The De Anza College Athletic Hall of Fame Committee inducted the 2012 class of successful De Anza alumni althletes Saturday April 21.

The banquet was held at Three Flames Restaurant in San Jose and included cocktails, a welcome dinner, and personal introductions for the 10 individuals and two former teams that made up the 2012 class inductees. The banquet was an intimate setting, attended by faculty, alumni, De Anza retirees, and friends and family of the inductee class. 

The Hall of Fame Committee led by Kulwant Singh (De Anza athletic director), took special time to select those who made up the 2012 class whom they felt were well deserving of the recognition. Ed Bressoud, Sergio Cardoso, Charlie Elder, Jessie Goodmonson, Tuck Hasley, Billy Pecota, Debi Schafer-Braun, Jeffrey Sevy, Bill Walker, Sharon Chatman, and the 1974-1975 and 1975-1976 Women’s Basketball Teams made up the 2012 inductee class.

Although no special requirements were necessary for the committee to select this year’s class, there were no shortcomings in the realm of achievements from the inductees. 

The class included five coaches and two President’s Award recipients. 

Bressoud was a former head baseball coach at De Anza and World Series winner with the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Pecota played baseball for De Anza before he signed with the Kansas City Royals and spent eight years as infielder in Major League Baseball. 

Goodmonson was the first physical education and administrative assistant at De Anza. Sevy was the first De Anza alumni to join the National Football League, and Chatman was the first head coach of Women’s Basketball at De Anza.

Many inductees said favorable things said about De Anza in their speeches. 

“They remembered the De Anza experience that helped them keep going,” said Singh. They recalled De Anza as the “stepping stone for the student athletes and their careers.”

Until last year there was not a Hall of Fame program at De Anza. It takes several hundred hours to set up the hall of fame program each year, and until 2011, the committee members were the only ones who stepped up and took the challenge to make this program possible. 

 “We resurrected the event because we felt like we had a lot of quality students athletes go through here; we have had a lot of top coaches and staff and we wanted to recognize people,” said Singh.

Plans are underway to incorporate physical memorabilia to compliment the hall of fame inductees into the new De Anza outdoor arena as construction progresses.

RECOGNITION – Awards for the first ever De Anza Hall of Fame Ceremony await to be presented. (photo courtesy of Julie Ceballos)

REUNITED – Members of the 1974 and 1975 state champion womens basketball teams pose with their coach Sharon Chatman (center). (photo courtesy of Julie Ceballos)