ATHLETES INITIATE HALL OF FAME GLENDALE COLLEGE HONORS 1ST GROUP OF STANDOUTS.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - When Olympic gold medal swimmer Cathy Ferguson attended Glendale Community College in the 1960s, there were no women's collegiate sports teams on campus.

Men's sports dominated the scene, and Ferguson competed instead for a team at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Now, 33 years after she graduated from Glendale College, Ferguson will be among five athletes and coaches honored as the first inductees into the campus' Athletic Hall of Fame.

Ferguson, of Huntington Beach said she is thrilled about the honor and speaks nostalgically of the two years she spent at Glendale College, despite the inequality in men and women's sports at the time.

``It was one of my favorite times of all my years of schooling,'' said Ferguson, who went on to earn her master's and doctorate degrees and now is head of marketing for the American Youth Soccer Organization.

``I loved Glendale College ... I probably had some of the greatest teachers I've ever had.''

Scheduled to be unveiled Feb. 10, the Hall of Fame will be located inside the J. Walter Smith Student Center, named for one of the inductees, who was a longtime dean of student activities.

The rest of the honorees are Donna Mayhew of La Crescenta, who was a state champion in javelin throwing; Carl Boldt of Arcadia, who went on to play in the National Basketball Association; and Chuck Gibson of Carlsbad, who is a longtime men's tennis coach and a social and political science professor at the college.

Glendale College's 1985 football team - the first team in the school's history to win the Shriners' Potato Bowl - will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The team's coach, Jim Sartoris, is the college's athletic director.

Tye Veden, chairman of the Hall of Fame project, said the honorees were chosen from a field of nearly 40 candidates.

``You've got some people over there who have just achieved tremendous success in business and professional ventures - launched at little old Glendale College,'' said Veden, who is an alumnus himself.

After two years at Glendale College, Boldt, for example, went on to join the University of San Francisco basketball team, which went undefeated for 60 games and won the National Collegiate Athletic Association title in 1956.

``We were the national champions for two years in a row. I played alongside of (Boston Celtics) Bill Russell and K.C. Jones,'' said Boldt, who subsequently joined the U.S. All Star Team and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons.

``I always got good coaching (at Glendale College),'' said Boldt. ``One of the best coaches I've ever had was Abe Elliot.''

After his basketball career ended, Boldt became a scout for the NBA and the now defunct American Basketball Association. He also coached local high school basketball.

Today, he runs an export/import business with a speciality in Costa Rican coffee and speaks fondly of his alma mater, where he was a journalism major and geology minor.

``Glendale College was really a great steppingstone because of the teachers,'' he said. ``The teachers we had were fabulous. The people in Glendale College cared about you individually.''

And despite the many honors he has received over the years, Boldt said being selected for the college's Hall of Fame is an honor he will especially cherish.

``I thought it was quite an honor, especially to be picked as the first basketball player to go in. We've had a lot of good basketball players go through there,'' he said.

Smith, of San Clemente, the former dean of student activities and a onetime track and field amateur national champion, is being honored for 44 years of service.

``J. Walter Smith is kind of a legend as far as our college is concerned,'' said Sartoris. ``not only in just athletics but in all student extracurricular activities.

``He is really the guiding force behind the building up of the associated student body here.''

Known for his modesty, Smith said what he is most proud of achieving during his tenure is building lasting friendships with students.

``I think my greatest accomplishment had to do with relating to students and being interested in their world affairs, their educational objectives and personal objectives,'' said Smith, who himself attended Glendale College in 1939, when it had only four buildings, built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression.

Today, the college boasts a campus of brand new buildings and full equality between men's and women's sports.

``We have 14 teams now that we participate in sports with - seven men and seven women,'' said Sartoris, who also attended Glendale College before moving on to the University of Washington. ``Our athletics program overall is extremely competitive and has an excellent reputation.''

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Jim Sartoris coached Glendale Community College's 1985 football team, which will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.