The De Anza College Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held April 16 at the Three Flames Restaurant in San Jose. 

The first induction ceremony was in 1992, and nearly 20 years later the Hall of Fame welcomed over 11 new members who showed excellence during time spent at De Anza.

“I’m here to honor [the inductees], ” De Anza alum and current assemblyman from California’s 22nd State Assembly district Paul Fong said. “I remember them. This is a great event and a great idea.”

Fong played Football for the Don’s during the 1971-1972 season as a running back. 

“It’s always exciting to see people again,” said fellow alum and teammate Paul Arias of reuniting with his old teammates. “You wanna’ see if they still have hair, you know it’s going to be grey though.”

Arias hadn’t seen Fong since 1973 when he played alongside him as a middle-line backer. Now, nearly 40 years later, they’ve reunited to celebrate 88-year-old Bob Pifferini, their former football coach, as he was inducted into the De Anza Athletics Hall Of Fame.

“I have to thank Coach Pifferini for instituting that leadership in me,” Fong said of how his time at De Anza helped him develop life skills.

Pifferini was a former professional football player for the Detriot Lions, drafted in 1949. He was also De Anza’s first football coach in 1967.  At De Anza, Pifferini served as the head football coach for nine years holding an overall football record of 55 wins and 51 losses. As the head football coach, Pifferini  led the Dons to four Conference Championships in 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1973 and earned himself four Conference Coach of the Year awards. 

In addition to coaching football, Pifferini also took over the head coaching position for the De Anza golf team, leading them to become three-time conference champions.  

“We’re here to honor those who have paved the way for De Anza athletics,”  co-chair for the Hall Of Fame Committee Debi Schafer-Braun said. 

The goal for this event was just to get the Hall Of Fame event off the ground in an effort to retrieve and recognize the rich history of De Anza Athletics, according to Director of Athletics Kulwant Singh.

“It’s very satisfying to hear the joy from alumni and retirees,” Singh said. “But we have a lot of people to recognize and we are way behind.”

Today, the De Anza Athletics program consists of 19 sports, 70 coaches and staff members and is one of the largest athletic departments in California, according to Singh. In addition, there are nearly 500 student athletes and roughly 40 two-sport athletes, two facts that the guests at the ceremony welcomed with a round of thunderous applause, noting the progress the athletics department has made since their time at De Anza 40 years ago. 

Singh stressed the importance of the “student-athlete,” noting that the De Anza men’s cross country team has the best GPA in California for any community college sports team and an average of 22 student-athletes at De Anza hold a GPA of 4.0 or above. 

After seven years at De Anza, President Brian Murphy spoke of what his time here has meant to him. 

“[De Anza] builds an uncommon loyalty,” he said.  “We tend to the traditions that you built. You are the legacy of this special place.”

A renovated and state-of-the-art track and football facility was unveiled to the guests. Murphy showed introductory slides of what he hopes the football and track facility will look like one day noting that the department is in need of about $320,000 for the stadium lights.  President Murphy pledged to include plaques honoring the athletic hall of fame inductees somewhere in the facility since an actual Hall Of Fame, or wall, don’t currently exist on campus.

“History, traditions and memories that made De Anza sports,” Singh said of the special evening reuniting old friends, teammates and co-workers.  

The evening celebrated excellence and achievement in De Anza Athletics and showcased what the athletics department at De Anza is all about.