BY DICK SPARRER
Stanford and Cal, Oregon and Washington, USC and UCLA.
What is it that those prestigious universities all have in common?
Sure, they're all members of the Pac-10. But they've also all plucked talented football players from the annual Santa Clara County summer classic, the Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game.
And those schools and many others will be watching the talent closely again this summer when top high school seniors take the field at San Jose City College on July 26 for the "Best Game in Town," sponsored by the Almaden Rotary Club.
The Pac-10 has certainly been well-represented in past summer all-star games.
Joe Farwell of Los Gatos played in the summer game and went on to star as a linebacker for the University of Oregon. And Eric Volta of Santa Clara, one of the coaches for the North this summer, played in the game and went on to star at Stanford.
And the list goes on: Steve Aimonetti of Campbell at Stanford; Rich Campbell of Santa Teresa, Pat Graham of Leland, Paul Jones of Mitty, John Tuggle of Independence and Dennis Engle of Santa Clara at Cal; Tim Ryan of Oak Grove, Otis Page of Saratoga and George Achica of Hill at USC; Pete Pele of Mitty UCLA; and Jacque Robinson of San Jose, Tim Peoples of Silver Creek, Jeff Toews of Del Mar, Kyle Heinrich of Saratoga, Steve Bauer of Los Gatos, Kyle Stevens of Yerba Buena, and Mark Stewart of Camden at the University of Washington.
But the success of the all-stars isn't limited to the Pac-10. Howard Meyer of Branham and Mike Shiner of Fremont went on to play for Notre Dame, and both Rick and Larry Worman of Saratoga University played for the University of Nevada-Reno. Kurt Heinrich of Saratoga played for the University of the Pacific.
Toews, Campbell, Tuggle, and Ryan are among the many all-stars who went on to play professional football. Toews played for the Miami Dolphins, Campbell for the Green Bay Packers, Tuggle for the New York Giants and Ryan for the Chicago Bears.
Doug Cosbie of the Dallas Cowboys, Erik Howard of the New York Giants, Carl Monroe of the San Francisco 49ers, and Don Schwartz of the St. Louis Cardinals and New Orleans Saints are other pros who played in the high school all-star game.
Greg Woodard and Millard Hampton of Silver Creek were stars in the summer game and went on to greatness. Hampton won an Olympic gold medal, and Woodard went on to play in the Canadian Football League.
Could there be more future collegiate and professional stars to come out of this year's summer classic? Local stars from Homestead and Fremont certainly hope so.
Jeremy Braun, Bret Erickson and Leo Fisher of Homestead, and Tommy Jimenez of Fremont will be among the talented high school seniors taking part in the annual summer classic.
Mike Machado took the Saratoga Falcons to the Central Coast Section finals in his first year as the head coach, and he'll lead the North team into action this summer in the All-Star Classic.
Members of his North team include: Saratoga-- Mike Wayne, Joel Reikes, Johnny Taylor, Mike Whitcanack, Joe Yuan; Santa Clara-- Kris Spraker, Todd Penner, Brian Giovacchini; Gunn-- Peter Su, Josh Waldorph; Lynbrook-- Dan Sullivan; Mitty-- Miguel Valdillez, Tony Medaglia, T.J. Ramano, Chris Brilla, Jeff Young; St. Francis-- David Watts; Los Gatos-- Scott Grover, Neno Manuel, John Giordano; Leigh-- Pat Guthrie, Tim Garner, Scott Whiteford; Milpitas-- Damon Hamm, Bogdan Buta; Fremont-- Tommy Jimenez; Monta Vista-- Matt Jones; Mountain View-- Ryan McCracken, Laurent Moulin; Palo Alto-- Aaron Nelson, Eli Frankel; Prospect-- Honeya Ordoubadi; Wilcox-- Jason Belligan, Ahmad Bhatti, Lupe Fuentes; Homestead-- Jeremy Braun, Bret Erickson, Leo Fisher; Los Altos-- Ted Cabaniss; and Cupertino-- Dan Donahue.
Rounding out Machado's coaching staff will be Eric Voltz, Mickey Oberding, John Hendy, Ray Burney, Jason Snodgrass and James Samuels.
Playing for the South 'Stars are:
Oak Grove-- Chuks Amajor; Gilroy-- Alex Tinsley, Tony Tognetti, Jeff Batrez; Willow Glen-- Bryan Navarrette; Pioneer-- Tim Snow; Live Oak-- James Beck, Jeff Hewitt; Lincoln-- Pat Botello; Del Mar-- Damien Brown; Mt. Pleasant-- Jeff Bruce, Myron Washington; Leland-- Jim Chapman, Kevin Pedro; Valley Christian-- Matt Chmelka; Andrew Hill-- Titus Dawson, James Wright; Santa Teresa-- Vito Desimone, Jason Pointer; Bellarmine-- Blake Elliot, Jason Kong, Garrett Shea; Silver Creek-- Larry Evans, Sean MacNiven, Kenny Sanchez, Jason Sinatra, Chris Wissmath, Miguel Gonzalez; Overfelt-- Henry Foumai, Blas Tenorio, Junior Toa; James Lick-- Julio Jana, Kevin McBroom; San Jose-- Oscar Johnson; Yerba Buena-- Sherman Jones; Piedmont Hills-- Tim Leal, Josh Young; Independence-- Ualifi Lealao; and Gunderson-- Warren Sulse.
Making up the South coaching staff will be Eric Luescher, Mike Cox, Chris Luescher, Dewayne Parrish, Lloyd Wegg, Glen Webb, Vince Sunseri, Arselan Niamond and Herman Miller.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 5, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.