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Sunday, September 28, 2008                       Thomas Martz, BASHOF (415) 296-5610

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Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Announces

2009 Enshrinement Class

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Women’s professional tennis legend Billie Jean King, football stars Craig Morton and Dave Casper and pitching great Gaylord Perry have been elected to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, BASHOF President Thomas Martz announced today.

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They will be honored at BASHOF’s 30th Annual Enshrinement Banquet on March 9, 2009 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, joining 129 previous Enshrinees. 

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The dollars raised by the banquet and other BASHOF activities “Help Kids Play Sports”.

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Apart from ranking as the top women’s player of her era, and winner of 12 Grand Slam events, including six Wimbledon and four U.S. Championships, Billie Jean King was an innovative leader in advancing the women’s game.  She was a major influence in the formation of the professional Virginia Slims Tour and the Women’s Tennis Association.  In 1973, she campaigned successfully to secure equal prize money for women at the United States Open.  Her celebrated victory over 55 year old Bobby Riggs in a $100,000 “Battle of the Sexes” challenge match aroused further respect for the quality of women’s tennis.  Billie Jean was a huge force and led the drive for equality in all women’s sports and the formation of Title IX. 

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In his senior season at Cal, Craig Morton surpassed virtually every existing school passing record as an All American quarterback in 1964.  He won the Pop Warner Award as the Most Valuable Player on the west coast and was a first round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL draft.  He then embarked on an 18-year professional career that included stints with the Cowboys, the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos.  He remains the only quarterback in league history to start a Super Bowl with two different teams, the Cowboys in 1970 and the Broncos in 1977.  In his next to last season, 1981, at age 38, he passed for more than 3000 yards and 21 touchdowns.  He appeared in 11 post season games, including the two Super Bowls.

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Nicknamed, “The Ghost” after the cartoon character also named Casper, Dave Casper played ten seasons for the Oakland Raiders, establishing himself as among the NFL’s most dangerous receivers while playing tight end.  He made famous the “Ghost to the Post” play with his spectacular catches and was selected to play in five Pro Bowls.  He was a member of the Raiders’ Super Bowl champion teams of 1977 and 1981, and scored the team’s first touchdown on a pass from Ken Stabler in the 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in 1977 Super Bowl XI.  He was also involved in the Raiders’ infamous “Holy Roller” play against San Diego in 1978 when, trailing 20 to 14 with ten seconds left to play, first Stabler then running back Pete Banaszak fumbled the ball forward before Casper finally propelled it into the end zone and fell on it for the winning touchdown.  Needless to say, this provoked a hasty change in the rules.

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Gaylord Perry began his 22 year major league career with the San Francisco Giants in 1962.  Before the decade had ended, he and Juan Marichal had formed one-two pitching punch comparable to the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.  Perry’s breakout season was 1969 when he finished with a record of 21-8, the first of four 20-plus winning seasons he would enjoy.  He won 134 games in ten years with the Giants, a record second only to Marichal’s.  Those wins included a no-hitter against the Cardinals on September 17, 1968.  In his travels after leaving the Giants by trade in 1972, he would in total win Cy Young trophies in both leagues, accumulate 314 career victories and notch 3534 strikeouts.  The Giants have retired his number 36 jersey. Gaylord Perry was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1991.

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These four remarkable athletes were elected by a panel of 70 Bay Area journalists and broadcasters.  For reservations and further information on BASHOF’s Enshrinement Banquet, please contact the BASHOF office at 415-296-5607 or visit www.bashof.org.

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Hello GSOM community,

I am currently trying to induct Victoria Manalo Draves into the Bay Area Hall of Fame. She was the first women in U.S Olympic history to win a Gold Medal, sweeping her swimming event winning all medals in her sport. , total of two medals. I have submitted a revised Ballot to the Bay Area Hall of Fame because her current description did not help her get inducted the past 15 Years. Yes 15 years and she's already been inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969 and she received these medals in 1949. She lived through racism and hardships training in her sport but still became an Olympian making her country proud.

I need to contact all 60 Bay Area Sports Editors who will vote this week. The Ballots were just sent out yesterday. I have located 3 Sports Editors in the Bay Area. I have my work cut out for me and have been searching for Sports Editors in the Bay Area though search engines with little or no luck.

I wanted to ask for help in locating these Sports editors with their email and website where I can also email their staff to urge them to vote or just read up on the description of this Olympian. I'm really here to spread the news to these Editors about her because they need to know who their voting for, and if she happens to lose an induction this year I  hope I can try the next years in campaigning for her induction. This lady is still a living legend and should be homored soon for her hardships as an Athlete and a Bay Area Native. A park was recently honored in her name in San Francisco solidifying her imprint in the Bay Area

So please post emails and staff emails of Major Sports editors and media outlet. If you can copy and paste my letter to the editors and I will do the same.  I am doing this all alone and any help is appreciated.

Thank you for your time and I understand this is not a warriors post but a Bay Area post for an Athlete who has competed for the U.S and is Bay area Native.

Contact me at victoriamanalodraves@yahoo.com

I will also be attaching photos and other documents and links that will describe this lady's accomplishments and what she went through as an athlete.

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