Six members of the local athletic community were inducted into the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame on Monday night in a ceremony at La Cumbre Country Club.
The ceremony honored four athletes and two coaches; etching each of their names into Santa Barbara sports lore forever. This year marks the 50th Hall of Fame induction in Round Table history.
Jon Lee is a decorated volleyball coach that retired from San Marcos High in 2009 after 23 years of coaching and teaching. Lee mentored thousands of students, including multiple big names such as Todd Rogers, Dax Holdren, and Brook Billings, each of whom became olympians.
Lee joked that athletes such as Rogers and Holdren “were really nothing until they came into my gym and I turned them into champions.” On a more serious note, Lee claimed, “It’s amazing how much of a better coach I became when I had players like that.”
Lee thanked his fellow coaches at San Marcos, describing it as a “fabulous experience to be in a coaching community that rich.”
52 of Lee’s former players went on to become coaches at various levels of play.
Larry Mousouris, longtime coach at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club, was this year’s Special Achievement Inductee.
Mousouris’ wealth of students contains many standouts, most recently marked by 2016 U.S. Open Junior title winner Kayla Day. Mousouris himself was a tennis standout and Channel League champion at San Marcos High in the 1960s. He also led Cal Poly to its first conference title in 25 years as team captain and MVP.
Mousouris became a teaching pro and tennis director at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club in 1972, and coached for at SBCC in 1988-1989 in what he described as “as rewarding as anything in my career.”
Lisa Willett Fry was inducted as an Outstanding Athlete for her prowess on the court as a Santa Barbara High and UCSB basketball player. Willett Fry was named County MVP twice while at Santa Barbara High and in college, took the Gauchos to the NCAA Tournament three straight years.
“I’m so grateful to have played with so many countless athletes,” Willett Fry stated. “I was fortunate to be playing at a time with such incredible athletes.”
Willett Fry also demonstrated excellence in the classroom, being named to the Big West All-Academic team three times. She is now a first grade teacher at Palmer School in Walnut Creek.
Gerardo Jimenez was inducted as an Outstanding Athlete for his success on the pitch. Jimenez guided the Dos Pueblos boys soccer team to three consecutive Channel League titles and in 1983 a CIF Southern Section title. After three years at Westmont, Jimenez transferred to San Diego State, where he helped the Aztecs upset UCLA in the national semifinals in 1987.
Jimenez’s speech chronicled his time growing up in downtown Goleta in a crowded apartment complex and playing soccer at the Goleta Boys Club.
“This is an individual award,” explained Jimenez, “but we were part of a team, and without them, I wouldn’t be here. It’s our award, not mine.”
Mark Warkentin was this year’s only Outstanding Athlete to have participated in the Olympics. Warkentin was a four time CIF Southern Section champion at San Marcos High and four time All-American at USC for swimming. He never lost an individual meet at San Marcos and holds school records in five events.
In the late 1990s, Warkentin turned his focus to open-water swimming, where he eventually qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“When somebody makes the Hall of Fame, we talk about the talent of the athlete,” reasoned Warkentin. “I’d like to say I’m the least talented swimmer in Olympic history.”
Warkentin joked that with Michael Phelps’ dominance of the sport, his only chance at competing was to participate in a different sport: “If you can’t beat them, do something they wouldn’t do.”
He finished eighth in the first open-water competition in Olympic history.
The final Outstanding Athlete inducted was Donald Young, a baseball phenom from Dos Pueblos High.
Young was a three year starter for the Chargers under head coach Scott O’Leary, and earned All-CIF honors after helping the team win a Channel League championship in 1975.
Young reflected on the teachings of his beloved coach O’Leary saying, “He taught me how to prepare, be a teammate, and how to compete.” Young claimed that his athletic journey was grounded in those three lessons.
Young was drafted in the first round of the 1975 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves, but never played in the majors after taking a pitch to the face in 1977.
Young took his competitive spirit to Harvard, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1982 and a MBA from the Business School in 1984.
In addition to the Hall of Fame inductions, the Athletic Round Table presented the Russ Hargreaves Memorial Award, which honors a person or group recognized by the Parks and Recreation Department as a leader in maintaining quality sports programs. The award was given to the East Beach Volleyball Academy, which provides opportunities for hundreds of youth to improve their beach volleyball skills.
The R.F. MacFarland Memorial Trophy, which honors someone that exemplifies community and leadership in the area of sports and athletics, was given to Robin Paulsen, who has spent four devoted decades in local Track and Field competition. Paulsen served as a coach, meet director, motivational speaker, and president of the Club West track club.
The Master Athlete Award, which is presented to an outstanding athlete over the age of 40, was presented to Mike Power, who competed in the 2016 U.S. Master Nationals despite having broken his back and crushing three vertebrae in January 2016. Still not 100 percent, Power finished third in the 50M backstroke just seven months after his accident.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
