Saratoga News

Fisk and Tillman are Wedemeyer all-stars

By Dick Sparrer

Darren Fisk and Pat Tillman will likely spend this summer playing football.

Then, that's nothing new. The two have been doing just that for the last few years, throughout their collegiate football careers.

But the difference this summer is that their college careers have ended. And when they play football this summer, it will be in the camps of a couple of NFL teams.

Fisk was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons after starring as a fullback at the University of Colorado, and Tillman was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals after an outstanding career as an outside linebacker at Arizona State University.

So Fisk and Tillman will be playing their football in NFL camps this summer, but it wasn't that long ago that they were playing summer football in the Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star High School Football Game.

Fisk, a star at Los Gatos, played for the North all-stars in the 1992 summer classic, and Tillman, a standout player at Leland, starred for the South 'stars in 1994.

Now they've become two of the many local football players who have participated in the summer game and gone on to great careers in the college ranks, and even the NFL.

Fisk and Tillman hope to follow in the footsteps of the many county all-stars who have played in the NFL: Doug Cosbie of St. Francis (Dallas Cowboys), Don Schwartz of Mitty (St. Louis Cardinals), Jeff Toews of Del Mar (Miami Dolphins), Rich Campbell of Santa Teresa (Green Bay Packers), Carl Monroe of Overfelt (San Francisco 49ers), John Tuggle of Independence (New York Giants), George Achica of Andrew Hill (Chicago Bears), John Faylor of Mitty (49ers), Erik Howard of Bellarmine (NY Giants), Randy Kirk of Bellarmine (49ers), and Tim Ryan of Oak Grove (Chicago Bears).

And there will be many players this summer who would be content to follow in the footsteps of Fisk and Tillman, and have successful college careers after playing in the summer classic.

Local players Craig Malloy and Matt Heling of Prospect, Dan Butler of Westmont, Jason Chiang and Toby Klabo of Lynbrook, and Tyler Hooper, Matt McKenna, Michael Black, Cory Schwaderer and Jeremy Devlich of Saratoga will get their chance when they line up on the North side of the football in the 24th annual Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game July 22 at Spartan Stadium.

The 7 p.m. football game is sponsored each summer by the Almaden Valley Rotary Club, and proceeds go to the Rotary charity and scholarship programs.

Former local stars to participate in the summer classic 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.

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 Batiss, 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 Goni, Chris Kron, Chris Varnell; 1996--Gabe Calebotta, Joel Reikes, Johnny Taylor, Mike Wayne, Mike Whitcanack; 1997--David Goni, Brennan Carroll.

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.

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.

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