1994 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE BILLY WAYTE Some people point to a single event or time when they made a decision that shaped their life and career. Billy Wayte can recite, day, time and year that happened to him. Wayte was a walk-on freshman for the Fresno State football team. In the first scrimmage, veteran All Conference…
1994 AUTO RACING INDUCTEE AL POMBO Al Pombo is another Fresno-born auto racer who has reached legendary proportions by accruing more than 500 main event victories over his racing career. Born in 1921 and raised in Fresno, Al began his hot rod career as a hobby in high school and started his auto racing career…
1994 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE BOB GLAZEBROOK Every athlete dreams of moments of glory and every fan anxiously waits for them. With football, it’s the accurate passing quarterbacks, the hard-running tailbacks, and the sticky-fingered wide receivers who have the best chances to earn a slice of the celebrity pie. But what about football’s defensive backs? They don’t…
1994 COMMUNITY LEADER INDUCTEE ROBERT E. DUNCAN When Robert “Bob” Duncan was growing up in Fresno, he spent many happy hours playing ball on sandlots around town. Bob was a busy young man with school, scouting, a Fresno Guide paper route and working his chores around home. Even after losing his sight in one eye,…
1994 BASKETBALL INDUCTEE MARY BROWN When we talk about a true pioneer who had a legendary career, the first person mentioned is Mary Brown. She did more for girls’ basketball in the Valley than anyone. Back in the 1960s, she led the effort to get the girls’ game on the hardwoods to where it is…
1994 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE BERNIE ALLARD If Bernie Allard had been born in the era of big professional sports salaries, he might have had second thoughts about Hastings Law School, but he now knows that he made the right decision. Allard, a three-sport letterman at Fresno High and a two-time CIF state high jump…
1993 BODY BUILDING INDUCTEE HAROLD ZINKIN, SR. The elite list of men who became rich and famous because of their association with the subculture of bodybuilding or “pumping iron” is legendary – Jack Lalanne, Joe Gold, Vie Tanny, Armold Schwarzenegger – but this list could not be complete if it didn’t include Fresno’s own Harold…
1993 COACHING-BASKETBALL INDUCTEE JOHN TOOMASIAN John Toomasian was born in Roachdale, Massachusetts. His father passed away when he was very young and when his mother, Genevieve, remarried, the family moved to Waukegan, Illinois, where John met a youngster by the name of Vic Graham. John and Vic liked to play baseball, basketball, and football when…
1993 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE DEAN PHILPOTT Dean Philpott was the prototype fullback-the kind that John Madden liked to talk about while commentating games. Philpott had a bull-like neck, big shoulders, and a raw-boned build with sharp elbows that hurt any player he ran over. He was highly recruited out of Anaheim High School and almost went…
1993 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE JIM MERLO The community of Sanger has always given great support to the Sanger High Apaches athletic programs, especially in football. The Sanger fans have been rewarded for that support, many times over by the school’s long list of great teams, coaches, and players. Foremost among the coaches who have achieved recognition…