Ron Cuccia (No. 7), the record-breaking QB at Wilson of Los Angeles in the 1970s, is shown with his father, Vic, the team’s head coach. Former Grant High of Sacramento head coach Mike Alberghini (left) gets the water bucket dump just before the end of the 2008 CIF Open Division state championship. Photos: wikimedia.org & Scott Kurtz / Cal-Hi Sports.
The next 25 group of inductees for the California High School Football Hall of Fame have been announced after the first 100 were done two years ago for an exhibit at the Rose Bowl that was unveiled last year. Here is where the Hall of Fame stands in getting the most deserving players into induction, which for the newest group will be on November 29. We do this by presenting our lists from each CIF section and the recognized best players ever from each one. See which players are in and which ones are not.
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Are they in or are they not? We love Hall of Fames and despite the fact we at Cal-Hi Sports are no longer involved we are really grateful for the California High School Football Hall of Fame starting and continuing.
No matter who is serving on any committee to vote for Hall of Fame spots, it is an almost impossible task to go through information from a state as large as California to come up with 100 inductees and then 25 more. For this Hall of Fame, the number 100 to start was important because it matched the 100-year anniversary of the Rose Bowl, where the exhibit is located.
We don’t know who was on the committee who voted for the latest 25 inductees, which were announced on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, but we know that for the first 25-member committee that voted that there was no one who voted who represented several of the major CIF sections in the state, including San Diego, Central and Central Coast. We pointed that out last time publicly and assume that’s one reason why we were not asked back. A large majority of the committee was from the CIF Southern Section and/or CIF L.A. City Section.
Despite all of that, anyone on the committee can ask any questions from us at any time about any player or coach. We’d gladly provide info whether we’re part of the committee or not.
Five new former head coaches also were voted in for induction into the California High School Football Hall of Fame. They are Bruce Rollinson of Santa Ana Mater Dei (who was still coaching when the first class was chosen otherwise he would have been included), Mike Alberghini from Grant of Sacramento, Bob Hitchcock of Temple City, Tom Hamilton of Pasadena and Steve Grady from Loyola of Los Angeles. Grady also arguably could have been voted in for what he did as a legendary player in the 1960s for the Cubs. The new class will be honored at halftime of the UCLA-Fresno State game at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 29.
What is presented below is a section-by-section list of those who were voted in among the first 100 into this hall of fame, those who have just been voted in and then a list of those players who are still not in but have been mentioned in other section Hall of Fames and through our own myriad lists of all-state teams and all-time state records that have been worked on for 46 years.
CIF CENTRAL SECTION
Bakersfield Christian once had future NFL QB Derek Carr leading the way. His brother, Darren, is the current head coach. Photo: bakersfield.com.
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Henry Ellard (Hoover, Fresno) WR
Frank Gifford (Bakersfield) RB
Jimmy Johnson (Kingsburg) DB
Daryle Lamonica (Clovis) QB*
Tim McDonald (Edison, Fresno) DB
Don Mosebar (Mt. Whitney, Visalia) OL
Les Richter (Fresno) LB
Jeff Siemon (Bakersfield) LB
Charles Young (Edison, Fresno) TE
*Voted in for 2024.
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
John Baker (Kingsburg) OL
Jeff Buckey (Bakersfield) OL
David Carr (Stockdale, Bakersfield) QB
Derek Carr (Bakersfield Christian) QB
Ron Cox (Washington, Easton) LB
Ryan Mathews (West, Bakersfield) RB
Kent Nance (Madera) RB
Lorenzo Neal (Lemoore) FB
Joey Porter (Foothill, Bakersfield) LB
Steve Wofford (Bakersfield) RB
Louis Wright (Bakersfield) DB
Note: Josh Allen (Firebaugh) QB wasn’t yet eligible to be voted on in the spring of 2022 and it looks like he may have missed the cutoff by one year this time as well.
CIF CENTRAL COAST SECTION
Former NFL QB Trent Dilfer is shown working with high school QBs at an Elite 11 camp several years ago. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Steve Bartkowski (Buchser, Santa Clara) QB
Gary Beban (Sequoia, Redwood City) QB
Tom Brady (Serra, San Mateo) QB
Nello “Flash” Falaschi (Bellarmine, San Jose) RB
Dan Fouts (St. Ignatius, San Francisco) QB
Jim Harbaugh (Palo Alto) QB*
Craig Morton (Campbell) QB*
Jim Plunkett (James Lick, San Jose) QB
Ron Rivera (Seaside) LB
Lynn Swann (Serra, San Mateo) WR
*Voted in for 2024.
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Davante Adams (Palo Alto) WR
Jared Allen (Los Gatos) DL
Andre Carter (Oak Grove, San Jose) DL
Trent Dilfer (Aptos) QB
Julian Edelman (Woodside) QB/WR
Herm Edwards (Monterey) DB
Trent Edwards (Los Gatos) QB
Mason Foster (Seaside) LB
Erik Howard (Bellarmine, San Jose) DL
Tut Imlay (Salinas) QB
Greg Jones (South San Francisco) RB
Deltha O’Neal (Milpitas) DB
Dan Pastorini (Bellarmine, San Jose) QB/P
John Paye (Menlo School, Atherton) QB
Tim Rossovich (St. Francis, Mountain View) LB
Tim Ryan (Oak Grove, San Jose) DL
Pat Tillman (Leland, San Jose) DB
CIF LOS ANGELES CITY SECTION
NFL all-time great QB John Elway wore No. 11 when he was playing at Granada Hills High in late 1970s. Photo: Twitter.com.
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Jon Arnett (Manual Arts) RB
Hal Bedsole (Reseda) WR
Ricky Bell (Fremont) RB
Ron Cuccia (Wilson, Los Angeles) QB*
Anthony Davis (San Fernando) RB
Tom Fears (Manual Arts) WR
Gaston Green (Gardena) RB*
John Elway (Granada Hills) QB
Mike Garrett (Roosevelt) RB
Jamelle Holieway (Banning, Wilmington) QB/RB*
Michael Haynes (John Marshall) DB
James Lofton (Washington) WR
Hugh McElhenny (Washington) RB
Freeman McNeil (Banning, Wilmington) RB
Warren Moon (Hamilton) QB
Joe Perry (Jordan) RB
Kenny Washington (Lincoln) RB
Bob Waterfield (Van Nuys) QB
Charles White (San Fernando) RB
*Voted in for 2024.
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Arnold Ale (Carson) LB
Michael Alo (Banning, Wilmington) RB/LB
Nnamdi Asumugha (Narbonne, Harbor City) DB
Roy Foster (Taft, Woodland Hills) OL
Darian Hagan (Locke) QB/RB
Keyshawn Johnson (Dorsey) WR
Jack Kemp (Fairfax) QB
Frank Manumaluena (Banning, Wilmington) LB
Rod Martin (Hamilton) LB
Ken Norton (Westchester) LB
Tom Ramsey (Kennedy, Granada Hills) QB
Malcolm Smith (Taft, Woodland Hills) LB
Steve Smith (Taft, Woodland Hills) WR
Steve Smith (University, Los Angeles) WR
De’Anthony Thomas (Crenshaw) RB/KR
Wendell Tyler (Crenshaw) RB
Wesley Walker (Carson) WR
Bob Whitfield (Banning, Wilmington) OL
CIF NORTH COAST SECTION
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Dick Bass (Vallejo) RB
Jack Del Rio (Hayward) LB
Zach Ertz (Monte Vista, Danville) TE*
Jared Goff (Marin Catholic, Kentfield) QB*
John Henry Johnson (Pittsburg) RB
Maurice Jones-Drew (De La Salle, Concord) RB
Gino Marchetti (Antioch) DL
Rey Maualuga (Eureka) LB*
Ernie Nevers (Santa Rosa) RB**
Ron Pritchard (Antioch) LB*
Jerry Robinson (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) LB
Amani Toomer (De La Salle, Concord) WR
Gino Torretta (Pinole Valley, Pinole) QB
Norm Van Brocklin (Acalanes, Lafayette) QB***
D.J. Williams (De La Salle, Concord) RB/LB
Roy Williams (James Logan, Union City) QB/DB
*Voted in for 2024.
**Didn’t graduate from Santa Rosa; which was written up as a requirement.
***Didn’t play senior season (World War II).
Note: Vallejo has been in both the NCS & Sac-Joaquin Section over the years.
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Jahvid Best (Salesian, Richmond) RB
Vic Bottari (Vallejo) QB/RB
Bill Corbus (Vallejo) OL
Ken Dorsey (Miramonte, Orinda) QB
Tarik Glenn (Bishop O’Dowd, Oakland) OL
Mel Gray (Montgomery, Santa Rosa) WR
Matt Hazeltine (Tamalpais, Mill Valley) LB
Derek Landri (De La Salle, Concord) OL/DL
Jamir Miller (El Cerrito) LB
Ron Pritchard (Antioch) LB
Aaron Taylor (De La Salle, Concord) OL
Jim Turner (Swett, Crockett) PK/QB
Regan Upshaw (Pittsburg) DL
CIF NORTHERN SECTION
Player Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Aaron Rodgers (Pleasant Valley, Chico) QB
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Mort Kaer (Red Bluff) QB
Jason Seehorn (Mt. Shasta) DB
Jeff Stover (Corning) DL
Aaron Thomas (Weed) TE
Note: Kaer also won 189 games as a head coach at Weed for 30 years.
CIF OAKLAND SECTION
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
John Brodie (Oakland Tech) QB
Marshawn Lynch (Oakland Tech) RB
Harold “Brick” Muller (Oakland Tech) WR/ATH
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Chris Burford (Oakland) WR
Jackie Jensen (Oakland) QB
Logan Mankins once caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady for the New England Patriots in an AFC championship game and was voted to an NFL All-Decade team. Photo: wikipedia.com.
CIF SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Dick Bass (Vallejo) RB
Tedy Bruschi (Roseville) DL/LB
Eddie LeBaron (Oakdale) QB
Ken O’Brien (Jesuit, Carmichael) QB
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Robbie Bosco (Roseville) QB
Lance Briggs (Elk Grove) LB
Virgil Carter (Folsom) QB
Shante Carver (Lincoln, Stockton) DL
Don Doll (Grant, Sacramento) QB*
Tony Eason (Delta, Clarksburg) QB
Jason Fisk (Davis) DL
Aaron Garcia (Grant, Sacramento) QB
Dano Graves (Folsom) QB
J.D. Hill (Edison, Stockton) WR
Colin Kaepernick (Pitman, Turlock) QB
Logan Mankins (Mariposa County, Mariposa) OL
Bill Munson (Lodi) QB
Onterrio Smith (Grant, Sacramento) RB
Shaq Thompson (Grant, Sacramento) DB/LB
Paul Wiggin (Manteca) OL
Kevin Willhite (Cordova, Rancho Cordova) RB
*Known as Don Burnside in high school.
Note: Jake Browning (Folsom) QB wasn’t yet eligible to be voted on in the spring of 2022 and it looks like he’s still a year or two short of being old enough to go in.
CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION
CR Roberts went from Oceanside to legendary status at USC. Photo: uscathletics.com.
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Marcus Allen (Lincoln, San Diego) RB
Willie Buchanon (Oceanside) DB*
Reggie Bush (Helix, La Mesa) RB
Lincoln Kennedy (Morse, San Diego) OL
John Lynch (Torrey Pines, San Diego) DB
Bill McColl (Hoover, San Diego) WR/TE
Rashaan Salaam (La Jolla Country Day) RB
Junior Seau (Oceanside) LB
Alex Smith (Helix, La Mesa) QB
Ricky Williams (Patrick Henry, San Diego) RB
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Eric Allen (Point Loma, San Diego) DB
Sal Aunese (Vista) QB
Donnie Edwards (Chula Vista) LB
Arian Foster (Mission Bay, San Diego) RB
La’Roi Glover (Point Loma, San Diego) DL
Wally Henry (Lincoln, San Diego) RB/KR
Deron Johnson (San Diego) ATH
Ted Johnson (Carlsbad) LB
Teddy Lawrence (Morse, San Diego) QB/RB
Mark Malone (El Cajon Valley) QB
Art Powell (San Diego) WR
Noel Prefontaine (El Camino, Oceanside) PK/P
C.R. Roberts (Oceanside) RB
Darrell Russell (St. Augustine, San Diego) DL
Brian Sipe (Grossmont, El Cajon) QB
Robert Thomas (Imperial) LB
Pisa Tinoisamoa (Vista) RB/LB
Cotton Warburton (San Diego) HB
CIF SAN FRANCISCO SECTION
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Ollie Matson (Washington) RB/ATH
Bob St. Clair (Poly, S.F.) OL
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Rod Franz (Galileo) OL
Mike Holmgren (Lincoln, S.F) QB
Note: No one seriously considered voting for O.J. Simpson (Galileo) RB in 2022.
CIF SOUTHERN SECTION
Cover of 1998 CIFSS final included image of Mater Dei hero Matt Grootegoed (No. 6) & Long Beach Poly Hall of Famer Chris Lewis. Photo: Facebook.com.
Players Voted Into State Hall of Fame:
Frankie Albert (Glendale) QB
Matt Barkley (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) QB
George Buehler (Whittier) OL*
Mark Carrier (Long Beach Poly) DB
Chris Claiborne (J.W. North, Riverside) LB/RB
Sean Cody (Los Altos, Hacienda Heights) DL*
Randy Cross (Crespi, Encino) OL
Randall Cunningham (Santa Barbara) QB
Sam Cunningham (Santa Barbara) RB
Glenn Davis (Bonita, La Verne) RB
Morley Drury (Long Beach Poly) RB
Kai Forbath (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) PK
DeShaun Foster (Tustin) RB
Toby Gerhart (Norco) RB
Tony Gonzalez (Huntington Beach) TE/LB
Matt Grootegoed (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) RB/DB*
Pat Haden (Bishop Amat, La Puente) QB
Edwin “Babe” Horrell (Pasadena) OL*
John Huarte (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) QB
DeSean Jackson (Long Beach Poly) WR
Napoleon Kaufman (Lompoc) RB**
Joe Kapp (Hart, Newhall) QB
Billy Kilmer (Citrus, Azusa) QB
Ronnie Knox (Santa Monica) QB
Matt Leinart (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) QB
Chris Lewis (Long Beach Poly) QB
Marcedes Lewis (Long Beach Poly) TE
Ronnie Lott (Eisenhower, Rialto) DB
Todd Marinovich (Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo) QB
Bruce Matthews (Arcadia) OL
Daylon McCutcheon (Bishop Amat, La Puente) RB/DB*
Willie McGinest (Long Beach Poly) DE/LB
John McKay Jr. (Bishop Amat, La Puente) WR
Mike McKeever (Mt. Carmel, Los Angeles) OL
Kory Minor (Bishop Amat, La Puente) DL*
Ron Mix (Hawthorne) OL
Orv Mohler (Alhambra) QB
Donn Moomaw (Santa Ana) LB*
Anthony Munoz (Chaffey, Ontario) OL
Carson Palmer (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) QB
Jackie Robinson (Muir, Pasadena) QB/RB
Mark Sanchez (Mission Viejo) QB
John Sciarra (Bishop Amat, La Puente) RB/QB
Richard Sherman (Dominguez, Compton) DB
Dennis Smith (Santa Monica) DB
Dennis Thurman (Santa Monica) DB*
Gene Washington (Long Beach Poly) WR/QB
Ed White (Indio) OL*
Russell White (Crespi, Encino) RB
Ron Yary (Bellflower) OL
Luis Zendejas (Don Lugo, Chino) PK
Gary Zimmerman (Walnut) OL
*Voted in for 2024.
**Lompoc is no longer in CIFSS; but it was during Napoleon’s years there.
Vontaze Burfict was a dominating linebacker at Corona Centennial and later in the NFL. Photo: raiders.com.
Leading Players Not In State Hall of Fame:
Kermit Alexander (Mt. Carmel, Los Angeles) DB
Bryan Anger (Camarillo) P
Roy “Bullet” Baker (Long Beach Poly) RB/QB
Steve Beuerlein (Servite, Anaheim) QB
Kyle Boller (Hart, Newhall) QB
Lorenzo Booker (St. Bonaventure, Ventura) RB
Mark Brunell (St. Joseph, Santa Maria) QB
Vontaze Burfict (Centennial, Compton) LB
Jurrell Casey (Long Beach Poly) DL
Jimmy Clausen (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) QB
Kenyon Coleman (Alta Loma) DL
Mickey Cureton (Centennial, Compton) RB
Isaac Curtis (Santa Ana) WR
Sam Darnold (San Clemente) QB
Rick DiBernardo (Edison, Huntington Beach) LB
Tyler Ebell (Ventura) RB
Marv Fleming (Compton) WR
Mickey Flynn (Anaheim) RB
Tony Hill (Long Beach Poly) WR
Lawrence Jackson (Inglewood) DL
Adoree’ Jackson (Serra, Gardena) DB
Malik Jackson (Birmingham, Lake Balboa) DL
Ronney Jenkins (Hueneme, Oxnard) RB
Bret Johnson (El Toro, Lake Forest) QB
Kermit Johnson (Blair, Pasadena) RB
Norm Johnson (Pacifica, Garden Grove) PK
Rob Johnson (El Toro, Lake Forest) QB/WR
Travis Johnson (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) DL
Matt Kalil (Servite, Anaheim) OL
Travis Kirschke (Esperanza, Anaheim) DL
George Kunz (Loyola, Los Angeles) OL
Alex Mack (San Marcos, Santa Barbara) OL
Ken Margerum (Fountain Valley) WR
Chris McAlister (Pasadena) DB
James McAlister (Blair, Pasadena) RB
Earl McCullouch (Long Beach Poly) WR
Mike McKeever (Mt. Carmel, Los Angeles) OL
Randy Meadows (Downey) RB
Blaine Nye (Servite, Anaheim) OL
Mike Rae (Lakewood) QB
Chris Sailer (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) PK
Keith Smith (Newbury Park) QB/ATH
Tyron Smith (Rancho Verde, Moreno Valley) OL
Jack Snow (St. Anthony, Long Beach) WR
Eric Turner (Ventura) DB
Myron White (Valley, Santa Ana) RB
Robert Woods (Serra, Gardena) WR
Tim Wrightman (Mary Star, San Pedro) TE
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle:
3 Comments
What about Nick Eddy
Is there a written down list of the requirements that a person needs to meet for selection into the California Hall of Fame? Who are the voters who make the selection to the Hall of Fame?
The only requirements I remember when involved a couple of years ago was 10 years after graduation for players and that coaches are retired. They also put in a sportsmanship/good citizen type of requirement so someone isn’t inducted like O.J. The group also had an automatic clause for anyone in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or Heisman Trophy winner. Some of those, however, were not good yet in high school. They could have changed the voters from the first time (and they did by not having us back) but there were only six from Northern California the first time and 19 or 20 from from the CIFSS or LA City Section. Two of the six from NorCal included the CIF state director and the SJS commissioner.