then to see all of that come to fruition in those jumps at the state meet.”
Wagner, who resides in Los Angeles where she works as a customer success manager at Drata, credited her success to Bob Slover, her field coach at LGHS. It was Slover who encouraged Wagner to try the pole vault in her sophomore year.
The rest is history.
“I attribute all of my success to coach Slover,” Wagner said. “To have one of the best pole vault coaches at your high school is just incredible. He gave me the correct training and workouts and had such a big impact on my life. He contributed to my success even to where I am now. If I didn’t have him as my pole vault coach, I think my life and career would be very different.”
Wagner’s superior athletic talent and physicality was on full display in the 2014 State Championships. Not only did Wagner win the pole vault, but she also qualified in three other events, competing in two of them: the 100-meter dash and the 4×100 relay. On day one of the Championships, Wagner faced the remarkable challenge of trying to be in two places at approximately the same time.
“I had to run the 100 prelim heat right when I was going for my jump,” she said. “My heat was lining up right when I was on the pole vault runway. I grabbed my spikes trying to run the 100 heat, but grabbed the wrong shoe. So it was a bit crazy but always fun because I was always scrambling from one event to another. My coach definitely gained a few gray hairs.”
Wagner’s background came in gymnastics, a sport she competed in from 3 to 13 years old.
“My parents put me in gymnastics at an early age because it was a way to get the energy out of me,” she said. “I was very wild and even an escape artist type of kid, doing things like getting out of my car seat while they were driving.”
The body control, strength and speed Wagner picked up from competitive gymnastics helped her in transition to pole vaulting. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that Wagner found tremendous success in the sport. Wagner’s single-minded pursuit to soar to new heights each time she stepped on the runway was at times a double-edged sword.
“I had no problem with the physical (part of the sport),” she said. “For me, it was always the mental side I struggled with a bit more. I always wanted to be perfect sometimes to my detriment. For me, it was never a physical limitation, but more so mental blockers essentially. I wasn’t scared per se, but I cared so much and wanted everything to be perfect, I let it overtake me sometimes.”
Wagner said Slover helped her find a more healthy mental approach that she employs to this day.
“There was one meet when I cleared a personal-best but wasn’t overjoyed and remarked I wanted to do better,” Wagner said. “He told me you have to celebrate all of your wins—no matter how small—because one day you won’t have them anymore. That’s something that definitely stuck with me as I look at improvement. In a customer success role, I’m detail-oriented and I want to make sure I’m on top of everything. But also to try to set smaller goals and achieve them along the way.”
Wagner said she’s most looking forward to seeing her family, Slover and her former teammate and childhood friend, Carly Heffernan, at the Induction Ceremony. Always thoughtful and reflective, Wagner will no doubt reminisce with Heffernan and others on her time at LGHS and UCLA, places where she poured every ounce of energy into going higher.
“It is hard not doing it competitively anymore,” she said. “Growing up, it was the thing that got you up every morning. Afterward, you don’t know what your passion is going to be. That’s what I found hard after college. I was expecting it and preparing myself for life after pole vault competition. I miss caring and being so passionate about something similar. I have found other avenues, but it’s not the same. You don’t get the same feeling of winning anywhere else. It’s a unique feeling you only get when you win. I’m always going to try to find something that I care about as much as I did for track and field.”
Brian Brogan
It’s been 21 years since Brogan graduated from LGHS, but he looks back at his time there as both transformative and with fondness. Brogan was the No. 1 singles player on three consecutive Central Coast Section Division I-title winning teams, plus back-to-back CIF NorCal championships in his junior and senior years.
“We had a great group of guys that knew each other since we were 10, 12 years old,” said Brogan, who is married with three children and resides in Carmel where he owns his own business. “We’re at a great school with a great athletics program, and we said, let’s create something special here and push ourselves. Luckily, we had a coach (Todd Dissly) who was involved and familiar with tennis and an assistant coach (John Huebner) who was a tennis pro and volunteered at times.”
Arguably the greatest tennis player in LGHS history, Brogan’s impressive resume speaks for itself. Brogan was named an All-American three times and reached as high as No. 2 in the USTA Northern California singles rankings and No. 28 nationally. He also achieved a national No. 1 doubles ranking during his sophomore year.
In the inaugural year of the CIF NorCal tournament in 2004, the Wildcats edged Saratoga 4-3 in the championship match. They repeated as champions a year later, winning by the identical score over Alameda. Some of the other top players on the team included Stephen Stege, Jon Teel, Lee Gerston, Chase Huebner, Will McAllister and Patrick Brogan, Brian’s younger brother.
“We had an amazing camaraderie with the team,” Brian said. “It was a great group to grow up with and for a public school to go dominate the scene was a little unheard of competing against the Bellarmines and Menlos of the world. I credit the Los Gatos environment for promoting athletics and allowing all of us that opportunity to excel.”
The Wildcats fared well in some of the most prestigious state and national tournaments, a testament to their depth and talent.
Unlike most high school sports, the prep tennis season coincides with the “club” USTA circuit. This means student-athletes face a serious juggling act if they want to participate in both, especially for a player of Brogan’s caliber. He was on the road often, traveling to locations throughout the country to compete in tournaments.
The task to balance both the high school and USTA worlds was a balancing act.
“I remember playing one of the NorCal weekends and a USTA national tournament at the same time,” Brogan said. “We were driving back and forth, and it was a hard balance between USTA and high school. If you were choosing USTA over high school events, it didn’t go well with your team. Fortunately, a lot of our guys trained at Courtside, Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club and picked each other up. It comes back to having that strong community.”
Brogan said his parents emphasized the team aspect of tennis, which compelled him to actively invest his time with the high school squad.
“Tennis is a fairly individual sport, so I was fortunate my parents stressed the team aspect of the high school game,” he said. “It was a big decision to do both because a lot of the top kids at that level are home-schooled and not even participating in a lot of the normal school activities.”
With each passing day, Brogan gains a greater appreciation for his time at LGHS and the uniqueness of a public school duking it out and beating the private school powers in a sport traditionally dominated by the latter.
“Even though Los Gatos was a short four-year window, it set the foundation for us going forward,” he said. “We look back and appreciate so much what happened there. All those guys on the team were brothers, and we pushed each other on and off the court. The ones that are still around, I still talk (to) to this day.”
Unlike a lot of top junior tennis players who suffer from burnout or quit the sport altogether, Brogan is still actively involved in the sport. He credits his parents for allowing him to grow in love with the sport as opposed to constantly pressuring him to win.
“Some of the other top juniors during my time had a lot of pressure where they don’t want to pick up a racket ever again,” he said. “I was very fortunate I didn’t have that amount of pressure and credit my parents for making the sport a competitive but fun experience for me. Tennis is something I still enjoy to this day, and I get invited to play in tournaments here and there.”
Brogan’s positive, lifelong experience in tennis has motivated him to give back to the sport and its community.
“I try to give back to the sport as much as it’s given me,” he said. “My dad still lives in Los Gatos, and I’ve continued to support the tennis environment in the area, working kids out on the side and coaching some players outside my full-time job.”
After graduating from LGHS in 2005, Brogan enjoyed a solid college career at Santa Clara University and Pepperdine. At SCU, Brogan rose to No. 53 in the Division I rankings, a school record at the time. Brogan’s close friend, Danny Sullivan (2006), is also a part of the 2026 HOF induction class.
“I’m really excited Danny is coming into the Hall of Fame this year as well,” Brogan said. “My younger brother walked on and played tennis at Arizona State when Danny was playing QB there. Danny puts on a big high school golf tournament for a bunch of ex-athletes called the Los Gatos Invitational, and we always duke it out and have a great time.”
Here is a snapshot of achievements of the rest of the HOF inductees—as usual, a who’s-who in the storied LGHS sports tradition.
Dan Dolen starred in three sports: baseball, basketball and football. He was a first-team all-leaguer in baseball in his junior and senior seasons, compiling a 6-1 record in both years while helping lead the Wildcats to a pair of league championships. Dolen also was the school’s best basketball player in his junior and senior year, leading the team in scoring and rebounding. He went on to enjoy a three-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bill Berk was a key cog in the football team, winning De Anza Division and Central Coast Section championships in the 1989 season. He caught a team-high 34 passes for 821 yards, and six touchdowns that year, while also serving as the team’s placekicker, converting 23 PATs and a field goal. In baseball, Berk was a three-year starter at shortstop, leading the Wildcats to a 57-21 record during that span. In addition to being outstanding defensively, Berk hit .398 during his junior season, leading the Wildcats to a CCS title game.
Ben Winkelman was a two-way star in football, playing defensive end and tight end. He tied for first on the team in TD receptions and fumble recoveries, while also being among the leaders in tackles and sacks. He played on the opposite side of the line from future NFL Hall of Famer Jared Allen, when the team allowed an average of just 7.4 points per game in the regular-season. Winkelman was also a strong basketball player who dominated in the paint.
Danny Sullivan quarterbacked the football team to De Anza Division and CCS titles in the 2005 season. He completed 60% of his passes while throwing for 24 touchdowns to just six interceptions in his senior year. Sullivan, who went on to play at Arizona State, graduated from LGHS holding the second best all-time mark for passing yards and TDs in a single season.
Sarah Safir Smith had an illustrious swim career, winning four individual league championships while also being a part of seven league championship-winning relay squads. She broke the school record in the 50 free, and was a key cog in the record-breaking 200 free relay and 200 medley relay squads. In water polo, Smith earned all-league honors three times, including an all-CCS selection in her senior season. She went on to play water polo at Santa Clara University.
Cady Chessin was the first girl to wrestle on the boys varsity team and the first to win a varsity match. She was a three-time CCS girls champion, won state titles in her junior and senior seasons and captured a national championship in 2013. Chessin went on to wrestle at Menlo College, earning four-time All-America honors while competing in the Pan American Games and the Olympic Trials.
