Seeing those you covered reach the Hall of Fame

Though examining the past from can be fascinating, sometimes you are reminded of how
greatness seen up close resonates with you more.

As a scene setter, I thought of this column because I recently crossed paths with a parent
whose son I covered as a high school student-athlete at Napa High in the early years of my
18-year career as a sports reporter, mostly in Napa Valley, CA. This parent alluded to me
“writing all of those nice things about my son.” So it got me thinking about the young man,
Michael Yanover, who graduated from Napa High in 2001 and played three sports (soccer,
basketball and baseball). Yanover is going into the Napa High Athletic Hall of Fame as a
member of the 2018 class.

Three of the six Napa Valley high schools have an Athletic Hall of Fame. Inductees are
former student-athletes, coaches and general contributors. Napa, Vintage and St. Helena
each have a High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Napa’s has the most extensive history
because a) the school opened in 1897 and b) the Athletic Hall of Fame was established
in 1997. Vintage and St. Helena each established theirs in 2013. Like Napa, St. Helena
opened in 1897 while Vintage opened in 1972. American Canyon, Justin-Siena and
Calistoga do not have Athletic Hall of Fames.

Having covered St. Helena and Calistoga from 2004-2014, I was fortunate enough to see
the formation of the St. Helena High Athletic Hall of Fame thanks to 1962 graduate Jim
Hunt, who passed away in June 2017. I remember doing feature stories on the various
inductees from decades before I was born. When writing these feature stories, I found an
incredible fascination not so much chronicling their statistical achievements but interviewing
them about what the culture was like in their time versus now, both athletically and socially.
In football, years ago you had huddles and fullbacks. Those concepts are the landlines of
football. In basketball, there was no 3-point line. Those are a few isolated examples.

Because of its history being established in 1997, Napa’a Athletic Hall of Fame has the most
lengthy list of inductees compared to Vintage and St. Helena’s both beginning in 2013.

I have covered some coaches that were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame as athletes
that transitioned into coaching such as Mike Brown, Tracey Emberley, Les Franco, Kamron
Jones, Darci Lewis Ward, Denny Lewis, Troy Mott, Todd Pridy, Mike Warrington, Jon Conner,
Kelly Cuney Porter, Jim Lanterman, Saneen Kerson, Bob Soper and Scott Wright.

Franco, Jones, Ward, Mott, Pridy, Warrington, Conner, Emberley, Kerson, Porter and Wright
are in the Hall of Fame because of their contributions are student-athletes but since I did not
cover their journeys, I can’t speak to being part of their journey. Being a Justin-Siena
student-athlete, however, I do remember admiring the achievements of Mott and Pridy from
afar. With the ones I just mentioned, the common denominator is watching them transition
from athleteto coach.

Brown, Lewis, Soper and Lanterman are in the Hall of Fame as coaches. Being part
of that journey by witnessing their team’s success was special in its own right but I only saw
brief segments of their careers, not see the totality of their success.

The last few years, however, have featured athletes that I covered get inducted such as
Mandy Stephens Huggins, Mike Stephens, Matt Yourkin, for Michael Yanover Napa. On
the Vintage side, the inductee is Megan Andrews. For St. Helena, the inductees are Casey
Warren Audino and Cliff Little.

Seeing athletes that I covered get into their high school Athletic Hall of Fames is a trend
that is likely to continue. I could openly start lobbying for plenty of them in this space but
there would not be enough to accommodate. I would also add that seeing athletes I covered
get inducted is kind of surreal but also rewarding in that it makes me feel like I was part of
their journey. I’m not arrogant enough to believe that my media coverage of their
achievements play a role in their induction but seeing them get honors bestowed upon
them years after witnessing their success is a special feeling.

I look forward to see more student-athletes and coaches earn their hall pass.