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 South in this year's edition of the all-star classic include Doug Dionne of Willow Glen; Tyler Ruocchio, Luis Salazar and Alan Walsh of Pioneer; and Shannon Sevor and Brandon Valenzuela of Bellarmine.

Former local stars who participated in the summer classic 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, Mike Von Rueden; 1999—John Fernandez, Cory Hare; 2000—David Macchi, Ben D'Antonio; 2001—Gabe Candelaria.

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; 2000—Mike Collins, Jake Mossawir; 2001—Danny Yoder, Clinton Wu; 2002—Kevin Alger, Richard Faiva, James Rozzi, Kevin Shull.

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; 2000—Mike Wiens, Brian Davis, Travis Murdock; 2001—Tim Scheffer, Josh McDonnell; 2002—Christian Barajas, James Dunne, Jacob French, Matt Mallon, Jeff Worrell.