| School: Jefferson | Graduation Year: 1966 |
Year Inducted: 2014
Sports Played: Football, Basketball, Baseball
High School Honors: 3-year letter winner in baseball, All-PIL second baseman as senior. 2-year letter winner in basketball, HM All-PIL as senior. 2-year letter winner in football, HM All-PIL both years. Captain in all three sports.
Post High School Career: Harvard College, played frosh, JV, and varsity baseball, graduated ’70; teacher/counselor for six years, completing MA in counseling psychology at Santa Clara in 1976. Pre-Med at Portland State and MD degree from Oregon Health Sciences University in 1985. Psychiatry residency in San Mateo and fellowship in child/adolescent psychiatry at Stanford, 1990. Practice in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry since then in San Jose, CA.
Commentary:
Personal reflections on my experience playing PIL sports at Jeff in the ’60s, as seen from 45 or 50 years later:
I had two older sisters who went to Jeff, so by the time I got there I had been going to PIL games at Jeff for years. These were the Terry Baker, Raye and Mel Renfro, Claus Nickleberry years (among others), so teams like theirs entertained and inspired me tremendously. Playing sports meant the world to me, and playing at Jefferson was a dream come true.
Competing on teams at Jeff reinforced the values I learned at home; try your best, work hard, prepare well, never give up, play unselfishly as a team, support and believe in your teammates, listen to your coaches (and teachers), respect your opponents, aspire to high goals even if you don’t always reach them, satisfaction comes from the individual and group effort… to name a few.
Playing on teams at Jeff (and later in college) helped me to get know well and appreciate other people I might not otherwise have known. I used as my college essay a paper I had written in my junior English class called, “The Bloods and the Fays, a Unique Speech Community,” which was about the shared language of our half-black, half-white varsity basketball team at Jeff.
My wife, Judy, and I have four grown kids we sent to the local public schools. Each of them played on a number of different teams, had a lot of fun, and learned — or had reinforced — a lot of the same lessons. I feel totally indebted to their coaches and teachers, just as I feel indebted to the Bob Hulls, Jack Rileys, Jack Bertells, Chuck Rasks, Andy Pienovis, and Don Barretts of my high school experience at Jeff. We don’t forget our coaches, our teammates, our teachers, and even some of our opponents.
As a family (we have eight grandchildren so far) we remain totally committed to the public schools. We feel sports (and programs in the arts, community service, service learning, etc.) are crucial, fundamental parts of a good education.