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…
1966 AUTO RACING INDUCTEE JOHNNY BOYD Auto racing, ranging from low budget midgets and modified hardtops to big bucks Indy machines, has enjoyed a large and loyal following in Fresno for more than fifty years. Motor sports old-timers still enjoy reliving memories of steamy summers when midget autos and souped-up stocks roared at Airport Speedway…
1965 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE BERT SCHWARZ Back in 1922, Bert Schwartz went out for football at Fresno High School. He was a guard. He was active in other sports at high school. He matriculated to the University of California in 1925 and continued to play in the line. On the Cal Varsity, he was the first…
1965 SOFTBALL INDUCTEE KAY RICH Fresno Rockets manager, Dutch Chandler is quoted as saying during a team reunion in 1979, “I’ve never known a greater woman athlete than Kay Rich.” Unfortunately, Rich was unable to make that occasion. Rich was present, however, in 1963 when the Rockets gave her a surprise testimonial dinner in Fresno.…
1965 ICE SKATING INDUCTEE CAROLE ORMACA-BUTLER The story of Carol Ormaca Butler is one of a real-life Cinderella. It was by chance that one evening, the Ormaca family, for want of something better to do, went skating at the old Fresno Rink on Olive Avenue. Carol, who had been studying ballet, took to the blades…
1965 ICE SKATING INDUCTEE ROBIN L. GREINER, JR. With the land of snow and ice some 50 miles away, Robin Greiner, with his partner Carol Ormaca Butler, reigned supreme in United States figure pairs ice skating for four years. The Fresno pair were the U.S. Champions from 1953-1956. The combination was a member of the…
1965 COMMUNITY LEADER INDUCTEE JOE DALE, SR. This feisty native of Leadville, Colorado arrived in Fresno in 1917. He and his brother, Court, immediately set up a coffee roaster on one side of Holland Market. By 1921, the Dales bought out Art McGaff and started the Dale Bros. Coffee business on H Street. It so…