Members of the Almaden Valley Rotary Club approached the San Jose Police Activities League with the idea that the two organizations combined their efforts to present a high school all-star football game.

The idea seemed like a good one, and on Aug. 8, 1974, the finest high school football players from the '74 graduating class got together for the first game of its kind, played that summer at San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium.

Almost three decades later, the game is still gong strong.

And the 29th annual event, now called the Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game and Silicon Valley Youth Classic, will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on July 23 at San José City College.

The game that has featured such National Football League stars as Jeff Garcia of the San Francisco 49ers, Doug Cosbie of the Dallas Cowboys, Jeff Toews of the Miami Dolphins, John Tuggle and Erik Howard of the New York Giants, Pat Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals and more.

Local stars set to play for the North team in this year's edition of the all-star classic include Austin Baumgarten and Ivan Biondic of Prospect, Chris Bencomo of Lynbrook, Bryen Blankenship and Robert Jennings of Westmont and Greg Van Hoesen of Saratoga.

Former local stars who participated 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; 1998—Jason Chiang, Tony Klabo; 1999—Vik Rajagopal; 2000—Matt Fratus, B.K. Robertson; 2001—Gordon Hawley, Shawn Dormishian, Brodie Maag; 2002—Sean Imai.

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 Goñi, Brennan Carroll; 1998—Tyler Hooper, Jeremy Devich, Michael Black, Matt McKenna, Cory Schwaderer; 1999—Ryan Bernard, R. Daniel Goñi, Lou Petrossi; 2000—Kelly Mathew, Andrew Bosworth; 2001—Jon Moshier, John Hart; 2002—Troy Follmar, Scott Moran, Devin Schrock, A.J. Weitsman.

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; 2001—Billy Stouffer, Dave Horner; 2002—Chad Helmonds.

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; 2000—Andrew Heling; 2001—Saladin Washington, Carl Simien; 2002—Tony Barba, Ryan Schaefers.