GAME FACES; EXHIBIT PAYS TRIBUTE TO LOCAL SPORTS HEROES.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

Before he died fighting for his country when his plane was shot down by the Japanese during World War II, Navy pilot Roger Boles was already a hero in Santa Paula.

Not only did Boles captain the then-Santa Paula Union High School football team, but he was student body president and an outstanding scholar who has a trophy named in his honor that has been awarded annually since 1947 to the top all-around student at the school.

That trophy, newspaper clips and football photos from Boles' family and even his high school sweetheart form the exhibit which is but one of dozens on Santa Paula and Ventura County heroes in a new exhibition at the Santa Paula Union Oil Museum titled ``A Century of Sports: Local Heroes - Local Stories.''

``Local sports enhance and build local communities,'' said John Nichols, the curator of the exhibition, in explaining the exhibit. ``It's all about what it is to be human. It's inspiring to see their stories.''

An example of that inspiration is the exhibit on Randal Bryden, coach of the Santa Paula High School gymnastics team from 1935 to 1972.

Stricken by polio at the age of 5, he wore leg braces for the rest of his life. But Bryden went on to set a world record in 1933 of four seconds for climbing the 20-foot gym rope, and co-captained the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team the following year.

Near a two-inch diameter gym rope hanging from the ceiling at the exhibit is a photograph of a young, smiling Bryden performing gymnastics, upper-body muscles bulging.

The exhibition includes posters, sports equipment, including surfboards and leather football helmets, scrapbooks, medals and other gear from every decade of the century. The sports covered range from rodeo and drag racing to soccer, baseball and baseball.

All the memorabilia has been loaned to the exhibition by family members or friends or people who happened to have items stashed away and responded to ads in local newspapers, fliers and word of mouth put out by the museum, said Anne Shilton Gramulich, the co-curator of the exhibit.

``People responded terrifically by bringing us these items. It's been astonishing,'' she said.

``This exhibition ought to appeal not just to sports fans but people who like good stories, because it shows people and their personal stories are fascinating.''

The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, and admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The exhibition continues through Feb. 20, 2000. For information, phone the museum at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) John Nichols holds a wooden surfboard covered with photos of surfers from 40 years ago, part of an exhibit on local sports heroes.

(2 -- color) Eddie Contreras of Oxnard, winner of the 1998 state lightweight boxing championship, is featured in a sports exhibit.

(3 -- color) A ball and glove from the 1971 Saticoy Softball Tournament is part of the exhibit.

Lilly Barrett/Special to the Daily News