Willow Glen Resident

Sports

All-star football game on July 19

By Dick Sparrer

No one could say for sure after the 2000 Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game whether or not Jared Allen would make it to the National Football league one day.

One thing was certain, though--the game that July at Spartan Stadium wasn't going to be his last time in pads.

The North squad may have lost the game 16-8 to the South, but Allen was his team's leader with nine tackles, including three in the South backfield.

"He was bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else out there," said Allen's Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico after the game, "and he had a little bit of a nasty attitude. If there was a difference between hitting someone and not hitting 'em, he would hit someone."

Allen went on become a big hit in the Big Sky Conference for Idaho State University and is now a defensive end with the Kansas City Chiefs. Allen is one of the 15 Wedemeyer Classic players who have gone to play in the NFL.

With the 32nd edition of the Silicon Valley Youth Classic coming up on July 19, 7:30 p.m., at San José City College, the question now is who will be next stars of the "Best Game in Town"?

There have been plenty of stars who played in the game in past years, and a talented crop of graduating high school seniors are set to play in this year's game, once again sponsored by the Almaden Rotary Club.

Gilroy's Jeff Garcia, who starred at San José State University before going on to play for the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and now the Philadelphia Eagles, played in the summer game in 1988, ironically in the defensive secondary.

Doug Cosbie (St. Francis/Dallas Cowboys), Don Schwartz (Mitty/St. Louis Cardinals), Jeff Toews (Del Mar/Miami Dolphins), Rich Campbell (Santa Teresa/Green Bay Packers), Greg Woodard (Silver Creek/Oakland Raiders), Ben Bennett (Peterson/Chicago Bears), John Faylor (Mitty/49ers), Erik Howard (Bellarmine/Giants), Jeff Ulbrich (Live Oak/49ers) and Randy Kirk (Bellarmine/49ers) are other all-stars who advanced to the NFL.

Also included on that last are the late Pat Tillman (Leland/Arizona Cardinals), Carl Monroe (Overfelt/49ers) and John Tuggle (Independence/New York Giants).

Bill Haselman (Saratoga) and the late Ken Caminiti (Leigh) each played in the summer game, then went on to play baseball in the major leagues, and Millard Hampton (Silver Creek) was an all-star who went on to win an Olympic gold medal.

Missing brothers

Brothers who have played in the summer all-star game were featured in last week's edition, but two sets of brothers were inadvertently left off the list--Homestead's Pete and Andy Holland, and Brian and Keith Usry of Leigh.