Fifteenth AnnualMarin County High School

Athletic Hall of FameInduction Banquet

Saturday, November 2, 2002Embassy Suites Hotel

San Rafael

Marin Athletic Foundation

Board of Directors Advisory Board Glen E. Robinson, President Peter Arrigoni Sharon Adams Mary Jane Burke Joe Ayoob Joan Capurro Sandy Boyd Eugene Clahan Jeff Brusati Kit M. Cole Carney J. Campion Dan Coleman Judith Colton William Daniels Mike Convis Mario Ghilotti William L. Cope John Govi Michael Daly Carolyn Horan Gary Frugoli William Isetta John S. Graham Jim King Ned Griffith Walter Kosta John Heilmann Kenneth MacDonald Marion Higgins Matt MacPhee Thomas Knopf Terrel Mason Rick Lafranchi Marie McCarthy Vicki McDill Peter Mitchell Richard Nave Robert Teasdale Robert E. Spain Sharon Valentino Jamie Williams

Executive Director: Peggie Daly

Hall of FameBanquet Committee

Bill Brody Vicki McDill Jeff Brusati Hank Moroski Don Collins Rich Nave Dewey Forry Phil Roark Mario Ghilotti Glen E. Robinson Susie Woodall

The purpose of the Marin Athletic Foundation is to support and insure a full rangeof quality sports programs for all students at MCAL high schools. MAF fundingsupports athletics at Branson, Drake, Marin Catholic, Novato, Redwood, SanMarin, San Rafael, Tamalpais, Terra Linda and Tomales. Individual, business andorganization donations are vital in MAF’s fundraising efforts. Tax-decuctible con-tributions may be sent to:

Marin Athletic Foundation250 Locust AvenueSan Rafael, CA 94901

(415) 454-2247.

Program6:00 p.m.

Reception

7:00 p.m.Grand Entrance of Inductees

7:30 p.m.Dinner

Welcome and IntroductionsGlen E. Robinson

President, MAF Board of Directors

Introduction of InducteesDon Collins, Master of Ceremonies

Presentation of Plaques

The Marin High School Athletic Hall of Fame, established by the Marin Athletic Foundation,recognizes and honors athletes who distinguished themselves in Marin County high schoolsports. It also gives recognition to coaches and others who made significant contributions tohigh school athletics in Marin County. The annual induction banquet is held in the fall.

2002 InducteesAthlete

Buddy Biancalana-Redwood - 1978Ken Cooney - Novato - 1978Sue Corder - Novato - 1981Gigi Geoffrion - Drake - 1982Lori Saia-Odisio - Drake - 1978Charles Scott - Terra Linda - 1982

Senior AthleteJack Parsons - Tamalpais - 1943

CoachesJames Naugle - San MarinMarlin Olsen - Novato

Special RecognitionRich Woodall

AcknowledgmentsMarin Athletic Foundation gratefully acknowledges:

Major Sponsor

SupportersMrs. Arnold Nutting, in memeory of Arnold Nutting

Special thanks to

The Marin Athletic Foundation also extends special thanks to Geoff Lepper of the Marin Independent Journal for the program preparation and to the Marin County Office of Education and

Burns Florist for their assistance and support.

PhotographerRalph Duncan is the official photographer of the Marin Athletic Foundation.

Each of the inductees or a representative will receive,courtesy of MAF, a photograph from the ceremonies.

Buddy BiancalanaAthlete — Redwood 1978

Buddy Biancalana garnered national attention as the Kansas CityRoyals’ clutch-hitting shortstop in the 1985 World Series. Few ofthose fans knew that baseball might not even have been his bestsport. “My brother-in-law told me he thought I was a better basketball player than baseball,” said Biancalana, 42. “I loved basketball. My father really loved watching me play.” A bad backhelped convince Biancalana to give up both basketball and footballafter a couple of years, but he still starred on the diamond. A four-year varsity baseball player and three-time All-MCAL winner,Biancalana was a junior with the 1977 Giants, who won the mythi-cal national championship. He was All-California his last twoyears, earning All-American honors as a senior. After being selected by the Royals in the first round — a fact he attributes tohis coach, fellow Hall of Famer Al Endriss — Biancalana debutedin the majors in 1982 and spent six seasons with the Royals andHouston Astros. He has managed the Class A Charleston River-dogs, a Tampa Bay Devil Rays affiliate, since 2001. He lives in St.Petersburg, Fla. with Kerri, his wife of three years, and 15-year-old son Bryn.

Ken CooneyAthlete — Novato 1978

Ken Cooney was a 6-foot-4 forward with size 15 feet and hands deftenough to score 19.1 points per game and lead the league in re-bounding as a senior. But he might best be remembered for hismouth. “I was especially aggressive, verbally, with the officials,”Cooney said. “I can’t say I ever gave it up, but I got more diplomatic.” Cooney, who also participated in football, baseball andtennis, was tactful enough to earn first-team All-MCAL basketballhonors as a junior, and topped that with All-MCAL, All-Bay Areaand All-Northern California awards the following season. The Hor-nets were MCAL champions both years. Cooney played two years ofbasketball at the University of San Diego, then finished up with twoyears at Sonoma State. With the Cossacks, Cooney led the team inscoring, rebounding, assists, steals and shooting percentage, eventu-ally earning induction into the Sonoma State Hall of Fame in 1998.Cooney, who lives in Milwaukie, Ore., is a claims supervisor forGeico Insurance. He married wife Lisa in 1997 and has three chil-dren: daughters Kirstin (17) and Elli (3) and son Dylan (11). The fam-ily plans to adopt another daughter, Tatyana (8), next month.

Sue CorderAthlete — Novato 1981

Sue Corder’s fate was sealed long before she ever picked up herfirst ball or bat. “When you grow up with four brothers who wereall jocks,” said Corder, who was the only girl and the baby of thefamily, “... there were no options. It was sports or that was it.”Corder first came to prominence as a 12-year-old, when she be-came the first girl to play in the Novato Little League. She wouldeventually earn three All-MCAL mentions in both volleyball andsoftball at Novato, but shone most brightly in basketball, whereshe started for the Hornets varsity while attending ninth-gradeclasses at San Jose Junior High. She averaged 11.5 points per gamethat season, a mere hint of the deluge to come. By the timeCorder’s four varsity seasons were finished, she would total 1,008points in MCAL games, which made her the first player to reachfour figures in that category, and 1,549 points overall. Corderplayed four years of basketball at USF, leaving as the school’s sec-ond-highest all-time female scorer. The 39-year-old, who lives inRohnert Park, works as a sales representative for General Mills.

Gigi GeoffrionAthlete — Drake 1982

Starring in multiple sports is standard for Hall of Famers, but GigiGeoffrion took that notion to an entirely new plane, receiving All-MCAL distinction in five disciplines: Basketball, cross country, soc-cer, softball and track. Of course, that wasn’t the only outrageousstatistic to which Geoffrion can lay claim. There’s also five unde-feated MCAL championship teams (two in varsity basketball, twoin varsity cross country, one in frosh/soph basketball), six teamMVP awards, and four consecutive years named top athlete in herclass. The most unlikely of her All-MCAL awards might have beenin soccer, which she hadn’t played for four years before taking itup again as a senior. “My mom kept every single article,” Geof-frion said. “I didn’t even remember I made All-MCAL in soccerand softball until I pulled out this box of old IJs.” Though Geof-frion succeeded in all sports, she was best known for her exploitson the basketball court, where she was the leading scorer and re-bounder on the 1982 squad that earned a Division II state champi-onship. Geoffrion, 38, played three seasons of basketball at CalPoly-San Luis Obispo. She currently lives in Livermore and is di-rector of quality assurance at Genealogy.com.

Lori Saia OdisioAthlete — Drake 1978

Lori Saia, as she was known in her Pirate days, had been unbeatableover 880 yards as a senior, winning the MCAL, NCS Redwood Em-pire and NCS Meet of Champions titles at that distance. But a blun-der in the State Meet qualifying heats left her shut out of the finaland disconsolate. But there was still a final to run with Drake’s milerelay team. Saia and her teammates took home third-place honors, beating their arch-rivals from Berkeley in the process. “Trackis a really individual sport, but that emphasized to me how impor-tant it was to be a team,” Saia said. “Those girls, they camethrough.” Saia — who had also won MCAL and Redwood Empire ti-tles the previous year — earned All-California and All-American ac-colades. In addition to her track exploits, Saia was an All-MCALperformer in cross country and basketball as a senior. She received atrack scholarship at Cal, graduated in 1983 and married AndrewOdisio a year later. The pair live in San Rafael with their three children: Erin (16), Theresa (14) and Connor (10). Saia is a real estate broker with the Marin firm Frank Howard Allen Realtors.

Charles ScottAthlete — Terra Linda 1982

How good was this three-sport threat? Good enough that the no-hitter Charles Scott threw against Redwood his senior year ranksno higher than third on his list of personal high-school highlights.The top two: Cementing a win over Redwood in the MCAL baseball playoffs as a junior with a diving catch before a standing-room-only crowd at Albert Park, and launching a home run at thesame venue in that year’s NCS playoffs that cleared not only thecenter-field fence but also the snack shack that serves the softballdiamond. “If I saw a kid do that now,” said Scott, who works asthe regional scouting supervisor for the Arizona Diamondbacksafter a nine-year minor-league career, “I’d pull out my wallet andgive it to him.” Scott was a unanimous first-team All-MCAL selection in baseball and basketball as a senior; he was honorablemention in football despite injuries limiting him to three games.He accepted a baseball scholarship at Arizona State, where heroomed with Barry Bonds. He lives in Novato with Marcy, his highschool sweetheart and wife of 13 years, and their three children: Tyler (9), Dominque (7), Mariah (2).

Jack ParsonsSenior athlete — Tamalpais 1943

Twice a year, Jack Parsons gets together with 30 or so other formerTam athletes from his era to have lunch and reminisce about thedays when they were Indians, riding electrified trains from hometo campus and back again. This year, there will be a third such get-together as some of those same folks gather to help Parsons cele-brate his induction. Parsons played four sports at Tam — football, basketball, baseball and tennis — starring in the firstthree, although he can’t say which he was best at. “I don’t know,”he explained, “you’ll have to ask my friends that. I liked them all.”Parsons captained the baseball and basketball teams and was All-North Bay League during his final baseball season. He receivedTam’s All-Star Award at his graduation in February 1943. Threemonths later, he was in the Navy, serving as an Armed Guard —manning a gun placement on an oil tanker — for three years. Afterhis discharge, he played two years of football at College of Marin.Now 78, Parsons has retired with his wife of 29 years, Rosemary.The Rohnert Park residents have a combined five children and 12grandchildren.

James NaugleCoach — San MarinIf James Naugle’s shoulder had been a little stronger, San Marin’swrestling program probably would have been much weaker. Recur-ring shoulder dislocations forced Naugle — a 1966 Novato Highproduct who wrestled two years at College of Marin and a year atSonoma State — into coaching before he had even graduated fromcollege. Naugle joined the San Marin wrestling program during its second year of existence, 1970, and oversaw its rapid as-cent. The Mustangs’ lengthy domination began soon after, and SanMarin would eventually compile a 70-match winning streak, plus 13straight MCAL championships. Naugle’s own wrestling careerstarted inauspiciously; he was 1-30 as a freshman at Novato. ButNaugle learned quickly, winning the 168-pound MCAL title as a sen-ior, and one of his favorite moments as Mustangs’ coach was whenhe helped a similarly unsuccessful wrestler pick up his only careerwin during San Marin’s first championship season. “Those are thethings you really remember,” said Naugle, who also coached foot-ball, swimming, gymnastics and girls volleyball. Retired from coach-ing since 1988, the 54-year-old Naugle and his wife of six years,Terri, run the Chevalle Ranch in Novato, where they raise, train andsell Tennessee walking horses.

Marlin OlsenCoach — NovatoEven at the age of 73, Marlin Olsen sees no need to stop doing whathe’s loved for more than four decades now. Asked if he’d ever con-sider retirement from mentoring younger kids, he replied, “No, Idon’t think so.” A surprise offer to coach the Hornets’ football teamin 1959 started a 23-year career at Novato, coaching not just foot-ball, but also basketball, baseball and golf. Olsen was surprised byhis selection to the Hall of Fame because a majority of his careerwas spent as an assistant and not the head coach. “Amazement,”he said of his reaction. “I never thought in my wildest dreams I’dever get this honor. Usually, it’s given to a head coach who’s wonastronomical numbers of championships and everything.” In addi-tion to Novato, Olsen has worked at Marin Catholic, San Rafaeland Casa Grande. Healso spent 18 years as an assistant to the College of Marin footballteam, a run that ended in 1998. And now, Olsen is back where hestarted — he’s been the offensive coordinator for Novato’s juniorvarsity the last two years. Olsen and his wife of 20 years, Beverly,live in Petaluma and share seven children and 11 grandchildren.

-- Compiled by Geoff Lepper, Marin Independent Journal

Rich WoodallSpecial recognitionWith his distinctive beard and ever-present shorts, Rich Woodallhas been a ubiquitous presence on the Marin sports scene for morethan three decades. The 1967 graduate of Marin Catholic was anAll-MCAL football player and also participated in track beforemoving on to College of Marin and Chico State. Since then, he’scoached, at various times, football, basketball, track and volleyball for 22 years at Novato and Marin Catholic, and another18 at COM. He has also been a tireless volunteer for the MCAL andNCS. “Championships are nice, winning seasons are nice, butwhen you see kids able to compete because a field’s set up orthere’s an administrator on site, that’s great,” Woodall said. Cur-rently, Woodall is teaching physical education at Marin Catholic,working as an assistant athletic director, serving as an NCS repre-sentative for football, baseball and softball, teaching first-aidclasses for coaches and helping the MCAL run all of its playoffcontests. Woodall will join his wife, Susie — a 2000 inductee — inthe Hall of Fame, although his fashion statements are a little differ-ent than hers. “If I had a suit with short pants,” Woodall jokedabout the induction banquet, “I’d wear short pants.”