Since 2004, the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Dinner has been held on the first Saturday of May. This event marks the 21st class to be enshrined. This year’s event was held at La Rinconada Country Club, and I was among the 180 folks in attendance. This important date on the social calendar has grown into a source of community pride and inspiration.
“It is our goal to recognize those young men and women who over the years distinguished themselves through athletics while attending and representing their school and community,” is how it was hyped up on the event’s website. “The idea of an Athletic Hall of Fame first came to light as a remembrance of John Baggerly. It is the hope of this committee to create a hall that would have made John proud.”
Baggerly Field was named after John Baggerly. Baggerly was a former newspaper sports editor beloved by the town’s kids who loved baseball. Back in the 50s, Baggerly was instrumental in getting Los Gatos to build its first Little League diamond. Baggerly wrote a column called “Pictures from the Past,” for the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. In 1996, the Los Gatos Little League named its new field after him. He served as sports editor at the Los Gatos Mail-News for 28 years. He was also called “the town’s most dedicated storyteller,” as noted by Kathleen Sullivan, in an SFGate.com blog post.
In the keepsake glossy brochure, the Los Gatos High School Hall of Fame Committee wrote, “We plan to begin shortly after tonight’s proceedings with the selection of next year’s class of inductees. The guidelines established by the committee require that ten years pass from graduation from high school before a candidate becomes eligible for consideration.”
The hall of fame committee consists of: Bill Frey, Butch Cattolico, Mark Magagna, Suzy Meckenstock-Seandel, Scott Downs, Lisa Nanez Mitchell, Randy Frey, Ken Perrotti, Jim Marino, Mark Krail and Kurt Kroesche.
Here are the eight inductees for this year:
Dan Dolen (Class of 1970) Played three seasons of football. He elected to sit out his senior year to concentrate on basketball and baseball. Baseball led him to a three year professional career in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Dolen was a first team all-leaguer in baseball his junior and senior years compiling a six to one league pitching record both years. Dolen was the team leader, scoring leader and top rebounder for the Wildcat basketball team his junior and senior years. This earned honorable mention all-league honors both seasons.
Bill Berk (Class of 1990) Played on a De Anza league and CCS championship football team. He led the team in receptions from his wide receiver position. He also caught 34 passes for 821 yards and six touchdowns that season. Berk was also the team’s placekicker where he converted 23 extra points and a field goal. Berk’s best sport was baseball, where he played three seasons as the varsity shortstop for the Wildcats. His teams had a cumulative record of 57-21 winning a league title, finishing second twice and making the CCS playoffs all three years. In Berk’s junior year the team finished second in CCS. In addition to being an exceptional defensive player, Berk was an outstanding hitter batting .398 his junior season.
Ben Winkelman (Class of 2000) A two-way star in football playing defensive end and tight end. Winkelman was tied for first on the team in TD receptions and tied for the team lead in fumble recoveries, while also being among the leaders in tackles and sacks. Winkelman played on the opposite side of the line from future NFL Hall of Famer, Jared Allen. Here the team allowed an average of just seven point 4 points per game heading into the playoffs that season, scoring an average of 40 points per game. Winkelman was also a strong basketball player who dominated in the paint.
Brian Brogan (Class of 2005) The number one player on the tennis teams that won the Division one CCS championships for three consecutive years. He was a three-time individual High School All American in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Brogan went on to play tennis for Pepperdine and Santa Clara Universities.
Danny Sullivan (Class of 2006) Led the 2005 Wildcat football team to both a De Anza League championship and a CCS title. He completed 60% of his passes (131 completions in 220 attempts) and threw 24 touchdown passes against just 6 interceptions his senior season. At the time Sullivan graduated in 2006 his single season passing yards and single season touchdowns were second only to former NFL star Trent Edwards. Sullivan went on to play quarterback at Arizona State University.
Sarah Safir Smith (Class of 2008) An outstanding swimmer and water polo player while a student at Los Gatos High. Smith was a four-time Varsity swim team MVP who broke the school records in the 50 free, 200 free relay and 200 medley relay. She was a four-time individual league champion and seven time relay team league champion. Smith was also a four-year member of the varsity water polo team, a three time all-league selection and was named to the second team all CCS her senior year. Smith went on to play water polo for four years at Santa Clara University.
Cady (Chessin) Fabian (Class of 2013) The first girl to wrestle on the boy’s varsity team and the first girl to win a varsity match. She was a three time CCS Girls champion and won two consecutive state championships her junior and senior seasons. In Chessin’s senior year she was also a National Champion who went on to Menlo College where she was four time All American. She also wrestled in the Pan American games and competed in the Olympic Trials.
Greta Wagner (Class of 2014) A state champion in the Pole Vault her senior season and finished second at the state meet her junior year. Wagner holds the school’s girl’s pole record of 13’2” and has the thirteenth best vault in state history. Wagner qualified for the California State Meet in four different events her senior year, the 100, 200, 4×100 relay and the pole vault. She has run the fastest 100 meter and 200-meter times in school history.
From the Hall of Fame committee: “It is an extremely difficult task to sort through the hundreds of athletes worthy of this honor. In a school established in 1887, the number of athletes worthy of induction is still very large. Each year we hope to recognize more athletes and continue to balance gender and era and cover the entire spectrum of sports competition throughout the decades.”
