TWO GREAT ORGANIZATIONS CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF Special
This year marks a Special 30-year anniversary for both Special Olympics Northern California and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame! Special Olympics NorCal is proud to partner with the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame to create a shared legacy of inclusion, community and empowerment for athletes of all abilities.
Pictured center: Michael Aguilar
Pictured clockwise from top: Chairman of the Board for San Jose Sports Authority Charlie Faas with Athlete Leader Stephanie; Kerri Walsh Jennings with Athlete Leader Nassreen; Tara VanDerveer with Athlete Leader Stephanie; Robert Guerrero with Athlete Leader Jenni; Mike Holmgren with Athlete Leader Heather
EDDIE BULLER
For more than two decades, Eddie Buller’s football teams at Oak Grove High School were the standard of prep excellence in San Jose, the South Bay and beyond. Buller won 18 league championships and five Central Coast Section titles in his 23 seasons at the school while compiling a 214-29-3 record. He gained the respect of his players, his peers and even his defeated opponents for the way he conducted himself both on and off the field.
Buller’s record as a coach included 18 league titles and thrilling CCS playoff victories. But he was of the firm belief that as an educator, his job was as much about preparing his players for life as much as preparing them for the next game.
“People always ask me how a team is going to be,” Buller often declared at the start of a season. “And I always say to wait for 10 to 15 years.”
Buller, a graduate of San Jose’s Leland High School, took over the Oak Grove program in 1983. His predecessor, Phil Stearns, had already established a highly successful football program at the school. However, Buller immediately took the Eagles to the next level, earning a reputation as a creative strategist who utilized his roster wisely. He made his public school program at Oak Grove competitive with the area’s private schools, defeating them for several section titles. Buller also was a guiding light for his players from less advantaged backgrounds.
“He tried to meet the needs of a lot of kids with economic and personal issues,” said one of his former assistants, Rick Huck. “If a problem arose, many teams would cut a kid loose. But he worked hard to make sure their time at Oak Grove was a good experience.”
Buller’s legacy includes the many Eagles players who went on to college or NFL stardom, as well as his staff members who became head coaches themselves. Although he retired in 2009, his fame endures on the Oak Grove campus. In 2019, the school named its football field after him.
FUN FACT: Fun fact: Buller spent three seasons as an assistant coach at San Jose State, coaching up the wide receivers.
TODD CLEVER
The bucolic South San Jose subdivisions of the 1990s were an unlikely spawning ground for the most fierce, intense, and accomplished American rugby player in history. But when Santa Teresa High School teenager Todd Clever showed up for his first practice with the nearby College Park Rugby Club, it was scrum at first sight.
Over the following two decades, the muscular 6-foot-4 Clever towered over his sport like no USA rugger before or since. He became a three-time All American for the University of Nevada Wolfpack from 2001-04. He joined the US National Eagles 15 roster and played in a record 76 international matches, 53 of them as captain. He led American teams to the Rugby World Cup tournament in 2003, 2007 and 2011. The US Rugby Foundation named him “Player of the Decade” for 2000-09. He gained more global fame with professional clubs in New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, and England.
Clever’s impressive achievements multiplied as his career matured. In 2009 with the South African Lions, Clever became the first American to play and score in the Super Rugby Union of the Southern Hemisphere. From 2010 through 2012, he joined Suntory of the Japan Top League and helped lead the team to two Japan Cup championships. Domestically, he boosted the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club of San Diego to a Cal Cup championship and the Austin Huns to a Division 1 National Championship, rounding out a resume that will be hard for any future rugby star to match.
“On the playing side, all my goals have been checked off,” Clever reflected upon his 2019 retirement. “I’ve played around the world, represented my country in World Cups, and faced some of the best players out there.” Since retiring, he’s served as an executive with Major League Rugby’s Austin Elite, a Director for Memphis Inner City Rugby, and founded the Todd Clever Foundation to support rugby organizations worldwide.
FUN FACT: In 2016, Todd Clever played in his 68th match for the USA Rugby team, securing a win over Russia and making him the all-time leader for appearances.
LANDON DONOVAN
In 2001, Landon Donovan arrived in San Jose as a soccer teenager of great promise. By the time he left the city four years later, he was an American superstar and recognized globally as a game-changing force. His time with the Earthquakes at Spartan Stadium was relatively brief but massively consequential. It included two Major League Soccer championships and served as the springboard for a career that saw Donovan become the all-time leading goal scorer in US National Team history.
Donovan’s path to San Jose began in Southern California, where he was a youth soccer phenom attracting so much attention that the German club Bayer Leverkusen signed him to a contract at age 17. When his experience in Europe was less than ideal and Donovan expressed a desire to return stateside, Leverkusen agreed to loan his contract to San Jose in 2001. The Earthquakes had finished in last place the previous season. Donovan led a turnaround that concluded with a victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS championship game.
The following summer in the World Cup, Donovan helped the USA upset Portugal in the group stage and then scored a goal in a Round of Sixteen victory over Mexico, sending his team to the quarterfinals. A loss to Germany did not diminish the USA’s best World Cup result since 1930 and Donovan was named US Soccer Athlete of the Year. He had more history to write in San Jose, though. The Earthquakes won another MLS title in 2003, with Donovan scoring two goals against Chicago in the championship game. “He loved shooting,” remembered Joe Cannon, his Quakes teammate. “He loved making goalkeepers look silly.”
In 2005, Donovan was called back to Leverkusen to conclude his time in Northern California. He would return to America with the Los Angeles Galaxy and boost the team to four more MLS Cups while also excelling with the USA National Team. By the time he retired in 2014, he was widely considered the greatest American soccer player of all time and the MLS, in tribute, named its MVP award after him.
FUN FACT: Donovan once played for the San Diego Sockers of the indoor Major Arena Soccer League.
AFSOON ROSHANZAMIR JOHNSTON
Among the ranks of sports trailblazers, you can rightfully place Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston into an even more exclusive category--as a pioneer’s pioneer. In 1987, more than two decades before the California Interscholastic Federation held its first State Girls Wrestling Championship, Johnston joined the Independence High School Varsity Boys team in San Jose as a 98-pound grappler. She continued her journey and made history as the USA’s first medal winner at a Women’s World Championships, as well as earning three U.S. Open national titles. Johnston’s love of the sport came naturally and genetically. Her father, Manu, was a wrestler in his native Iran, where Afsoon was born and spent her childhood. When she expressed interest, Manu delighted in showing his only child some of his favorite techniques. Those teaching sessions were conducted semi secretly because of Iranian cultural restrictions regarding girls. When her family immigrated to America in 1983 and settled in San Jose, federal Title IX regulations meant Johnston could not legally be prevented from joining the Independence boys’ team. Guided by her Independence coach, David Chaid, she earned a spot on the USA’s first ever women’s national wrestling team in 1989 as a high school junior, then traveled with the team to Switzerland. There, she claimed America’s first female medal at a World Wrestling Championships—a bronze—and returned in 1990 to win a silver medal. Her next stop was UC Davis, where she trained with the men’s team while representing the USA with medal-winning performances around the globe. Johnston retired from competition to begin a physical therapy career in 2000, four years before women’s wrestling became an Olympic sport. Any regrets about missing out on the Games were erased in 2016 when, as a USA assistant coach in Brazil, she watched Helen Maroulis become America’s first female Olympic wrestling gold medalist, fulfilling the possibilities for which Johnston had opened the door 27 years earlier.
FUN FACT: In high school, Afsoon gave up the sport of cheerleading to become Santa Clara County’s first female prep wrestling competitor.
MARK WILSON
Anyone who had fun at a San Jose Giants game between 1982 and 2020 has Mark Wilson to thank for their experience. During his 38 years with the minor league organization, including 30 seasons as general manager, the Giants won six California League championships, developed more than 190 future Major Leaguers, and created lifetime memories for generations of fans at Municipal Stadium. In 1982, Wilson left his midwestern childhood home of Youngstown, Ohio, to take an internship with the San Jose minor league team headed by his friend, Harry Stavrenos. By 1990, Wilson had been named general manager and the San Francisco Giants had signed a working agreement with the San Jose franchise. The combination was not just a winning formula; it led to literal fireworks—a favorite Wilson gate attraction—in the skies above what is now known as Excite Ballpark. Between 1995 and 2010, the Giants never went longer than four years between Cal League titles, with Wilson’s fingerprints all over the team’s success. During that period, he was twice named the league’s Executive of the Year, and the organization earned the Bob Freitas Award as the top operation at the Class A-Advanced Level of the minors. Most prestigiously, Wilson’s leadership resulted in the San Jose Giants receiving the 2009 John H. Johnson Award presented annually to the most complete franchise in all of Minor League Baseball. For all of those honors, Wilson still took the most satisfaction from seeing families enjoy a game on a San Jose summer night at Muni as they laughed at the “Beer Batter” or one of his other promotions—while they also witnessed future Giants stars such as Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum launch their professional careers in a San Jose uniform. Wilson, a collegiate basketball official in his winter “off season,” also kept the ballpark busy when the Giants weren’t in town by staging rock concerts, CCS championship games and other events there. Upon his retirement in 2020, the team retired its No. 38 jersey as a salute to Wilson’s number of years with the franchise.
FUN FACT: During his 38 year career, Wilson won a total of 12 championship rings, 11 from the Giants organization and 1 from the Duluth-Superior Dukes.
Providing college funds to high school senior s who have overcome adversity to excel in academics and sport
xcellence
1998
1995-2025
Hal Davis – Track & Field
Pablo Morales – Swimming
L. T. “Buck” Shaw – Football Coach
Debi Thomas – Figure Skating
Bill Walsh – Football Coach
1999
Millard Hampton – Track & Field
Claudia Kolb – Swimming
Pat Malley – Football Coach
Patty Sheehan – Golf
2000
Don Bowden – Track & Field
Jack & John Elway – Football
Francie Larrieu Smith – Cross Country
Charles “Chuck” Taylor – Football
2001
Joe Leonard – Auto Racing
Ernie Nevers – Football
John Ralston – Football Coach
Dave Righetti – Baseball
Dennis Awtrey – Basketball
Ed Burke – Track & Field
Betty Hicks – Golf
Carney Lansford – Baseball
Craig Morton – Football
2003
Anne Warner Cribbs – Swimming
Becky Dyroen-Lancer –Synchronized Swimming
Andre Phillips – Track & Field
Billy Wilson – Football
2004
Carroll Williams – Basketball Coach 2002
John Brodie – Football
Amy Chow – Gymnastics
Kurt Rambis – Basketball
Pat Tillman – Football 2005
Brent Jones – Football
Barbara & Kathy Jordan – Tennis
Benny Pierce – Football Coach
Ken Venturi – Golf
2006
Jennifer Azzi – Basketball
Bill McPherson – Football Coach
Walt McPherson – Administrator & Coach
2007
Brian Boitano – Figure Skating
Bert Bonanno – Track & Field Coach
Kim Oden – Volleyball
Bud & Ralph Ogden – Basketball
Mark Spitz – Swimming
2008
Dick Gould – Tennis
George Gund III – Hockey
Margaret Jenkins (In Memoriam) –Track & Field
John Oldham – Baseball
2009
Bob Murphy – Stanford Broadcaster
Ron Calcagno – St. Francis High School Football Coach
Sheryl Johnson – Field Hockey
Ronnie Lott – Football
2010
Arturs Irbe – Hockey
Bruce Jenner – Track & Field
Keri Sanchez – Soccer
Dave & Mark Schultz – Wrestling
2011
Rudy Galindo – Figure Skating
Art Lambert – Water Polo
Dan Pastorini – Football
Peter Ueberroth, Olympic Leader –Baseball Commissioner
Kristi Yamaguchi – Figure Skating
2012
Steve Bartkowski – Football
Brandi Chastain – Soccer
Roger Maltbie – Golf
Willy T. Ribbs – Auto Racing
2013
Frankie Albert (In Memoriam) –Football
Gary Cunningham – Baseball Coach
Paul Child – Soccer
Tara VanDerveer – Basketball Coach
2014
Julie Foudy – Soccer
Owen Nolan – Hockey
Steve Schott – Baseball
Dick Vermeil – Football Coach
2015
John Carlos – Sprinter
Chris Carver – Swimming Coach
Jeff Garcia – Football
Mani Hernandez – Soccer
2016
Mike Bruner – Swimmer
Raymond Townsend – Basketball
Aly Wagner – Soccer
Doug Wilson – Hockey
2017
Ken Caminiti (In Memoriam) –Baseball
Dwight Clark – Football
Mark Marquess – Baseball Coach
Jack Roddy – Rodeo
Danielle Slaton – Soccer
C ONGR ATUL ATIONS TO ALL THE INDUCTEES
Michelle Beck, Sydney Grossfeld, & Lauren Kenny, San Francisco 49ers
Madison Bernstein, San Jose Earthquakes
Russell Bordallo, LUMA Hotel San Francisco
Jennifer Brown, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines
Randall Brown, Sonoma Raceway
Stacey Bruckert, Sonoma County Tourism
Joe Calhoun, Almaden Country Club
Luke Caporale & Brian Risso, Stanford University
John Ciulla & Laura Fitzsimmons, San Jose Theaters
Nakeysa Cole, Santana Row
Katie Conklin, NWSL
Nicholas Corona & Shaelynne Smith, San Jose Barracuda
Eddie Cortes-Torres & Jeff Di Giorgio, San Jose Giants
Justin Coutts, The Pressroom
Andrew Curry, Vermeil Wines
Dr. Svetlana Dani, San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board Member
Elaina Del Real, Topgolf San Jose
Cathy Domanski, Special Olympics
Northern California
Galen S. Fletcher, Sundance The Steakhouse
Briana Garcia, Dream Inn Santa Cruz
Carlos Garcia, Santa Clara University
Colleen Gerstner, The Westin Palo Alto
Tanya Granados & Alyssa Wallace, Bay FC
Irena Gumbert, Testarossa Winery
James Hamnett & Chelsea Wagner, San Jose Sharks
Catherine Hendricks & Hem Raju, San Jose Hilton
Rick Huck & Richard Young, Oak Grove High School
Christine Jacobsen & Morgan Randolph, Golden State Valkyries
Rylan Keeler & Raymond Ridder, Golden State Warriors
Nelda Kerr & Randy Seriguchi, Oakland Roots
Bob Leininger, San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board Member
Geraldo Lopez, Signia by Hilton San Jose
Scott MacDonald, San Jose State University
Laura Maemone, Forbes Mill Steakhouse
Sal Martinez, The Farmers Union
Colleen McDonald, Rock & Roll Running Series
Marie Menard & Mikilynna Taufete’e, Hotel Valencia
Chrissy Mrowczynski, MDM Hospitality Group
Seema Mulji & Ashis Roy, The Inn at Saratoga
Ibeth Obledo, Sharks Ice San Jose
Ben Musolf & Nicole Simons, Campo di Bocce of Los Gatos
Ron Olander, San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board Member
John and Debbie Poch, San Jose Sports Authority
Alyssa Ramont, San Francisco Giants
Brendan Rawson & Misa Wong, San Jose Jazz
Kirk Reynolds, Dwight Clark Legacy Series
Nicole Rodamer, The Fremont Clubhouse
Jay Rojas, Santa Cruz Warriors
Stephanie Sanders, Shadowbrook Restaurant
Adam Schiro, Cinnabar Hills Golf Club
John Southwell & Mady Warren, San Jose Marriott
Dawn Sweatt , San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board Member
The Tech Interactive
Visit San Jose
Rusty Weekes, San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board Member
Ja’Vonn Williams, San Pedro Social Winchester
Mystery House
Office of Mayor Mahan Staff Jess Barriga, Tasha Dean, and SJPD Robert Biebel & Andre Burke
Event Management
San Jose Sports Authority
Charlie Faas, Chairman
John Poch, Executive Director
Darren Centi, Director of Events
Chase Lazarus, Event Manager
Shayla Tran, Communications Manager
Ginna Baldassarre, Auction Director, Robert Braunstein, 49ers Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area
Dan Brown, The Athletic
Mark Purdy, SJSHOF ‘21
SAP Center at San Jose Staff
James Hamnett, Chelsea Wagner
Linnie McIntyre & the SAP Center building staff
Gordan Kalinic, Edwin Callard & the staff of ARAMARK
Media Partners
Keyon Johnson, OnKey Public Relations
The Mercury News Sal Pizarro, & Darren Sabedra
KPIX Matt Lively, KRON – Ben Ross, KRON – Rudy Garcia
San Jose Sharks Scott Emmert, Jim Sparaco & Dan Rusanowsky
Terrell Lloyd, Director of San Francisco 49ers Photography Services
Cristian Perlin, Maison Rêveur Videography
HOF Vendor Partners
Amy Blach, AMB Designs
Glenn Karren, Design Signs
Dan Gordon, Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Leann Sirkin, Flair Design + Photography
Jeri Ng, Only the Best
Joan Escover, JP Graphics
Bert George, Ruben Orozco & JC Hayes, Joseph George Wines
Shawna Futagaki, Flower Divas
Inductee and Honoree Liaisons
Richard Motzkin & Jenna Kramer, Wasserman
Matt Alongi, San Jose Giants
Bill Schlough, San Francisco Giants
Harry Clever
Rick Huck, Oak Grove High School
Cathy Domanski & Stefanie Bruggeman, Northern California Special Olympics
Charles Ryan, San Jose State University
Scott MacDonald, San Jose State University
Ryan Realini - Valley Christian High School
Kenny Perrotti - Los Gatos High School
Thank you, especially, to the Inductees, Honorees, your family and friends for making the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame an enduring source of civic pride.
THE SAN JOSE ARENA AUTHORITY FOR THEIR COMMITMENT, DEDICATION AND PARTNERSHIP FOR ALL 30-YEARS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BILL EKERN, BOARD CHAIRPERSON
MIYUKI ONE BEAR, BOARD VICE-CHAIRPERSON
RUTH SHIKADA, BOARD TREASURER
RUSTY WEEKES, BOARD SECRETARY
JOHN ALBERS, BOARD MEMBER
ROSSMERI ALFARO, BOARD MEMBER
CYNTHIA BOJORQUEZ, BOARD MEMBER
RYAN FETZER, BOARD MEMBER
MARTIN FLORES, BOARD MEMBER
SELENE LENOX, BOARD MEMBER
DOLORES MONTENEGRO, BOARD MEMBER
KYLE NELSON, BOARD MEMBER
GEORGE SANCHEZ, BOARD MEMBER
EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBERS
JESSICA BARRIGA, MAYOR MATT MAHAN’S OFFICE
DOMINGO CANDELAS, SAN JOSE CITY COUNCIL
DAVID COHEN, SAN JOSE CITY COUNCIL
KEVIN ICE, CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE
EXECUTIVE STAFF
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: CHRIS MORRISEY
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER: SHELLY WANG
CITY ATTORNEY LIAISON: CAMERON DAY
KEN BIRDSALL
CYNTHIA BOJORQUEZ
DAN BROWN
ANNE WARNER-CRIBBS
BRUCE EDWARDS
DR. SVETLANA DANI
CHARLIE FAAS
MARTIN FLORES
STEVE HALLGRIMSON
JAMES HAMNETT
BRAD KROUSKUP
BOB LEININGER
Hillhouse Construction
San Jose Arena Authority
The Athletic
Class of 2003 Inductee, BASOC
March Development
Skyline Sports Medicine
Saint Mary’s College
San Jose Arena Authority
YUNG LING
MARK MARQUESS
MATTHEW MARTINUCCI
DR. PAM MEHTA
JED METTEE
LINDA MORASCH
CHRIS MORRISEY
RON OLANDER
BILL RING
Berliner Cohen, LLP
SAP Center at San Jose
Toeniskoetter Development
BRIAN RISSO
DANIELLE SLATON
LARRY STONE
DAWN SWEATT
MARIE TUITE
CATHY DOMANSKI
Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc.
Class of 2017 Inductee
Visit San Jose & Team San Jose
Resilience Orthopedics
San Jose Earthquakes
Ponderosa Homes
DUSTIN WARFORD
RUSTY WEEKES
JOHN POCH
DARREN CENTI
San Jose Arena Authority
The Olander Company, Inc.
Ring Family Foundation
Stanford University Athletics
CHASE LAZARUS
SHAYLA TRAN
Class of 2017 Inductee, Bay FC
Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office
Berliner Cohen, LLP
Tuite Consulting
Special Olympics Northern California
Heritage Bank of Commerce
San Jose Arena Authority
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