1968 BASEBALL INDUCTEE DON BARNETT There were no radar guns when Don Barnett was throwing heat for the 1951 Fresno State baseball team, but no collegiate pitcher could get the ball to the plate any faster. “Don most certainly threw in the mid-90s,” said teammate Jake Abbott. “He was just wild an enough that batters…
1967 RIFLE SHOOTING INDUCTEE ROBERT E. PERKINS When Robert Perkins joined the cadets at Fresno High School in 1929, he learned to shoot. Two years later, he won the .30 Caliber California Championship. In 1946, he won his first of eleven consecutive California state championships. In 1952, the single point, hitting the center ring 3,187…
1967 BASEBALL INDUCTEE MONTE PEARSON The World Series has always been the showcase of baseball. Few stars shined brighter in the fall classic than Monte “Hoot” Pearson, an Oakland native who moved to Fresno as a child. Pearson received his baseball baptism in the Fresno Twilight League. After attending Fresno High School and the University…
1967 DIVING INDUCTEE SAMMY LEE Dr. Sammy Lee was born in Fresno on August 1, 1920 to Korean-American parents. In 1932, the Olympic Games impressed him so much, he told his father that one day he would win an Olympic gold medal. His father said, “In what?” to which young Sammy replied, “I don’t know…
1967 AUTO RACING INDUCTEE DUANE CARTER The Central Valley has long been known as a major source of exciting automobile racing. Many sons of the San Joaquin got their racing starts here, winning both locally and on the national scene. A trio of native Fresno drivers soared to fame around the country and into the…
1967 COMMUNITY LEADER INDUCTEE THOMAS J. CAROTHERS Thomas J. Carothers-“Soup” as he was known to his large circle of friends-did not reach Fresno until 1941 when he opened the Mid-Valley Sports store. The native of Franklin, Tennessee was a center in football and he played for the U.S. Navy team in Honolulu for four years.…
1966 SKEET SHOOTING INDUCTEE JOE YRULEGUI In the 1930s, the Fresno County Sportsmen’s Club was in its heyday with a membership of more than 1,000 and satellite branches in several smaller communities. It was at this club in 1934 that a young sharpshooter named Joe Yrulegui entered and won the club championship in skeet shooting.…
1966 HALL OF FAME CO-FOUNDER INDUCTEE ED ORMAN Basketball was a bruising contact sport when Ed Orman played for Brazil High School and captained a team that went to the state high school tournament in Indiana, the hotbed of basketball. There were no dunks and everyone shot with two hands. Orman also lettered in baseball,…
1966 BASEBALL INDUCTEE ALEX METZLER Only the shortness of a career, so reduced by a sore arm, prevented Fresno-born Alex Metzler from becoming a longtime fixture in the major leagues. After signing his first professional contract with Topeka of the Western Association in 1924, it took the stocky and fleet Metzler just three years before…
1966 GOLF INDUCTEE OLIN DUTRA Called “The Golden Basque” by his legion of friends, Olin Dutra came within a few strokes of winning all four major golf championships. He did win the U.S. Open at the Marion Cricket Club in 1934 and the PGA Championship in 1932 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dutra was runner-up in…