'Stars ready for some football
Dons, Warriors in all-star game
By Dick Sparrer
Richard M. Nixon was just days away from resigning as the 37th President of the United States, and Jack Nicholson's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was setting box office records across the country.
The Boston Celtics had just won another NBA crown, and the Oakland A's were on the verge of winning their third straight World Series.
It was the summer of 1974, and Doug Cosbie and Don Schwartz were two of the 60 or so players about to play in a brand new football game ... something called the Santa Clara County All Star Bowl.
Cosbie and Schwartz would both go on to star in the National Football League, Cosbie for the Dallas Cowboys and Schwartz for the St. Louis Cardinals and New Orleans Saints.
And that football game they both played in would go on to become a summer tradition in the Santa Clara Valley.
This summer that All Star Bowl, now known as the Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game, returns for its 25th year and has grown from its humble beginnings into a summer classic.
And it all started because members of the Almaden Valley Rotary Club had an idea.
"Three Rotarians came to the police department and met with me at the PAL office," said game chairman Jim Guido, now a Rotarian himself but at that time the head of the San Jose Police Activities League. "They said, 'We have an idea for an all-star football game.'"
So Guido and his PAL staff went to work with the Rotarians to make the idea a reality.
"We had a marriage of sorts," said Guido of the relationship between the Rotary and the PAL. "They came up with the idea which was a good one, and we had the expertise to put the game together."
The first game was played in the summer of 1974 and, with the exception of 1976, the game has been played every summer since.
"The Best Game in Town" has featured over a dozen players (Cosbie, Schwartz, Jeff Toews, Rich Campbell, Carl Monroe, Greg Woodard, John Tuggle, Ben Bennett, John Faylor, Erik Howard, Randy Kirk, Tim Ryan and Pat Tillman) who have gone on to the NFL, and a couple more (Ken Caminiti and Bill Haselman) who have gone on to play major league baseball.
Countless players have gone on to succeed at the college level with a number of them playing in major bowl games, and many players have gone on to become successful football coaches.
One, Millard Hampton, even went on to strike Olympic gold.
"The great thing about this game is that there are no politics involved," said Guido. "This game is for the kids."
Local "kids" who will play in the summer classic include Darius Crowther and Jonathan Fought of Del Mar and Ryan Brando and T.J. Aimonetti of Westmont.
The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday, July 23, at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium.
Tickets are priced at $10 each, and proceeds go to the Rotary charity and scholarship programs.
Former local stars participate in the summer classic include:
Blackford
1976--Sean O'Carroll; 1978--Guy Gandengerge; 1981--Greg Hershberger, Vinnie Daniel; 1982--Ed Conley, John Aimonetti; 1983--Greg Campodonico, Joe Lynam, Don Teague; 1984--Mike Guerrero; 1985--Scott Fitzgerald; 1986--Todd Kaanapu; 1987--Floyd Foreman; 1990--Ryshiem Henderson, Roelof Ytsma, Bert Gomez; 1991--Jeff Frederick.
Campbell
1977--Dave Burns, Kevin Smith; 1978--Daniel Raines, Glen Gray; 1979--Steve Aimonetti; 1980--John Simpson, Dave Proffitt.
Del Mar
1974--Ken Bondelie; 1975--Jeff Toews, Vernon Moore; 1977--Pete Angelidakis; 1978--Dave Garcia, Larry Oreglia; 1979--Chris Duncan; 1980--Bruch Prothro; 1981--Greg Sosebee, Tim Sutro; 1982--Kevin Collins; 1983--Paul Portesi; 1984--Greg Comick, Troy Sheets; 1986--Ken Sears; 1987--Steve Anderson, Ken Wingerden; 1988--Toby Wilson, Sean Gann; 1989--Jason Moeckel, Richard Wingerden, Ron Dorsey; 1990--Jim LaFrance; 1991--Mike Ichiyama, Sean Griffin; 1992--Darnell Hasson, Eric Ryan, Tom Sotelo; 1993--Ray Garcia, Mark Villarreal, Chip Daly; 1994--Scott Freeman; 1995--David Chavez, Eric Buran, Matt Wright; 1996--Damien Brown, Shai Goldman; 1997--La'Ray Williams, Coby Gillespie, Chris Underwood, Keith Hattix; 1998--Robert Harp.
Prospect
1979--Phil Rebboah, Randy Chase; 1980--Dave Maloney, Greg Kent; 1983--Mike Bosco; 1984--Greg Bernarding; 1985--Kirk Niemeyer, Steve Walker; 1986--Mike McRoberts, Dean Crew, Steve Bosco, Kerrall Robinson, Donny Togisala; 1987--Dean Witkin; 1988--Ken Begnal; 1989--Jason Snodgrass, Eric Stafford; 1991--Steve Augenstein; 1992--Derrick Barnes; 1993--Brandon Peterson; 1994--Erwin Reyes, Jermaine Walker; 1995--Rich Curtis; 1996--Craig Nomura, Honeya Ordoubadi; 1997--Brandon Morgan; 1998--Matt Heling, Brad King.
Westmont
1976--Eric Stark, Rocky Pena; 1979--Gregory Gorman, Steve Moore; 1980--Tod Devlin, Paul Hamill; 1981--Steve Cisowski; 1982--Brett Dawson, Russ Cooper, Scott Athearn; 1983--Ken Roberts, Gregg Skarmas; 1984--Matt Allison; 1985--Wesley Denton; 1986--Kelly Bailey, Pat Connell; 1989--Troy McFadden, Mike Zimmerman, David Jamison; 1990--Eric Liljenstople; 1991--David Seo; 1992--Ronnie Rogers; 1993--Beau Fernald; 1994--Eric Glader; 1997--Mat Meade; 1998--Dan Butler.
Campbell, California
