Los Gatos Weekly-Times
Sports
There was no CCS wrestling, but Young won a section title
By Dick Sparrer
Years before wrestlers Guy Greene and Tom Robak won the first ever Central Coast Section championships for Los Gatos High School, Bob Young was winning his way to a section crown for the Wildcats.
It wasn't a Central Coast Section title--there was no CCS wrestling tournament until 1966, and Los Gatos didn't have a champion until Greene and Robak in '68. Still, Young was chasing a section championship, and he won it in impressive fashion.
Young was the North Coast Section champ in 1961, his win in the finals capping a string of 30 consecutive victories in the 1960-61 high school wrestling season.
Adding his success on the football field--where he was the Los Gatos Most Valuable Player in 1959--and his contributions in track and field to his prowess on the wrestling mat makes Young one of the finest athletes in school history.
For his outstanding accomplishments as a Wildcat, Bob Young will be among the 10 members that make up the fifth class of inductees in the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will be held May 3 at La Rinconada Country Club.
High school coaches could have gotten a preview of things to come had they seen Young in action as a member of the flag football team at University Avenue School, where he was also the student body president.
He played "B" football, wrestled and competed in the shot put and high jump on the track and field team as a freshman while also serving as the freshman class vice president. A year later he was the captain of the junior varsity football team and a member of the wrestling and track and field teams while serving as the sophomore class president.
It was as a junior, though, when Young truly started to blossom as an athlete. He was selected as the MVP of the varsity football team after leading the Wildcats in tackles, and he was named to the all-West Santa Clara Valley Athletic League second team as a linebacker.
That winter, he finished second at 165 pounds at the WSCVAL wrestling finals, and he completed the year as a shot putter and high jumper on the track team.
The two-time school athletic commissioner was even better as a senior. He was the team captain on the football team, again leading the Cats in tackles and this time earning all-league first team honors at linebacker.
He won 30 straight wrestling matches on his way to WSCVAL and NCS titles at 175 pounds, and he was the team co-captain.
Young lettered for 10 straight seasons in football, wrestling and track and field, and he went on to attend San Jose State University on a football scholarship in 1961. He wrestled as a heavyweight for the Spartans in 1962.
Young, who earned a degree in behavioral sciences from SJSU, went on to a career in music, teaming with Juice Newton and forming the Silver Spur band. As Otha Young, he has written and recorded more than 50 songs, one of which went gold, and has performed on and co-produced 20 albums for Newton. A two-time cancer survivor, Young continues to tour with Newton, managing her band and tour nationally.
As an athlete at Los Gatos High School, though, Bob Young wasn't writing songs. He was writing an impressive athletic résumé that more than 45 years later has earned him a place in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be held on May 3 at La Rinconada Country Club. Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner are priced at $90. For ticket information, call the Los Gatos Athletic Association at 408.395.2002.