2001 COACHING-FOOTBALL INDUCTEE TIM SIMONS Tim Simons coached football at Clovis High School for twenty-four years, amassing an incredible 220-59-4 record while winning five Central Section championships and eleven league titles. He also was an assistant coach at Fresno State and came out of retirement in 2006 to launch the football program at Clovis Unified…
2001 BASEBALL INDUCTEE TERRY PENDLETON Terry Pendleton, one of Fresno State’s all-time greats, played fifteen years in the major leagues, winning the National League Most Valuable Player award, three Gold Gloves, and went to the World Series five times. After his first year in Little League at age nine, Pendleton said he was the worst…
2001 COACHING-WRESTLING INDUCTEE BILL MUSICK Bill Musick was one of the most successful community college wrestling coaches, winning four state college championships, twelve Northern California titles and seventeen conference crowns during a twenty-two year career at Fresno City College. His overall record was 247-50-5 with twenty-five individual state champions and three two-time state winners. When…
2001 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE TIM MCDONALD An exemplary person from West Fresno, who is a living example of what can be achieved through determination, is Tim McDonald. Anyone who is familiar with the great athletic traditions of the Edison High School Tigers, the University of Southern California Trojans, and the San Francisco 49ers knows that Tim…
2001 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE GENE C. JOHNSON Gene Johnson, the former Edison High School, Fresno City College, and University of California star, was the first high jumper in the world to leap over 7 using the western-roll style, eventually hitting a personal best of 7’2 3/4″. Johnson was number one in the United States…
2001 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE RON COX Fresno State linebacker Ron Cox’s toughness and athleticism took him all the way to the NFL following standout careers at Washington Union High School and Fresno State University. He was awesome, the strongest athlete I ever coached,” said former Bulldog coach Jim Sweeney. His attacks on the quarterback were legendary,…
2001 SOFTBALL TEAM INDUCTEE 1943-44 HAMMER FIELD RAIDERS SOFTBALL The Fresno-based team of U.S. Army members won back-to-back World Fastpitch Championships in 1943-44 behind balanced play and the masterful pitching of Private First Class Al Linde and Sgt. Kermit Lynch. In ’43, the Raiders beat the best teams in California and the West Coast to…
2000 BOXING INDUCTEE GABE TERRONEZ Born on the very first day of the 1940s, Gabe Terronez came to Fresno from the dusty streets of Corcoran after dropping out of high school following his sophomore year. Corcoran was a tough environment where childhood arguments and jealousies were not debated in a gentlemanly fashion; they were settled…
2000 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE MICHAEL STEWART Michael Stewart, drafted in both baseball and football out of college, chose to pursue the NFL and played ten years for the St. Louis Rams and Miami Dolphins. Out of several NFL-caliber athletes to come out of Bakersfield High School, Stewart was one of the most hard-hitting defensive players ever…
2000 SWIMMING INDUCTEE ART RUBLE Once Fresno State All-American Art Ruble captured two gold medals at the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City, a New York television crew chose to film his streamlined stroke technique. The company could have selected any number of record-holding swimmers, but the producer told Ruble that his stroke was…