FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2015
Contact: Deidra Powell, Chief Communications Officer, (714) 558-5555, (714) 673-4995
Media Advisory: Groundbreaking for Highly Anticipated SAUSD Sports Complex
What: Celebrate the ribbon cutting of the highly anticipated Santa Ana Public Schools Sports Complex. With an anticipated cost of approximately $15 million, students of the Santa Ana Unified School District will have a sports complex to call home. Although the Sports Complex is located behind Santa Ana Valley High School, located at 1801 South Greenville Street in Santa Ana, it will be jointly used by Santa Ana schools. During the celebration, there will be 27 individuals inducted into the inaugural SAUSD Wall of Fame. All honorees were selected because of the significant contributions that they made in the area of sports in the Santa Ana Unified School District. A list of the honorees is included below.
Who: Members of the SAUSD Board of Education, staff, students, athletes, coaches, parents, and community members, and honorees inducted into the Wall of Fame.
When: Friday, August 28, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, a football game between Santa Ana Valley High School and Segerstrom High School will take place at 7:00 p.m. During half-time, the inductees into the Wall of Fame will be recognized a second time.
Where: Raitt St. between Edinger Ave. and Glenwood Pl. (behind Valley High and Carr Intermediate Schools)
- Recognition of inductees into the Wall of Fame.
- Ribbon cutting by the SAUSD Board of Education.
- First football game on the field will be held at 7:00 p.m. between Santa Ana Valley High School and Segerstrom High School, both schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District.
Wall of Fame Inductees
- FRANK ALVARADO. A graduate of Santa Ana High School; served in SAUSD as a teacher, coach and athletic director from 1974-2012.
- LARRY ARASON. He served as the athletic director at Santa Ana High School, Santa Ana Valley High School and at the district office from 1960-1994. In addition, he has served as Youth Sports Coordinator for the Santa Ana Elks for more than 30 years, organizing and sponsoring many athletic events for the students of SAUSD.
- BILLY BEAN. A graduate of Santa Ana High School (1982), he competed in football, basketball and baseball. He helped to lead the Saints baseball team to the CIF-SS Division 3-A Championship. He played professionally beginning in 1987 with the Detroit Tigers, with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1989 and with the San Diego Padres from 1993-1995.
- CHARLIE DAVIDSON. Charlie ran all four years for Saddleback High School coached by Jim Knapp. As a junior he ran in the 110 hurdles where he qualified for the Masters, then took 5th in the State Meet. He led the 110 High Hurdles in his senior year. He excelled in the long jump, the high jump and all sprints and relays.
- ED CARUTHERS. Santa Ana Valley track & field great and 2-time Olympian; was a CIF and State champion in the high jump in 1963. Between 1964-1968, he was ranked as one of the top high jumpers in the world, winning a gold medal at the 1967 Pan Am Games, and a silver medal in the 1968 Olympic games.
- ISAAC CURTIS. A 1969 graduate of Santa Ana High School where he played football and ran for the track team. He played football collegiately at Cal Berkeley and San Diego State University. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 15th overall pick in the 1973 NFL draft. He played for the Bengals from 1973-1984.
- CLANCY EDWARDS. A 1973 graduate of SAHS; at the 1973 CIF State Meet, he was the 220 yards champion and finished 2nd in the 100 yards. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he won 3 Division II National Sprint Titles. He transferred to USC where in 1977 at the IAAF World Cup he won the gold medal in the 200 meters. In 1978 at the NCAA Men’s Outdoor Track Championships he won the 100 meters and then set the world’s best time in the 200 meters. Clancy was named the Pac10 Track Athlete of the year in both 1977 and in 1978.
- EARL ENGMAN. Earl served as the Track & Field coach at Santa Ana High School from 1957-1974. He then became an administrator until his retirement.
- HARRY EVANS. Harry served as a coach, teacher, and longtime activities director as Saddleback High School. In addition, he officiated several sports for Santa Ana Unified School District. While at Saddleback High School, he coached the freshman and sophomore football teams, winning six League Championships in nine seasons. For many years, Harry has served as the public address voice of high school football in the Santa Ana Unified School District.
- STEVE FRYER. Steve graduated from Saddleback High School in 1976. He joined the OC Register in 1983 as a full time Sports Columnist. He is the longest-tenured writer currently in the OC Register newsroom. He has been inducted into the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, the CIF-Southern Section “Champion for Character” and became the first newspaper journalist to receive the “Contribution to Education” award by the OCDE.
- SCOTT GLABB. He began teaching and coaching at Santa Ana High School in 1990. Since then he has led his wrestling program to 23 consecutive league championships. His teams have won 5 CIF Tournament Team Championships, 7 CIF Dual Meet Championships, and he has coached 2 National Champions. He has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.
- LUCY GUERRERO. Multi-sport star and still holder of multiple school records in field events. Lucy returned to the Santa Ana Unified School District to serve as a classroom teacher and later as an Assistant Principal at Carr Intermediate and Santa Ana High School.
- BRUCE HAMLIN. Bruce began the annual Pancake breakfast fundraiser and it continues to this day. In 2005 he began the annual Perfect Attendance Car Giveaway for those students who have 100% attendance during the current school year. Lucky winners are awarded with a brand new Chevrolet!
- DICK HILL. The late Dick Hill coached football at Santa Ana Valley High School and Santa Ana High School from 1959-1992. He led the Saints football team to the 1985 CIF Championship. Hill won section championships in four decades, the last a Southern Conference title in 1985 while at Santa Ana. He retired as Orange County’s winningest coach, with a 212-111-4 record.
- MARVIN JONES. A graduate from Santa Ana Valley in 1981 and Athlete of the Year. League and CIF Champion in Wrestling, 1981. League champion in the 330 low hurdles, All County in football, Wrestling and track. Three time All American at Cal State Bakersfield, finished 3rd at the National Championships in 1986. In 1984 he was an alternate for the US Olympic Team in Los Angeles.
- JOSÉ LEON. Graduated in 1999 where he was a member of the wrestling program. In 1998 he won the CIF Championship and placed 7th in State. In 1999 he again won the CIF Championship, he then placed 3rd in State, and went on to win a National Championship.
- GILBERT MELENDEZ. Graduated from Santa Ana High School in 2000 where he was a member of the Saints wrestling program and was a 2 time CIF Runner-up and 2 time State qualifier. After high school, Gilbert became a professional Mixed Martial Artist. He is a former WEC and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. He is a current UFC Lightweight contender.
- DR. ROBERT OLVERA. Volunteered his services as the sideline team doctor at nearly every Santa Ana High School football game from 1993-2013, as well as for Segerstrom High School from 2005-2012.
- TONY PEREZ. A 1998 graduate of Santa Ana High School where he was a member of the wrestling team. In 1997 he was the CIF State Runner-up. He came back in 1998 to win a National Championship.
- BILL ROSS. The late Bill Ross coached baseball at Santa Ana High School from 1958-1990. He was the head coach of the 1982 CIF-SS Division 3-A Championship team. He served as Santa Ana High School’s athletic director from 1990-1993.
- CHARLIE SHAW. Graduated from Santa Ana Valley in 1962. Member of the 1961 CIF Football Championship Team. Played at Oregon State University and in the 1964 Rose Bowl. Only OSU team to play in the Rose Bowl. Later was inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame.
- BILL SWISSHELM. The late Bill Swisshelm graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1954 where he excelled in track and field. At the 1953 California State Championships he took 4th place in the 220 yards, and in 1954 he finished 3rd in the 220 and 3rd in the 100. In 1954 Bill set a National Record in the 180 yard low hurdles. The Helms Athletic Foundation All-Southern California Board of Athletics selected him as the 1954 Track and Field Athlete of the Year from the Southern California CIF high schools. He went on to compete at Santa Ana College where he helped lead the team to the 1955 State Track and Field Title. That year he set another National Record: in the 220 yard low hurdles, and he was part of the relay team that tied the National Record in the 480 yard shuttle hurdles. He then transferred to USC where he continued to compete. He is widely considered the best hurdler of his time.
- GARRY TEMPLETON. Santa Ana Valley multi-sport star who went on to a major league baseball career with the San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Mets. August 8,2015 was inducted into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame.
- JOSÉ VASQUEZ. Graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1985 where he played soccer. He competed for Santa Ana College in 1989 and 1990 before pursuing a 9 year professional career with several teams including playing for four years with the LA Galaxy (1996-1999). He returned to Santa Ana College as the head coach in 2004 (continuing in that role to this day) where he led the team to a National Championship and 2 State Championships.
- JEFF WATTS. After graduating from Santa Ana High School, Jeff went on to earn more than 500 victories as a varsity basketball coach; all in SAUSD schools.
- BOB WEBSTER. A 1956 graduate of Santa Ana High School where he competed in diving, Bob Webster went on to compete at Santa Ana College and then the University of Michigan before joining the US Diving Team. From 1960-1964 Bob took first place in every international competition he entered, including winning gold medals in 10 meter platform diving at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, the 1963 Pan American Games, and the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He later coached diving at the University of Minnesota, Princeton University, and the US Diving Team. He is a member of the international swimming hall of fame.
- JERRY WITTE. Spanning 4 decades Jerry Witte served Saddleback High School as the Athletic Director for 25 years and as Head football coach for thirty years. Coach Witte is the winningest football coach in Saddleback history with 149 wins and 14 CIF appearances. His teams won 4 league Championships and one CIF Championship in 1985. He retired in 2009 after 40 years as an educator, 39 of them at Saddleback High School.
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