Fourteenth Annual Marin County High School Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Banquet
Saturday, November 3, 2001 Embassy Suites Hotel San Rafael
Marin Athletic Foundation Board of Directors
Advisory Board
Glen E. Robinson, President Sharon Adams Joe Ayoob Sandy Boyd Jeff Brusati Carney J. Campion Judith Colton Mike Convis William L. Cope John Dolinsek Gary Frugoli John S. Graham Ned Griffith John Heilmann Marion Higgins Thomas Knopf Rick Lafranchi Matt MacPhee Vicki McDill Richard Nave Robert E. Spain
Peter Arrigoni Mary Jane Burke Joan Capurro Eugene Clahan Kit M. Cole Dan Coleman Michael Daly William Daniels Mario Ghilotti John Govi Carolyn Horan William Isetta Jim King Walter Kosta Kenneth MacDonald Terrel Mason Marie McCarthy Peter Mitchell Robert Teasdale Sharon Valentino Jamie Williams
Executive Director: Peggie Daly
Hall of Fame Banquet Committee Bill Brody Jeff Brusati Ralph Chatoian Don Collins Dewey Forry Mario Ghilotti
Vicki McDill Hank Moroski Rich Nave Phil Roark Glen E. Robinson Susie Woodall
The purpose of the Marin Athletic Foundation is to support and insure a full range of quality sports programs for all students at MCAL high schools. MAF funding supports athletics at Branson, Drake, Marin Catholic, Novato, Redwood, San Marin, San Rafael, Tamalpais, Terra Linda and Tomales. Individual, business and organization donations are vital in MAF’s fundraising efforts. Tax-decuctible contributions may be sent to: Marin Athletic Foundation 250 Locust Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 454-2247.
Program 6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Grand Entrance of Inductees
7:30 p.m. Dinner Welcome and Introductions Glen E. Robinson President, MAF Board of Directors Introduction of Inductees Don Collins, Master of Ceremonies Presentation of Plaques
2001 Inductees Athletes Lori Farber-Taylor - San Rafael - 1979 Beth Fernbacher - Redwood - 1977 Dennis Keating - Marin Catholic - 1978 Marty Larsen - San Marin - 1972 Robert Washington - Tamalpais - 1964 Dan Young - Redwood - 1972 Jim McDonald - Tamalpais - 1950
Coaches Paul Ferreboeuf - San Marin Bret Tovani - San Rafael
Special Recognition Hugh Turner The Marin High School Athletic Hall of Fame, established by the Marin Athletic Foundation, recognizes and honors athletes who distinguished themselves in Marin County high school sports. It also gives recognition to coaches and others who made significant contributions to high school athletics in Marin County. The annual induction banquet is held in the fall.
Acknowledgments Marin Athletic Foundation gratefully acknowledges:
Major Sponsor
Supporters Rich & Dolly Nave, Rod & Robyn Berry, Butch Brear, John Cahill, Mike Connor, Jim & Dede Dalton, Betty Duncan, Barbara Fitzhenry, Mrs. R.J. Frantzen, Donald Geddes, Jr., Ned Griffith, The Kniesche Family, Bernard McCarthy, Paul Valenti Special thanks to Ravenswood Winery, Emil Maionchi, Jr., Rich & Dolly Nave & Tamalpais Bank for the wine for this evening. The Marin Athletic Foundation also extends special thanks to Geoff Lepper of the Marin Independent Journal for the program preparation and to the Marin County Office of Education and Burns Florist for their assistance and support.
Photographer Ralph Duncan is the official photographer of the Marin Athletic Foundation. Each of the inductees or a representative will receive, courtesy of MAF, a photograph from the ceremonies.
Lori Farber Taylor Athlete—San Rafael 1979 Lori Farber, as she was known at San Rafael High, competed in four sports for the Bulldogs, but never in what turned out to be her best discipline — soccer. At San Rafael, Farber was the catcher on a softball team which went 28-0 during its first two seasons after the sport’s MCAL introduction in 1978. She was All-MCAL both years, and MVP as a senior. She also played three years at point guard for the basketball team — making All-MCAL twice and also earning MVP honors as a senior. Additionally, she was a two-time AllMCAL performer in volleyball, and spent two years on the track and field squad. Not surprisingly, Farber was named San Rafael’s most valuable female athlete in her senior year. Though she had scholarship offers from Cal (basketball) and USF (softball), Farber had her heart set on attending UCLA. Once there, Farber wound up walking onto the soccer team and took over in goal for four years. Farber is a sales account executive for Los Angeles television station KNBC. She lives in Manhattan Beach with her husband of 13 years, Michael and their children — son Travis, 8, and daughter Brooke, 6.
Beth Fernbacher Athlete—Redwood 1977 At the age of 12, Fernbacher had never seriously pursued tennis. Half a dozen years later, she became the first female tennis player ever to receive a scholarship at Cal. In between, Fernbacher thoroughly dominated the MCAL girls tennis scene for Redwood High, going undefeated against the league’s other No. 1 players during her freshman and sophomore seasons. As a junior, she moved up to the No. 1 spot on Redwood’s boys team, and still won roughly half her matches. The next year, she didn’t play for the Giants, opting instead to concentrate on the junior tennis circuit. She improved to the point of being ranked No. 21 in the nation among girls 18-and-under. All of that led Stanlee Buchanan, a 2000 Marin Hall of Fame inductee, to call Fernbacher “the best female tennis player in 20 years of coaching at Redwood.” At Cal, Fernbacher was immediately installed as the No. 1 player, where she stayed for all four years. She made five appearances at the NCAA championships, three times as a singles player and twice in the team competition. Fernbacher lives in Corte Madera and runs her own business — Financial Strategies, a financial consulting firm for small companies.
Dennis Keating Athlete—Marin Catholic 1978 Ordinarily, if you arrive late to a Marin Catholic High baseball game and the school’s parking lot is full, you stash your car between the left-field fence and St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church. During Keating’s time with the Wildcats, you only did that if you were itching for a fractured windshield. Once during his senior season, Keating hit a ball over all the cars and onto the roof of St. Sebastian’s, a shot estimated at 450 to 500 feet. Keating played three years of football and basketball for the Wildcats, but baseball was where he shone brighest. Keating earned four All-MCAL awards and was twice team MVP and captain. As a senior, he was named to the All-Northern California, All-NCS Tournament and High School All-American squads. Keating gave much of the credit for his baseball prowess to his father, former minor-leaguer Jim Keating, who also showed his son the way to the Hall, having been inducted posthumously into the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame in 1992. After being selected in the fifth round of the 1978 regular free agent baseball draft, Dennis Keating spent four years as a minor-leaguer in the White Sox chain. He now lives in Novato.
Marty Larsen Athlete—San Marin 1972 Larsen didn’t have a chance to play sports for San Marin High as a freshman, since at that time, ninth-graders in that area attended Sinaloa Middle School. But he more than made up for it in his prep career, playing football, basketball and baseball all three years at San Marin. During his senior year, Larsen was a captain of all three teams, and he earned All-MCAL honors in each — first-team in football and baseball, second-team in basketball. Unsurprisingly, Larsen took home the school’s Outstanding Senior Athlete award, although his fondest memory might be from his sophomore year. Early in the season, with his teammates still unsure about the rookie, Larsen knocked in the tying run and scored the winning one in a seventh-inning comeback which guaranteed a 2-1 win over rival Novato. “All of a sudden, I was everybody’s buddy after that,” Larsen recalled. In ’76, Larsen and his father, Doug, formed AAA Energy Systems, an air conditioning and heating firm based in Santa Rosa. Larsen and his wife, Debbie, have been married for 22 years, with two daughters (Tara, 17, and Shelby, 11) and two sons (Casey, 19 and Trevor, 12).
Robert Washington Athlete—Tamalpais 1964 A three-sport star for three consecutive seasons at Tamalpais High, Washington was at his best as an imposing tackle on both sides of the ball for the Indians football team. As a senior, he earned firstteam All-MCAL honors and was named the squad’s MVP, something Washington lists as a highlight of his Tamalpais career because “I didn’t really expect to win it. There were some other guys that were pretty good on that team.” Washington was also a force on the Indians’ wrestling team, placing in the North Coast Section tournament and almost qualifying for the state finals as a senior, and the track and field squad, where he threw the discus and shot put, reaching the NCS finals in the former. In his final year, he also won the Alonzo Stagg and Frank Kelley Scholarship awards. Washington recently retired from his post as deputy director after 19 years in the City of Oakland’s Health and Human Services Department and is currently working with Alameda County on its Web site for senior and disabled residents. Washington, who still lives in Oakland, has been married for 24 years to his wife, Joyce. They have a son (Miles, 22) and daughter (Paige, 19).
Dan Young Athlete—Redwood 1972 Most Redwood High football fans will remember Young for his superlative work on both the offensive and defensive lines. Young still recalls the touchdown that got away: “It was junior varsity. I had intercepted a pass and ran it back but a teammate of mine clipped behind the play and it was called back. That was the only touchdown of my career.” That was one of the very few times when things didn’t go right on the field or mat or track for Young, who won the KTIM Sportsman of the Year Award for his allaround excellence as a senior. In football, Young played two years of varsity and was first-team All-MCAL at offensive guard and defensive tackle. In his only two years of wrestling, Young won a pair of MCAL heavyweight titles. In track, Young placed third in the MCALs for the discus in his final season. Young played rugby at UC Davis and Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. Young now lives in Georgetown, Texas with his wife of 16 years, Victoria, and works as a project manager at GC Services, a teleservices collections firm. They have three children: Elysia (14), Daniel (12) and Dominic (4).
Jim McDonald Athlete—Tamalpais 1950 Surgery a half-century ago wasn’t the routine, simple procedure it is nowadays, which is why McDonald’s proudest moment out of an illustrious career at Tamalpais High was winning the North Bay League’s 220-yard dash title as a senior, then placing at the North Coast Section meet and advancing to the State Meet — two months removed from reconstructive shoulder surgery. McDonald starred for the Indians in both track — winning the Marin County 100-yard dash as a sophomore, and helping set the NBL 880 relay record — and football, where he was a three-year varsity starter at fullback. Tamalpais won the NBL football crown his sophomore year and he was first-team All-League as a junior. McDonald’s career was cut short by a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee midway through the ’49 football season; when post-graduation surgery was unsuccessful, he lost a scholarship to Stanford. He went on to become a well-known Marin architect of 43 years with his own firm, James McDonald and Associates. A resident of San Anselmo since 1934, McDonald married Mary Carroll in 1954; they have five children (Jay, Laura, Leslie, Christy, Greg) and three grandchildren (Clay, Jessica, Katie).
Paul Ferreboeuf Coach—San Marin Ferreboeuf was a three-time Coach of the Year in boys basketball and also mentored San Marin High’s cross country teams for a decade, but he was equally adept in the classroom, where he served as the school’s English department chair until his death last year. In September 1976, Ferreboeuf, then a student teacher and assistant coach at Tamalpais, was hired away by San Marin AD Hank Moroski, who called it “one of the best personnel moves ever made.” Ferreboeuf quickly brought the Mustangs’ varsity into prominence, winning MCAL regular-season titles in 1980, ’87, and ’88 and playoff titles in ’87 and ’88. During his 16 years at the helm, Ferreboeuf’s teams were marked by a love of defense and a disdain of both the 3-point line and the shot clock. Ferreboeuf estimated his career record at San Marin to be 213-106 when he stepped down in 1992. An avid horseman, Ferreboeuf was believed to be returning from Bay Meadows when he died at the age of 52 in a February 2000 car accident on Interstate 580. Shortly thereafter, the MCAL’s boys basketball MVP award was named in his honor.
Bret Tovani Coach—San Rafael In Tovani’s three years as a co-coach of the Bulldogs’ badminton team, San Rafael won an MCAL title every time. Somehow, you get the feeling that fact will be overshadowed by Tovani’s accomplishments as the boys basketball coach. An institution at the varsity level for 29 seasons, Tovani molded San Rafael’s program into the “Junk Yard Dogs” — infusing his players with a gritty attitude, a deep sense of commitment and an attention to detail that always made them tough to beat. “And he makes it much more than basketball,” said one player this spring after Tovani’s retirement was officially announced. “It’s more of a lifelong experience.” Tovani — a 1962 San Rafael grad who came back to the school as a teacher in 1968 — lasted so long that upon his retirement, five of the boys varsity coaches at the seven other longtime MCAL schools had faced Tovani-led teams when they played in high school. Tovani finished up with six regular-season MCAL pennants, five North Coast Section titles and a career varsity record of 474-303. Tovani lives in San Rafael with his wife, fellow Marin Hall of Famer Maureen McGrath-Tovani.
Hugh Turner Special recognition Turner’s name and face spark some recognition, but it’s his voice that remains firmly embedded in the consciousness of Marin sports fans from the 1950s and ’60s. That was when radio station KTIM was at its heyday as a local news and sports source, and more often than not it was Turner’s voice which brought the action to life for listeners. Turner arrived at KTIM in 1948 and, along with his wife, Juanita, ran most facets of the station’s operation until 1972, when they sold their holdings. At KTIM, Turner also conceived and organized the first banquets honoring Marin’s outstanding student-athletes; his format, selecting two students from each school, became the template for the Marin Athletic Foundation’s current program. In April 1980, Turner was elected to the Novato City Council for the first of three terms. Turner, who still lives in Novato, was mayor in 1983 and ’88 and served 12 years on council before stepping down in 1992. After Juanita passed away in 1995, Turner remarried a year later to Mabel Croughan. Turner has three children — Ron Turner of Washington, D.C., Richard Turner of Ukiah and Irene Amodei of Quincy — 15 grandchildren, one great-grandchild and two greatgreat-grandchildren.
-- Compiled by Geoff Lepper, Marin Independent Journal
It is with much pride that we salute Jim McDonald, inductee to the Marin High School Athletic Hall of Fame and one of the all time great Marin County athletes. – Mario Ghilotti