1991 BASKETBALL INDUCTEE CLIFTON PONDEXTER What did having the skills to play basketball from Fresno’s playgrounds to collegiate, professional, and European courts, ultimately mean to Clifton “Cliff” Pondexter? “It was a tour of life,” he said. “I was extremely fortunate to play in so many countries and meet so many interesting people.”Pondexter’s hoop history includes…
1991 TENNIS INDUCTEE LARRY HUEBNER Tennis icon Lary Huebner has been closely associated with every aspect of the game of tennis for most of his life, but ask him to name his favorite sport and the answer will be basketball. However, when he had to choose in his freshman year at UCLA, tennis was the…
1991 GOLF INDUCTEE JERRY HEARD When Jerry Heard was a junior golfer, he-in Johnny Miller’s own words-”beat me like a drum.” They earned their PGA Tour playing card the same year. Heard was a Top 10 player who already had won four tournaments from 1969 to 1974 and by the age of twenty-eight appeared to…
1991 DIVING INDUCTEE RICK EARLEY In the Fresno climate, a good place to be in the summertime,is at one of the nearby lakes, rivers, or swimming pools. Rick Earley found that the latter was one of his favorite places to be. In his early teens, he discovered diving competitions, and by the time he graduated…
1991 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE CHARLES CRAIG The boycott that never happened deprived Charles Craig of an opportunity to represent the United States in the 1968 Olympic Games and a legitimate chance for a medal. The Fresno-born former Central High athlete and NCAA triple jump champion at Fresno State in 1965 was disappointed at the…
1991 VOLLEYBALL INDUCTEE JOHN ALSTROM John Alstrom is arguably the finest volleyball player born and raised in Fresno and the wonderful thing is that he was able to continue playing the sport well into his sixties. Alstrom’s Legends Club won the Over 65 National title and his team went to the World Master Games in…
1990 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE MAXIE PARKS Maxie Parks has always loved the outdoors. Born in 1951, the first ten years of his life were spent in a very small town of Aubrey, Arkansas. “Growing up in the country, we didn’t have a lot of sports programs, so we would do things like race each…
1990 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE JIM MOLICH Jim Molich was one of the main targets of quarterback Jackie Fellows on the powerful 1942 Fresno State football team that lost only one of ten games. Molich was born and reared in San Francisco and was part of the great legacy for San Francisco Junior College players that included…
1990 SWIMMING INDUCTEE HEATHER GREENWOOD HARPER The popularity of swimming surged in the San Joaquin Valley like a tsunami during the 1960s. It presented an option for youngsters who were not interested in Little League baseball, Pop Warner football, tennis, or gymnastics to participate in something less strenuous or so they thought. Jill Spaulding of…
1990 AUTO RACING INDUCTEE RAY ELDER If you’ve never heard of the “Racing Farmers” of Caruthers, well, pull up a hay bale, sit a spell, and learn somethin’. Ray Elder sat behind the steering wheel, wore a crash helmet, and put the pedal to the metal. His brother, Richard was inconspicuously in the background, carrying…