Live Stream & Archive:
3-time Olympian Pat Connolly, 2-time Olympian Tom Dooley, 1st 7-foot hi-jumper Les Steers, NFL Honoree Dick Vermeil Among Centennial CSM HOF Class, Sept. 2
The Centennial Athletics Hall of Fame Class at College of San Mateo includes a newly inducted NFL HOF coach, Dick Vermeil — whose first college coaching job was at CSM in 1963; the college’s second longest serving football coach, Larry Owens; pioneer 3-time Olympic women’s track and field star Pat Winslow Connolly; the world’s first 7-foot high jumper, Les Steers; and 11-time American race walk record breaker, Olympian Tom Dooley.
They are among the two dozen who will be honored on Friday evening, Sept. 2 to kickoff CSM’s Centennial Hall of Fame weekend and the opening of the 2022 football season.
–The Centennial Hall of Fame Game is on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 1 p.m against Sierra College.
Fittingly, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, Winslow Connolly will be among an elite group of womenhonored, including the CSM 2015 softball team, former softball players Harlee Donovan and Christie McCoy, women’s basketball player Grainne Murray, plus dance/P.E. instructor Angela Stocker.
Owens, who served 21 years as CSM head coach and who also had NFL related duties, shares the elite footballcoach podium with Vermeil, as does former head coach Cliff Giffin — who worked with Vermeil in 1963 at CSM before moving into P.E. and athletics administration with the Bulldogs and developing women’s sports competition.
Football players being recognized include Hugh Loveless, Ryan Boschetti, Dave Hanson, Paul Bradford, Ray Hisatake, the late Doug Ryan, and Ken Haren – who is concluding a long career as CSM equipment manager. Baseball honorees include former player and coach Pete Jensen, plus players Barry Sbragia and Gavin Long.
CSM continues to honor its elite world and Olympic heritage with world high jump record breaker Steers, 2-time Olympic race walker Tom Dooley, and state hammer throw champion Cami Carroll. Also track stars on the field (in addition to football) were NorCal long jump champion Bradford and conference discus champion Hisatake.
The Centennial HOF class includes Fred Baer, who became CSM’s first sports information director in 1962 and has used community college athletics and research as a springboard to worldwide sports / network coverage for 60 years, including 16 Olympic Games.
State wrestling champion the late Lars Jensen is among the honorees, as is Kirk Sandvik — who has served as football ball boy for 45 years.
Schedule for 2022 HOF Induction Ceremonies, Friday, Sept. 2, at College of San Mateo:
4:30 p.m., Inductee Plaque Unveiling, Hall of Fame Plaza;
5:15 p.m., Induction Ceremony, Theatre;
7 p.m., Reception, Bayview Dining Room.
Tickets (@ $75) can be reserved at: collegeofsanmateo.edu/hof
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LIVE STREAM FOR CSM CENTENNIAL ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION FRIDAY & FOOTBALL GAME VS. SIERRA (SAT.)
There will be a live stream of the College of San Mateo Centennial Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Friday, Sept. 2, plus highlight coverage in conjunction with the HOF football game on Saturday afternoon.
The HOF ceremony live stream begins at 5:15 p.m on Friday, with full football game coverage at 1 p.m. on Saturday, both on BAOSN.TV.
Hall of Fame members in attendance at the game will be introduced at halftime.
The Hall of Fame stream is being produced by Pen Media and will be archived on CSM, BAOSN.TV, and PenMedia.TV websites.
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INFO ON T&F HONOREES:
–Pat Winslow Connolly came to CSM in 1962, where she met her first husband, Jim Winslow. “Billee” Pat Daniels had already been a 1960 Olympian after her junior year at San Bruno’s Capuchino High and set an American record in the 800 meters while winning the 1960 Olympic Trials. Pat Daniels Winslow (her married name) was the USA pentathlon champion from 1961-1967 (so throughout her time at CSM) and became the first woman combined event participant when the pentathlon was added to the 1964 Olympics – finally allowing women to compete in Olympic multi-events (but just five). Pat won the pentathlon gold medal at the 1967 Pan Am Games and competed in her third OG in 1968 in Mexico City — where she broke the American record in the pentathlon for the seventh time (finishing sixth). She also set AR’s at 400 meters and 440 yards and was the 1967 national champion in the long jump.
Pat was UCLA’s first women’s track coach and has coached world record breaker Evelyn Ashford, “the fastest woman of the 20th Century”, and Allyson Felix, the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history. Felix expressed appreciation for her first professional coach during her own “retirement” press conference at the recent World Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Winslow Connolly was married to 6-time world hammer throw record breaker and Olympic champion Hal Connolly from 1975 until his death in 2010. A current Half Moon Bay resident, she has been assisting the new track program at Pescadero High School and continues to support CSM’s pioneering work in staging the women’s decathlon national championships on the Bulldogs international track, an event that SID Fred Baer coordinates in his USA Track & Field leadership role.
OTHERS (alphabetical):
—Fred Baer
of Foster City has completed 60 seasons covering JC/CC sports; also starting the current CSM cross country program — after doing the same at Santa Clara University, where he set college records at 100 & 220 yards as a student-athlete in the “Speed City” era. After covering the 1967 Pan Am Games heptathlon gold medal win by Pat Daniels Winslow in Winnipeg, Canada, he began a “run” of 16 Olympics, working for ABC-TV at the 1972 Games, also founding the Track and Field Writers of America that year — all beginning with research on JC athletes on the world stage. Baer organized and directs the U.S. Community College Track Coaches Assn. In high school at St. Ignatius, he was editor of INSIDE SI, cross country team captain, and a runner-up in the City (AAA) track and field champs.
—Paul Bradford, San Mateo County athlete of the year at Carlmont High in 1992, continued his exploits at CSM as an all-state defensive back and kick returner. He won the NorCal long jump championship and qualified for the state meet in that event and the 100 meters. He also represented CSM in the USA Track & Field Junior Nationals. Bradford continued at Portland State, where he an All-Big Sky DB. The San Diego Chargers drafted him in the fifth round, and he appeared in 15 games his rookie season, starting in four games and making 23 tackles and two interceptions, returning one for a 56-yard TD off Seattle Seahawks HOF QB Warren Moon (a former JC player at West Los Angeles).
–Cami Carroll was the 2001 CCC state champion in the hammer throw and placed second in the discus throw for CSM. She also competed in the sprints and relays for the Bulldogs and played on the soccer team at Cañada College. At San Francisco State, Carroll finished third in the 2004 NCAA Div. II hammer throw. She was an all-around athlete at Half Moon Bay High School. Today she works as a personal trainer and group exercise instructor in Buckeye, Ariz.
–Tom Dooley set 11 American racewalking records and was on two USA Olympic teams, three World Championship teams, and two Pan American Games teams — as a USA national team member from 1967-1980. He competed for CSM Hall of Fame coach Berny Wagner and helped the Bulldogs win a conference cross country championship his first season. Dooley entered his first walking race in Millbrae while at CSM. The current San Carlos resident competed for San Jose State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree, and has a master’s degree from Santa Clara University. He arrived at CSM after a distance running career at Daly City’s Westmoor High School.
–Les Steers held the world record in the high jump for 12 years, although there was no Olympics during his career due to World War II. A 3-time state high school champion at Palo Alto H.S. (1935-37), he came to San Mateo JC and was the first National JC Athletic Association high jump champion, clearing 6-7. Steers transferred to the University of Oregon, where he set the world three times, finally at 6-11. At halftime of a Ducks basketball game, he became the first person to clear 7-feet — although it was an unofficial competition for record purposes. He was the 1941 NCAA champion and a 3-time AAU national champion. He died in 2003.