On September 14, College of San Mateo will honor nine decades of its athletic legacy when it inducts 16 new members into the Athletics Hall of Fame. The distinguished list of 2012 inductees represents a wide range of success and eras over the past ninety years:
Student Athletes
Norm Angelini, baseball
Stacy Bergstedt, softball
Greg Buckingham, swimming
Chris Diehl, track
Jeff Fishback, track
Cindy Galarza, basketball
Steve Hamann, water polo
Ed Kertel, football
Frank Pignataro, baseball
Tom Scott, football
Coaches
Oliver “Tex” Byrd, track and field
Rich Donner, swimming and water polo
Mike Lewis, track and field
Steve Shafer, football
Jack Thur, football
Berny Wagner, track and field
The 2012 class is highlighted by the induction of former track and field coach, Oliver “Tex” Byrd, founder of the National Junior College Athletic Association 75 years ago while he was at CSM. Joining Byrd is his successor Berny Wagner. The list also includes former CSM head football coaches Steve Shafer and Jack Thur. Shafer earned a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001 while Thur spent more than three decades coaching at CSM. Student athlete Greg Buckingham was a premier swimmer for Coach Rich Donner (also an inductee) at CSM; he transferred to Stanford where he made major contributions to the university’s swim program and its rise to national prominence; Buckingham was an Olympic medalist in the 1968 games. Chris Diehl made the list as a two-time state champion in the heptathlon.
CSM’s Athletics Hall of Fame weekend will kick off on Friday afternoon at 4 pm with the Hall of Fame Plaza unveiling ceremony which is open to the public and free of charge. The unveiling will be immediately followed by a cocktail reception and banquet in the Bayview Dining Room in College Center. Reservations are required for the banquet; tickets may be purchased online at collegeofsanmateo.edu/halloffame; the deadline for reservations is August 31. The celebration will continue with the Hall of Fame football game on Saturday afternoon, September 15, at 1 pm against Diablo Valley at College Heights Stadium and include special halftime ceremonies.
Additional information about CSM’s Athletics Hall of Fame events is available by visiting: collegeofsanmateo.edu/halloffame or call (650) 574-6420.
