1975 ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION INDUCTEE GOLDEN DICE LONG Goldie Long was born in Virginia, but graduated from Sanger High School in 1902. He coached swimming at Roosevelt High School from 1937 to 1945. Perhaps his greatest contribution was as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) director in Manila and the United States from 1907 to 1937.…
1975 BOWLING INDUCTEE WILLIAM FLESCH In an era where 300 games were not as common as today, Flesch rolled five of them, three which were sanctioned. His highest three-game series was 773. He once bowled 1,200 for five games during a benefit for the Chicago Service Men’s Center. The Illinois native begin managing bowling lanes…
1975 TENNIS INDUCTEE J. NEWTON BRAMBLETT The undisputed king of tennis in the San Joaquin Valley was J. Newton Bramblett from 1920 through 1927. The Fresno High School Class of 1917 graduate attended the University of California from 1923 to 1924, Stanford in 1925, and Fresno State from 1926 to 1927. In the early 1920s,…
1975 COACHING-BASEBALL INDUCTEE “LEN” BOURDET The victories kept mounting, but the person who paid the least attention was Len Bourdet, who finished his Fresno City College baseball coaching career in 1988 with 722 victories which at that time was the most in California junior college history. Bourdet was one of the many disciples of legendary…
1974 GENERAL INDUCTEE GEORGE OLSEN George Olsen was an icon in the city of Coalinga for forty-two years as a coach and athletic director. Travel to Coalinga today and you will see George E. Olsen City Park dedicated in 1981. Olsen was a Kansas native and moved from Emporia State University in Kansas to Fresno…
1974 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE “SIM” MATHIESEN Sim Mathiesen began an illustrious athletic career at Fresno High School, participating in football, basketball, and baseball from 1926 through 1928. Mathiesen continued his athletic career at Fresno State from 1928 through 1931. He became one of the finest punters on the West Coast at the college or university level.…
1974 BASEBALL INDUCTEE HOWARD O. CRAGHEAD Howard O. Craghead graduated from Fresno High School in 1926 and signed with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League that spring. Craghead, a big right-hander, was an All-Star for Fresno High from 1924 to 1926, averaging double figure strikeouts per game and he reportedly fanned twenty-four of…
1974 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE PHIL CONLEY Phil Conley had a simple explanation of how he changed from a mediocre high school athlete to a four-sport star at Cal Tech College and an Olympic javelin thrower. Conley was the best player on the Fresno High School tennis team, a standout on the school’s volleyball club,…
1974 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE CLAUDE CALLAWAY This Fresno High School graduate went to Stanford University in 1932. He was part of the famous team known as the “Vow Boys” under Coach Claude B. “Tiny” Thornhill. The vow was made in his freshman year to never lose to USC and they didn’t. Stanford’s three-year record was 25-4-2.…
1973 TENNIS INDUCTEE WALT SENIOR Arguably one of the finest early era tennis players in Fresno history, Walt Senior beat some of the top names in the game during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1945, Senior was ranked fifth in the country by the Professional Lawn Tennis Association in singles and second in doubles. In…