1980 GOLF INDUCTEE SHELLEY HAMLIN Shelley Hamlin was seventeen in 1966 when she played in her first U.S. Women’s Open. The Roosevelt High School student was the low amateur and finished ninth. That’s only a dim memory now for the thirty-year LPGA veteran who retired from the tour in 2002. Hamlin lives in Laveen, a…
1980 BASEBALL INDUCTEE PAT CORRALES Pat Corrales marked his fiftieth year in professional baseball in 2008. He has served as a player, scout, coach, and manager in the pro ranks of our national pastime. Pat was the catcher on the legendary Fresno High School baseball team of the late 1950s. “I think we lost one…
1979 COACHING-BASEBALL INDUCTEE KEN ZENIMURA Nicknamed the “Dean of the Diamond” in Kerry Yo Nakagawa’s superb book Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball, Kenichi Zenimura, a five-foot dynamo and native of Hiroshima, Japan, earned the title with room to spare. He was a player, an organizer, a manager, a husband, and a…
1979 SOFTBALL INDUCTEE BERTHA REAGAN Bertha Reagan Tickey was one of the greatest pitchers in women’s fast-pitch softball history with eleven national championships, but she is most proud of the title, “World Softball Ambassador.” Tickey promoted fast pitch softball in China, Japan, Netherlands, Italy, and Australia. “This [Path for the Gold] tour was in 1965…
1979 COACHING-BASKETBALL INDUCTEE JOE KELLY He was called “Barkin’ Joe” Kelly when he was a star guard for the University of Southern California. But for those who knew him best, his coaching behavior was not that of a barker. Kelly was raised in Wisconsin where he played on the unbeaten state champion Madison High School…
1979 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE MALCOLM FIESE Malcolm Fiese played for Slip Madigan, one of the most colorful football coaches in California history, at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. The Gaels, nicknamed the “Galloping Gaels,” made history when they traveled east and beat one of the great Fordam teams. The team traveled by train and it was…
1979 BASEBALL INDUCTEE “RED” ADAMS How could a man who was kicked off his Parlier High School team twice, involved in a car accident that gnarled his left hand, and suffered a skull fracture when hit by a baseball in spring training end-up as a successful twelve-year pitching coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers? It…
1978 HALL OF FAME CO-FOUNDER INDUCTEE JOHN VOENES John G. Voenes was a remarkable person. Voenes, the son of Goodfellows Grill owner George Voenes, was the first Fresno State Alumni Executive Director in 1947, a job that he held for three years. The close-cropped hair, big smile, engaging personality, and strong work ethic served the…
1978 BASEBALL INDUCTEE “VIC” LOMBARDI Victor Lombardi was born in Berkeley, but moved to Tulare at an early age. Though small in stature, he became one of the finest high school pitchers in the Valley. The late Hall of Fame coach Pete Beiden recognized the potential of this 5’7″, 150-pounder at Tulare High School and…
1978 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE “JIMMY” JOHNSON Golf and fishing are his favorite pastimes now, but any long-time San Francisco 49ers follower remembers James “Jimmy” Johnson as one of the great defensive cornerbacks in the history of the NFL. Johnson played sixteen seasons with the Niners and was ushered into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1994.…
