2023 Wall of Fame inductees Kathy Koury, Roke Fukumura, Russell Hafferkamp and Abe Powell stand on the field at Santa Barbara High School. Jonathan Mayes is not pictured.
2023 Wall of Fame inductees Kathy Koury, Roke Fukumura, Russell Hafferkamp, and Abe Powell. Jonathan Mayes is not pictured. Credit: Courtesy photo

The Santa Barbara High School Alumni Association has announced its 2023 Wall of Fame inductees.

Each year a committee of alumni, students and staff chooses five Wall of Fame recipients who have made exemplary contributions in the categories of the arts; athletics; business; community contributions; education; politics; or science.

The honorees provide students and the community with a vision of the lasting legacies of Santa Barbara High School. The following outstanding Dons will take their place among the other Wall of Fame alumni pictured in the school’s main hall.

  • Roke Fukumura graduated from SBHS in 1941 and led the 1941 Dons to their first CIF Southern Section Baseball Championship. He grew up farming in Santa Barbara, played semi-professional baseball in Santa Barbara as a teenager, and played baseball on a team while in an internment camp during World War II. Fukumura worked in the grocery business in Santa Barbara, retiring this year, at age 101, from Tri County Produce. 
  • Kathy Koury graduated in 1968. While at SBHS, she played on the Girls’ Tennis Team, ranking No. 1 during her junior and senior years. She performed in all of the school’s musical theater productions. Koury was the executive director of the Santa Barbara Children’s Creative Project for 44 years, providing arts education for some 30,000 children. She is the founder and creator of iMadonarri, the annual street painting festival held at the Mission over Memorial Day weekend.
  • Russell Hafferkamp, who graduated in 1972, was a member of the second water polo team at SBHS. He went on to play in college and on the U.S. National Team. Hafferkamp played professionally in Australia and has been a member of many national championship teams. He is an inductee of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame, and has been on the NBC broadcast team for the past six Olympics. Hafferkamp is the author of several books, crediting his work on SBHS Forge with starting his interest in writing.
  • Jonathan Mayes, a 1974 graduate, was ASB president. He is CEO of Jonathan Mayes Consulting, and former senior vice president, chief diversity and inclusion afficer for Albertsons Companies, one of America’s largest grocery and pharmacy chains. He is a nationally known speaker on diversity, equity and inclusion topics, and has frequently spoken at conferences, universities, and corporations across the U.S. He led his company’s award-winning diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and is a certified diversity executive. 
  • Abe Powell graduated in 1987. While at SBHS he sang in Madrigals and played football. After dealing with a number of local fire disasters, Powell became a volunteer firefighter and was elected to the Montecito Fire Protection District. In January 2018, he and his wife created the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade to help dig out neighbors from the debris flow that followed the Thomas Fire. Powell’s energy and enthusiasm have turned the Bucket Brigade into a nonprofit with hundreds of volunteers who provide work, including building walking paths for safe routes to school, disaster preparedness, crisis response, and trail cleanups.