The Fillmore High Sports Hall of Fame has concluded its selection of the inductees for the first class of the Hall of Fame.  Two hundred applications, that spanned the years from 1914 to 2000, were considered, and 80 former athletes of Fillmore High School were selected to enter the first class of the Fillmore High Sports Hall of Fame, along with seven former coaches and 15 outstanding teams.  The names are too numerous to put in this notice, but if you wish to know of the athletes from any decade who made the list, you can contact the alumni office for that information. 

     The coaches who were selected were Mr. J. W. Gastrich, who was the principal at Fillmore High in 1914 and was instrumental in getting the athletic programs at Fillmore High started.  Eugene "Red" Kennedy who had many championship teams in all sports; Richard "Toolie" Palmer, basketball coach for many years; Bruce Dempsey, football coach; Tom Ecklund, baseball coach; Jim Fauver; basketball coach and Epi Torres, cross country and track coach, all who had championship teams over the many years of their coaching.

     The teams that will be honored were the 1914 Baseball team, the 1926 Basketball team, the 1936 Football team, the 1940 Basketball team, 1951-52 Basketball team, 1952-53 Basketball team, 1970 Basketball team, 1972 Football team, 1975 Baseball team, 1976 Baseball team, 1977 Baseball team, 1988 Baseball team, 1990 Boy's Cross Country team, 1992 Girl's Cross Country team and 2005 Boy's Soccer team.

     All individudals and teams will be acknowledged and awarded plaques at the induction ceremony on Saturday, November 13 at the high school gym.  This ceremony will be on the evening after the 100th game of the Fillmore/Santa Paula football rivalry, which will be played on the Fillmore field on Friday, November 12.   

     Over two hundred and fifty alumni members and guests enjoyed the 97th annual alumni dinner at the Memorial Building on Saturday, June 12.  The evening, which was M.C.'d by Vice President Mark Ortega, began with the posting of the colors by Boy Scout troop 406, which was followed by the invocation by Calvin Deeter, class of 1947.  The excellent dinner, which was prepared by Gary Laird Catering was served by the Bardsdale 4-H members.  And this year, desert was a part of the menu.

     The evening's program began with a showing of a two minute clip of the DVD that is being put together by Isaac Reyes, class of '94, commemorating the 99 game history of the Fillmore/Santa Paula football rivalry.  Short interviews with  local players who had been a part of this history plus film clips of some of the games of this era were shown.  Part of the film footage of the 1930 Fillmore/Santa Paula game was shown, thanks to Joe Cook, class of '61.  The DVD's are on sale now for $20 each if you pick them up, or $25 if they are mailed to you.  You may order your copy by calling 805-524-0416 or 805-856-8949, or e-mail the alumni at staff@fillmorehighalumni.com  The DVD will be available after November 1.  Interviews and film clips are still being collected to complete the 45 minute to one hour video.

     Honored classes from the years 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965 and 1970 were recognized, as were the members who had traveled from Virginia, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii to attend.

     Door prizes this year were provided by Lupe Vasquez, class of '57, who presented five lovely pottery pieces, Carmen Zermeno who gave a hand made scarf, Gertrude Lovelace, class of '48 who provided a hand made tote bag, Steve Barnard, class of '70 of Mission Produce,provided four boxes of avocados, Scott Beylik, class of '87, gave four baskets of tomatoes and cucumbers from his Beylik Family Farms, and Brendy Feeny Diaz, class of '78 gave two breakfasts from the Familia Diaz Restaurant, and the Alumni Association provided four subscriptions to Flashbacks and two pans of barbecued tri-tip.  Sandra Warring O'Connor won the 50-50 raffle.

     Don Myers, class of '60,  thanked the Board of Directors for the good job they are doing and nominated them all for a return to office for the 2010-2011 year.  They were unanimously elected.

     John Lemley, class of '61 presented his two scholarships for $2500 each, plus a one time laptop computer to Esteban Casas and Kelsie McLain.  Eight $1000 scholarships were presented to Andres Casas, Anthony Chavez, Jazzmin Galves, Amanda Hernandez, Kelsey MacDonald, Moneh Magdaleno, and Rebecca Vassaur.  Alejandra Lopez also received the $500 Fillmore Breakfast Club Scholarship.

     The evening was closed with the singing of the alma mater.  The 2011 alumni dinner will be held on Saturday, June 4, 2011, so mark this date on your calendar.

     Twenty seven applications for alumni scholarships were received, seventeen seniors were interviewed, and ten finalists were in the running for the two John and Nit Lemley scholarships and the eight alumni scholarships.

Esteban Casas and Kelsie McLain are the two recipients of the Lemley Scholarships, and each will receive a $2500 scholarship for two years plus a one time laptop computer.  Esteban will attend the University of San Diego to study Biology and Kelsie will attend U.C.L.A. and study Computer Science.

     The alumni scholarships, in the amount of $1000 each will be presented to Andres Casas who will attend Northwestern University and major in Biological Sciences, Anthony Chavez who will attend U. C. Santa Barbara and major in Mechanical Engineering, Jazzmin Galvez who will attend Cal State Long Beach and study Nutrition, Amanda Hernandez who will attend Cal State Channel Islands to major in Biology, Megan Louth will attend Cal State Monterey Bay to study Teledramatic Arts and Technology, Moneh Magdaleno will attend either Vanguard or Biola University to study Psychology, Kelsey MacDonald who will attend one of the state universities to study Nursing, and Rebecca Vasssaur who will attend either U.C.L.A. or U. C. Berkeley to study Biochemistry.

     This is an outstanding group of graduating seniors from Fillmore High School, and the alumni association wishes them much success as they continue their education on a much higher level.

     Continuation Grants for those graduates from Fillmore High School who are already attending colleges or universities will again be available.  Applications are obtainable on the alumni website, under Applications and Forms, or at the alumni office.  Due date for these grant applications is June 30, 2010.

     A committee, composed of graduates of Fillmore High School, and headed by Joe Woods, class of 1979, is developing a Sports Hall of Fame to recognize and award the outstanding athletes, coaches and teams that have been a part of Fillmore High for the past 100 years.  The intent is to recognize those indivduals who were active in high school athletics, as well as those who continued their athletic accomplishments in college or university and in amateur competitions, and in some cases, into the professional ranks.  Also to be recognized will be the outstanding teams of this era and the coaches who were responsible for the successes of these athletes.

     The committee has developed a criteria for selecting the top athletes and letters will be sent out to those athletes, or to their families, if that person is deceased, asking them to fill out an application describing their athletic accomplishments during high school, college, amateur and professional sports.  These applications will then be scored by the committee and the inductees into the first class of the Fillmore High Sports Hall of Fame will be determined.  This first class will be rather large as athletes from the past 100 years of Fillmore High sports history will be selected.  An awards presentation ceremony will be held some time in the fall.

     If anyone knows of an individual or individuals who should be considered for one of these awards, please contact Joe Woods at Fillmore High School, P. O. Box 697, Fillmore, CA 93016-0697 or at lcole@fillmore.k12.ca.us.  We have a very extensive list already, but let us know of your concerns as we don't want to miss any deserving individuals.

     The Board of Directors of the alumni association is going all out to encourage alumni members who are not subscribers to the "Flashbacks" newsletter or are not Life Members to please consider becoming a part of the alumni association that helps keep the association doing the many things that we have done in the past 30 years.  Tricia Gracias sent out letters and reservation forms to all the graduates of Fillmore High who are employees of the Fillmore Unified School District encouraging them to subscribe to the newsletter or become a Life Member.  Letters are also being sent to the many scholarship winners asking them to become subscribers or Life Members. 

     Both of these financial assists to the alumni association allow us to carry on the many activities that we have done in the past, as well as what we plan to do in the future.  This year we have re-started the Shasta Daisy project to have flowers for the arches for graduation, purchased two banners for the gym which have the words to the Alma Mater and the school fight song, are working with the committee that is planning the 100th footbal game with Santa Paula, and continue to award scholarships to graduating seniors and Continuation Grants to graduates who are already in college.

     Support from alumni members makes it possible for the alumni association to continue to be an outstanding program for Fillmore High School.  Subscription and Life Member forms can be obtained by clicking on to the Fundrasing icon on the left panel of this page.