'Stars join impressive fraternity
High-school football with NFL connection
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 Andrew Bosworth of Saratoga; Matt Fratus and B.K. Robertson of Lynbrook; Andrew Heling of Prospect; and Ben Holmes of Westmont.
Only time will tell if any of the players in the 2000 lineup 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:
Lynbrook
1976--David Halliday; 1979--Bill Nicholas; 1981--Don Handley, Mike Nicholas; 1982--Doug Bloyd, Jim Cooke, Stephen Hopkins; 1983--Archie Rodich; 1984--Brian Hays, Steve Andris, Chris Saxen; 1985--Joe Urban; 1986--Dave Gillen; 1987--Chris Hart, Charlie Bostic, Dean Bambrick; 1988--Travis Lee Boeck; 1989--Daryl Rogers; 1991--Brian Martinez; 1992--Scott Schneider, Mike MacPherson; 1993--Ted Cocoles, Kevin Berns; 1994--Jeff Menold; 1995--Joel Rogers; 1996--Dan Sullivan; 1997--Steve Horner; 1998--Jason Chiang, Tony Klabo; 1999--Vik Rajagopal.
Saratoga
1975--Larry Worman, Kyle Heinrich, Mike McKenna; 1976--Mike Heinrich, Travis McNulty, Bob Walter, George Zimmerman; 1978--Steve Worman; 1979--Rob Orlando, Jeffrey Lane, Mike Meteer; 1980--Lindsey Meggs, Dave Lynch, Don Kern; 1981--Kevin Tanner, Kurt Heinrich, Rick Worman, Mike Stypula, Greg Stangland; 1982--Matt Currie, Marshall Howard, Pat Sende; 1983--Kyle Druey, Ted Macauley, Vince Casarez, Phil Daggett, Darin Franklin; 1984--Bob Gatiss, Bill Haselman, Steve Fisher, Mike Bates; 1985--Gary Gatiss, Mike Schroeder, Gary Wilberding; 1986--Kevin Grant, Keith Wilson, Greg Mount; 1987--Joe Fragiadakis, Marshall Lee, Ken Henderson; 1988--Steve Mollin, Dave Rossi, Sam Meteer, Tim Hall; 1989--Dan Edson, Dan Pacheco, Jim Wild; 1990--T.J. Summers, Matt Donati; 1991--Mark Coleman, Brian Gaspar, Jason Balogh; 1992--Marc Hall, Peter Feng; 1993--Bill Hagman, Chris Byrer; 1994--Matt Jones, David Silberstein, Carl Martin; 1995--Kyle Goñi, Chris Kron, Chris Varnell; 1996--Gabe Calebotta, Joel Reikes, Johnny Taylor, Mike Wayne, Mike Whitcanack; 1997--David Goni, Brennan Carroll; 1998--Tyler Hooper, Jeremy Devich, Michael Black, Matt McKenna, Cory Schwaderer; 1999--Ryan Bernard, R. Daniel Goñi, Lou Petrossi.
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.
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; 1999--Ryan Brando, T.J. Aimonetti.
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.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
