'Stars join impressive fraternity
Two Rams, three Mustangs to play in 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 Mike Collins and Jake Mossawir of Bellarmine; Ben D'Antonio and David Macchi of Willow Glen; and Brian Davis, Travis Murdock and Mike Wiens of Pioneer.
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:
Willow Glen
1976--Mitch Bigger, Carl Roth; 1982--Steve Malik, Doug Ito; 1983--Bill Chavarria, Bret Gedryn, Chris Thomas; 1984--John Foster, Jeff Knopf, Fred Houston; 1985--David Williams; 1986--Rigo Gutierrez, Terry Fine; 1987--Scott Benning, Javier Gutierrez; 1988--Andy Brinck; 1989--Dave Miller; 1992--Curtis Given; 1993--Josh Ledger, Scott Hernandez; 1994--Jose Martinez; 1995--Mike Burse, David Duran, Dean Vinson; 1996--Bryan Navarrette; 1997--Tim Hare; 1998--Shaun Thompson; 1999--John Fernandez, Cory Hare.
Pioneer
1974--Randy Becker, Jim Ogle, Randy Vorsters; 1975--Kevin Douglas, Harry Reed, Dan Burke; 1981--Brent Zappacosta, Craig Wince; 1983--Jon Stewart; 1984--Jim Grzelak, Dan Hustaca; 1985--Mike Nedved, Paul Hembrooke; 1986--Jim Orlowski; 1987--Troy Marseline; 1988--Rick Grant; 1989--Bryan Hilborn, Carlos Vasquez, Richard Dole; 1990--Eric Perry; 1991--Issac Kendrick; 1992--Brian Yoshikawa; 1993--DePrice Kelly, Scott Howell; 1995--Adam Swantko, Edgar Alcala, Pablo Martinez; 1996--Tim Snow; 1997--Kyle Murdock, Nathan Jackson; 1998--Rob Basuino; 1999--Jason Murdock, Grant Murdock.
Bellarmine
1977--Dan Fahrner, Mike Kerrigan, Mark Rebboah; 1978--Andy Johnson, Jeffrey Morgan; 1979--Vince Stroth, Clancy O'Hara, Bob Palatella, Vince Canelo; 1980--Rich Martig, Matthew Ramirez, Miker Heffernan, Chuck Slone; 1981--Dave Ambrosini, Nick Holt, Joe Gomes, Sal Cesario; 1982--Mike O'Donnell, Greg Powers, Dave Diaz-Infante, Erik Howard; 1983--Bill Heffernan, Jim Banister, John Gatrousis, Randy Kirk; 1984--Pat Arnold, Todd Locicero, Josh Whitney, Cassidy O'Hara; 1985--J.P. Scandalios, Ron Caragher, Mark Dumont, Will Wall, Pat Wahler; 1986--Al Lemerande, Jered Wagner, Doug Robinson; 1987--Tyson Toles, Aaron Brubaker, Pete Fuqua, Chris Dean; 1988--Alan Frame, Vic Giacalone; 1989--Nick Stojanovic, Mike Filice, Nick Del Biaggio; 1990--David Popejoy; 1991--Armando Avila, Tom McNeil, Harry Kim; 1992--Troy LaCoursiere, Andrew Parkinson; 1994--Duffy Moran, Dion Campisi; 1995--Greg Gatto; 1996--Joe Cirone, Blake Elliott, Jason Kong; 1997--Erik Taylor, Tim Foley, McCabe Callahan; 1998--Sam Prada, B.J. Brust; 1999--Jeremy Jones, Kyle Pilgeram, Richie Alpers.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
