'Stars join impressive fraternity
Five Wildcats to play in summer high school football classic
By Dick Sparrer
Doug Cosbie, Jeff Toews and Erik Howard have all played in the Super Bowl.
Carl Monroe, Randy Kirk and Jeff Garcia have all played for the San Francisco 49ers.
And Jeff Toews, Rich Campbell and Tim Ryan have all played in the National Football League.
But the members of this elite group share more than just an NFL connection. They were all players in the summer high school classic, now known as the Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game.
The game, billed as the "Best Game in Town" by its sponsor, the Almaden Valley Rotary Club, will return for its 26th year when a new group of all-stars take the field on July 26, 7:30 p.m., at San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium.
The classic began 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 (among them, Cosbie of St. Francis, Don Schwartz of Mitty, Toews of Del Mar, Campbell of Santa Teresa, Monroe of Overfelt, Greg Woodard of Silver Creek, John Tuggle of Independence, Ben Bennett of Peterson, John Faylor of Mitty, Garcia of Gilroy, Howard of Bellarmine, Kirk of Bellarmine, Ryan of Oak Grove and Tillman of Leland) who have gone on to the NFL, and a couple more (Ken Caminiti of Leigh and Bill Haselman of Saratoga) 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 player, Millard Hampton of Silver Creek, even went on to strike Olympic gold.
Local players set to join the impressive list of high school all-stars in the summer classic include area stars Jared Allen, Mike Belsheim, Nick Cisowski, Justin Narragon and Ben Winkelman of Los Gatos, and Brendan Floyd of Leigh.
Only time will tell if any of the players in the 2000 line-up will go on to further success at either the collegiate or professional level, but they will most certainly join a prestigious fraternity of football all-stars who have made the game a local success for almost three decades.
Former local stars who have participated in the summer classic and are part of that fraternity include:
Los Gatos
1975--Steve Hosmer, Pat Geary; 1976--John Breidenthal; 1978--Kirk Fraley; 1979--Jeff Petulla; 1980--Kent Cooper; 1981--Tom Havens; 1982--Dave Bearden, Al Schwimmer, A.J. Matthews; 1983--Joshua Hatch, Orrin Childs; 1984--Dan Leonis, Stu Bailey; 1985--Brock Bowman, Todd Mayo, David Palaniuk, Pat Smith, Jeff Blaisdell; 1986--Jeff Borgese, Steve Priest, John Cundy, Leigh Haring; 1987--Marc Bresniker, Gary Norquist, Spencer Boyer; 1988--Mark Magee, Joe Farwell, Barry Teigen; 1989--Steve Lombardi, Matt Lemiere, Jim Copeland; 1990--Bill Berk, Jason Hallady, Max Fancher, Dave Hoffner, Burt Prentice; 1991--Trevor Wilson, Robert MacGregor, Sam Partovi, Ian Stone; 1992--Darren Fisk, Joe O'Hehir, Travis Rodgers; 1993--Brad Sanfilippo, Joe Musser, Cory Maday, Mark Cox, Ryan Marcos; 1994--Jim Lombardi, Dion Mejia, Chad Nelson; 1995--Jeremy Barth, Gus Farwell, Derek Krug, Gavin Hayes, Paul Willmes; 1996--John Giordano, Scott Grover, Manuel Neno; 1997--Josh Rogers, Doug Miller, Carlos Lanuza, Jeremy Malander; 1998--John Stengele, Alan Rosa, Austin Glover, Charlie Cucco, Enzo Iacomini, Mike Manson, Fred Luminozo; 1999--Ryan Sorahan, Chris Cavanagh, Austin Neale.
Leigh
1974--Rick Foley, Jeff Beeson, Steve Leonard, Tom Clark; 1976--Steve McGarry; 1978--Bob Leal, Brian Usry; 1979--Mark Mena; 1980--Joseph Valenti; 1981--Ken Caminiti, Nicholas Neri; 1982--David Pruitt; 1984--Dino Sontag; 1986--Derek Rosas; 1987--Keith Usry; 1988--Dan Hall, Don Vigeant, Carl Cardarelli; 1989--David Mackey; 1990--Dave Dyer; 1991--Frank Mazzola; 1992--James Mazzone, Joe Cattolico, John Cerda; 1993--Clint Semon, Tom Stone; 1994--Brian Fong, Ronell Duffie; 1995--Chris Guthrie, Kevin Millering, Bryon Bratcher; 1996--Tim Garner, Patrick Guthrie, Scott Whiteford; 1997--Dan Ljepava; 1998--Kyle Padia, Kiijuan Fuselier, Sean Nagy; 1999--Ben Trap, Iszik Clarke, Jeremy Fowler, Adam Labare.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
