San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Announces '99 Inductees; Induction Ceremony Will be Held Nov. 4.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BW SportsWire)--Sept. 7, 1999--

The San Jose Sports Hall of Fame announced today the Hall of Fame inductees for 1999.

The five inductees are Patty Sheehan (golf), Millard Hampton (track), Claudia Kolb Thomas (swimming), and Pat Malley (football) in memoriam.

Also being honored at the November ceremony will be the High School Athletes of the Year, Amateur Athletes of the Year, and Special Olympian of the Year. Biographical information about both the inductees and honorees follows.

The San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place Thursday, Nov. 4 at San Jose Arena, with a reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. and a sit-down dinner at 7 p.m. Arthur Andersen is the presenting sponsor for the event.

This is the 5th annual San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. In addition to the ceremony, a bronze relief of each of the inductees will be permanently displayed on the San Jose Arena concourse.

The public is invited to purchase tickets for the event by calling the Hall of Fame hotline at 408/288-2936. Tickets are $150 per person; $1,500 for a table of ten. Additional sponsorship packages are available. A portion of the event proceeds will benefit the Special Olympics Santa Clara County.

Members of the media interested in covering the event or requiring further information the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame and the inductees are asked to call Sheryl Spain at 408/288-2934.

1999 San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Inductees

Patty Sheehan, champion golfer and a former student at San Jose State University, has earned a long list of accolades during her career, including 1981 LPGA Rookie of the Year and 1983 LPGA Player of the Year. In 1987, Sheehan was named one of eight Sports Illustrated Sportsmen and Sportswomen of the Year. She won back-to-back LPGA Championships in 1983 and 1984 and was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1993. To date, Sheehan has won 35 titles on the LPGA tour, including six majors, and is fourth on the all-time career earnings list.

Millard Hampton, a graduate of Silver Creek High School, enjoyed his best year of competition in 1976 as a sophomore sprinter at San Jose City College. That year, he lead City College to its second straight junior college state title by winning the 100, 200 and anchoring both relays. He easily made the 1976 Olympic team when he ran the year's fastest time (20.10) in the 200-meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials. At the Olympics, Hampton won a gold medal in the 400-meter relay and a silver in the 200-meters -- just .06 behind winner Don Quarrie of Jamaica.

Claudia Kolb (Thomas), a graduate of Santa Clara High School, swam for the Santa Clara Swim Club from age eight through her Olympic career. At fourteen, Kolb became the first American woman swimmer to win an Olympic medal in the breaststroke, winning the silver in the 200-meters in the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Kolb's signature event, however, was the individual medley, in which she set several world records and won eight of her dozen national championships. She swept both individual medley races at the 1968 Olympics, finishing the 400-meter race 13.7 seconds ahead of her nearest opponent.

Pat Malley was Santa Clara University's head football coach from 1959 until his death in 1985. In his 26 years as coach of the Division II program, Santa Clara was 141-100-3 and had only five losing seasons. Malley also served as the school's athletic director for 20 years, was Northern California Coach of the Year in 1963, '65, '67 and '80 and NCAA District 9 Coach of the Year in 1979. Twenty-four of Malley's players went on to sign professional contracts, 20 were Little All-Americans and eight were Academic All-Americans. -0-

1999 San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Honorees

High School Athletes of the Year

Derek Martinez (Bellarmine College Preparatory, '99). Martinez was a three-sport athlete, excelling in football, basketball and track & field. On the gridiron, Martinez played both offensive tackle and defensive end. On the court, Martinez earned All-Mercury News second team honors as center on the CCS title team. At the state track & field championships, Martinez placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 59' 1/2". Martinez is now a member of the Northwestern University football team.

Marcia Wallis (Los Gatos High School, '99). Wallis was a two-sport athlete, excelling in both soccer and golf. On the soccer field, Wallis scored 25 goals for Los Gatos to set a single-season scoring record in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. This summer, she led the under-18 national team to a gold medal in the Pan-American Games. On the golf course, Wallis won three consecutive CCS titles. Graduating with a 4.3 GPA, Wallis will play both soccer and golf at Stanford University.

Amateur Athletes of the Year

Alex Swetka, who will turn 82 years old in October, was named the Senior Player of the Year by Inside Tennis Magazine in 1999. He won his third straight ITF World Championship singles title in March 1999. In 1998, Swetka won several titles, including the National Hard Courts singles and doubles, National Indoors singles and doubles, and the National Clay Court singles.

Jenny Thompson, a Stanford graduate and five-time Olympic gold medalist, just broke an 18-year-old world record in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships with a time of 57.88. In addition to her five Olympic gold medals, Thompson has won five World Championship gold medals. She is the winningest active swimmer in the United States.

Special Olympian of the Year

Vania Rios, a 23-year-old powerlifter from San Jose, won four gold medals at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Raleigh, N.C. She won the bench press with a 95-pound lift and the dead lift with a 200-pound lift. She also won the squats and triple lift.