In a ceremony filled with emotional moments, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame welcomed its newest quartet of inductees on Wednesday night at SAP Center. If this year’s honorees — NFL tight end Doug Cosbie, Archbishop Mitty basketball coach Sue Phillips, San Jose State baseball coach Sam Piraro and judo world champion and coach Mike Swain — shared a common theme, it was family.
Some reflected on the patient and supportive family members they had at home that allowed them to pursue their dreams. Others talked about the families they made on their teams. For some it was both.
“This event is special because it gives you a chance to thank all the people who put you up here,” said Piraro, who took San Jose State to the College World Series in 2000. One of those people was his brother, Stuart Piraro, who provided a bone marrow donation in 2003 when the coach was battling cancer in 2003.
More than 650 people attended the 27th annual event, including San Jose State’s legendary judo coach Yosh Uchida, who is 102 years old and a 1996 inductee. There also were three costumed mascots entertaining the crowd: Bucky the Bronco from Santa Clara University, the San Francisco 49ers’ Sourdough Sam and S.J. Sharkie. Other honorees included high school athletes of the year Allie Montoya of Mountain View High School and Ethan Harrington of Palo Alto High School and amateur athletes of the year Natasha Andrea Oon of San Jose State and Jalen Williams of Santa Clara University.
The show-stealing moment of the night, though, belonged to Special Olympian of the Year Kim Hing, who channeled her inner MC and delivered a spoken-word tribute to the Special Olympics of Northern California, its athletes, coaches and staff. She got a well-deserved standing ovation after leading the crowd in the Special Olympics athlete’s oath: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt.”
GOOD SPORTS: “49ers Cal-Hi Sports” host Robert Braunstein was master of ceremonies at Wednesday night’s San Jose Sports Hall of Fame event, but he’ll be one of the honorees Nov. 13 at the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California’s induction dinner. He’ll have a heck of a cheering section, too: Braunstein’s mother, Paula, is coming to the San Francisco Four Seasons for the ceremony — which is on her 91st birthday.
The other honorees include sports columnist Lowell Cohn, San Francisco Giants President Larry Baer, broadcaster Ted Robinson, former college baseball player Will Chapman and Champ Pederson, the inspirational brother of Giants player and Palo Alto High grad Joc Pederson.
FAREWELL MEETING: When the Cambrian School District board of trustees meet on Thursday, Nov. 17, it won’t be just another meeting. It’ll be the last district board meeting for Randy Schofield, capping a tenure on the board that has lasted for 28 of the past 30 years.
Schofield’s five kids went through schools in the west San Jose district, which underwent tremendous change while he was on the board. He was first elected in 1992 and served until 2008; two years later, he was elected again and has held his seat ever since — a period that saw six district superintendents and a 36 percent growth in student enrollment.
A network security consultant for Cisco Systems, Schofield says he’s always seen the district’s students as his constituents and, after his retirement from the board, he plans to spend time with his grandchildren, traveling and playing golf.
PRIDE OF MILPITAS: Jennifer Cullenbine, founder and CEO of Family Giving Tree, was honored with the Citizen of the Year award from the city of Milpitas in October. The award is presented annually to residents who give back to the community through volunteerism and philanthropy — two areas where Cullenbine has earned the title “Queen Elf.”
In 1990, Cullenbine and San Jose State classmate Todd Yoshida were tasked for their MBA project to create something that would be of value to others. The result was Family Giving Tree, a nonprofit that granted low-income kids holiday wishes. The 2,010 holiday wishes granted that first year seemed huge, but in its 32 years, the nonprofit has served more than 2 million people in the Bay Area.
“It was beautiful to present FGT to a group of people that I greatly admire and those in the community who are unaware of what we do,” Cullenbine said. “Being chosen for an award given once a year was humbling and overwhelming. It’s an incredible honor to join the ranks of talented people that have gone before me as recipients of this level of recognition.”
GO SPARTANS: Congratulations to San Jose State Professor Richard Craig, who was the recipient of the College Media Association’s national Distinguished Adviser Award for his work with the Spartan Daily. Craig — who has taught at SJSU’s journalism school since 2000 and became adviser to the Spartan Daily two years later — received the award Oct. 28 at the group’s convention in Washington, D.C.
The award adds to a good run for the campus news outlet, which won the College Media Association’s Pinnacle Award for best four-year campus newspaper in 2021 and was named Best College Newspaper in California in 2019 and 2021 by the California News Publishers Association.
Source: www.mercurynews.com