Top tier athletes and coaches will be celebrated this year in the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony on May 26th at the Woodland Hills Country Club.
This will be the fourth ceremony since it’s introduction in 2010. The inductees on that night were Barry Zito and Ray Bishop.
Athletic Director Bob Lofrano explains how the event is coming together.
“This is our fourth one, so the preparations are coming along very smoothly because we’ve done it before,” Lofrano said. “We look into a little committee. We look at who coached and who played. It’s an impressive group.”
Lofrano coached baseball for 35 years in which 18 of them were at Pierce. He also played on the team from 1968 to 1969. He would end up winning the Western State Conference Coach of the Year eight times. In 1988, he won Coach of the Year at California State High School.
Women’s volleyball coach Nabil Mardini will be another of the inductees on the night. He is an eight-time Coach of the year, and in 2010 and 2012 he won the National Volleyball Coach of the Year. Mardini won three State titles, and 13 conference championships.
“I’m honored to be inducted,” Mardini said. “I’ve always felt that for someone to be inducted into the hall of fame you have to do a lot more than what I have accomplished or done personally if you ask me, but nonetheless I’m very grateful to Bob.”
Women’s soccer coach Adolfo Perez has been at Pierce for 15 seasons. He has won 10 WSC Championships, and made playoffs for 15 straight years. He is also an eight-time Coach of the Year.
“I’m nervous and honored,” Perez said. It’s been a journey since 2001. Preparing for a speech is hard because you want to be perfect, but it’s hard when you’re in front of so many people.”
Perez had many accomplishments during his career as a player and now as a coach. However, being a hall of fame inductee tops the list.
“I’ve been blessed to have a lot of accomplishments individually and collectively in soccer,” Perez said. “I think by far this is the most important one.”
Out of all the inductees, Jim Wolf won’t be in attendance. He will be working as an umpire on that night. Wolf played baseball at Pierce from 1990 to 1991. He has been an umpire for 15 years, in which he has been involved in the 2010 All-Star Game, the 2011 League Championship and last year’s World Series.
Every member going to the hall of fame have achieved greatness not only at Pierce, but when they left.
Jeff Stork played volleyball for Pierce in 1981. He would go on to play in three olympics. In 1988 he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul. He was also an All-American at Pepperdine University for three seasons.
The festivities kick off with a dinner at 6 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 7 p.m.