February 5, 2005 Foley Cultural Center 1 Thank You Sponsors Di Angelo’s Engraving Charles Can Cook Mike Merriweather New York Life Insurance Company www.pro58.com Pepsi Bottling Company Kendall-Jackson Tri-Eagle Beverage Fabulous Catering Michael’s Southern Delights Silent Auction Contributions Steve Reed, Capital Advisors Consulting Inc. Dave Thomas Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Powell Congressman George Miller Team Chevrolet Pepsi Bottling Company Mr. and Mrs. Ed Sowash Tri-Eagle Beverage Tony Pearsall 2 Special Thanks Martin Wyatt ABC Channel 7 News The Vallejo Times Herald Hall of Fame Logo design by Ruth Schneider The Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame Committee Jerry Coleman Mark Mazzaferro Doug Long Marilyn Ifland Rich Freedman Mike Kollar Stan McWilliams Jack Renfro Jim Hunt Event Coordinator: Penelope Leach Biographies: Mark Mazzaferro, author Jim Hunt, research PAL GVRD Staff Nancy Abruzzo, Aileen Jamison, Dayna Azbury, Loretta Pastor Donations DL Hurd Chuck Hewitt 3 Dick Biama For many Bay Area sports fans, great players can be identified simply by the number on their back. Number 24 represents perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time, Willie Mays. Joe Montana’s number 16 is a symbol of cool confidence and unmatched achievement. The Oakland Raiders’ Jim Otto’s double 00 stood for strength, dedication and durability. In Vallejo, the number 43 will always represent one of the finest athletes and coaches ever to pull on a jersey or hold a clipboard, Dick Biama. Biama wore number 43 during his playing days, and his sons – Richard, Chuck, Steve and Dave – as well as his grandsons – A.J. and Brian – have all worn number 43 since, in honor of their father and grandfather. And why not? During his playing days Biama was one of the finest athletes to grace a field in Vallejo, and maybe in all of California. After being named All- Conference in football and baseball his senior year in high school, Biama went to St. Mary’s on a football scholarship in 1941. But with World War II underway, he entered the service in 1942, serving in the infantry in Europe until 1945. Upon his return to Vallejo, Biama entered Vallejo Junior College, picking up where he left off. He was named all-conference as a quarterback in football, and the team was ranked third in the nation with Biama at quarterback. He was also named all-conference as a third baseman in baseball. In two years at SCC, Biama’s teams tied with Menlo College twice for the league championship in football. In the 1947 title game, Solano and Menlo played to a tie at the end of regulation, and Menlo won the league title by way of a coin toss. His success at football continued as he went on to Fresno State, where he was named to the All- CCAA Coaches All State Football Team as a running back and was an all-conference player in baseball, handing catching duties for the Bulldogs. After hanging up his spikes as a player, Biama came back to Vallejo to begin his teaching and coaching career, taking over head coaching duties in football and baseball at Vallejo Junior High School in 1950. By 1956 he was assistant football coach at Vallejo High School, and was eventually named head baseball coach. Biama continued to pursue his education, receiving his master’s degree from San Francisco State in 1958. In 1962 he moved over to Hogan High School, where he was named the school’s first football coach and head baseball coach as well. His biggest move came in 1964, when Biama took over the football program at Solano Community College, a position he held until 1972. In 1971, he was named the college’s athletic director and chair of the Physical Education Department. Biama retired in 1981 and was inducted into the SCC Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. 4 Jerry Bradley A few years ago the NCAA had a problem: Too many of the best players were recruited and given scholarships at just a few universities. In an effort to level the playing field, officials limited the number of scholarships a school could offer, thereby spreading the talent around. Jerry Bradley faced a similar situation on a much smaller scale and more local level. As a student at Vallejo High School, he was a smallish kid, buried behind classmates who appeared to be bigger, stronger and faster. As a result Bradley toiled away, playing “B” basketball, junior varsity baseball and the like during his sophomore year with the Spartans. Over that summer, however, Bradley went through a growth spurt, putting on 30 pounds and growing almost eight inches. Despite the changes, football coaches considered him a small, quick “overachiever” who was “getting faster.” Bradley did make the varsity baseball team as a utility player who had a knack for getting on base his junior year, though. That’s when things took a turn in Bradley’s favor, or, as he put it, “Thank God for Hogan High School.” The City’s newest high school opened, and Bradley was sent to the east side of Vallejo for his senior year. Once there he got a chance to play football, and he took full advantage of it, scoring the first and second touchdowns in the history of the school as well as throwing the first touchdown pass in school history, leading the Spartans to the North Bay League title and being named all-league in the process. He led the school in passing, rushing and kick returns and was most valuable player of the first “Big Game” – an 18-7 Hogan victory. Bradley ran 87 yards for a score and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass in the game. He didn’t stop there, being named all-league in baseball as a swift centerfielder and winning the NBL league title in the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.7 seconds, a time he later cut down to 9.5 seconds. From there it was on to Cal, where Bradley was a walk-on on the freshman football squad. He caught five touchdown passes in one game his first season and earned the nickname “Bird.” His exploits earned him a scholarship in 1964, and again Bradley took advantage of his opportunity, leading the Bears in receiving yardage and touchdowns and being named MVP his senior year as well as All Pac-10 and Honorable Mention All- American. Bradley led the Pac-10 in punt returns three years, from ’64 to ’66, and in his senior season Bradley ran back two punts for touchdowns and led the team in scoring with seven TDs. He twice led the team in receiving – ’65 and ’66 – and is third all-time on the Cal career punt return list and seventh on the career kickoff return list. Bradley holds the eighth and ninth spots on the longest punt returns list, with TD runs of 76 yards against Pittsburgh on Oct. 1, 1966 and a 73-yard jaunt against Washington State on Sept. 17, 1966. Was Bradley tough? Along with three years of collegiate football, he spent three years playing rugby, and was a member of the 1965 touring team that many consider the best college rugby team of all time. After leaving Cal, Bradley played for four years in the Canadian Football League, spending a year with the Toronto Argonauts and three more seasons with the British Columbia Lions. As a member of the Lions, Bradley led the team in interceptions two years and punt returns three years. In 1982 Bradley was elected to the University of California’s all-time football team as the kick-return specialist, and was honored as the all-time passer-runner at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Vallejo-Hogan Big Game. 5 Bobby Campo In the days before the metric system, track athletes ran the 100 yard dash. A time of 10 seconds for an athlete in training was astounding, with the world record hovering around 9.5 seconds. One day while Bobby Campo was at baseball practice at San Francisco State, the track coach grabbed him and asked him to run the 100 yard dash just to see how quick he really was. When the coach hit the stopwatch a second time, Campo had covered the distance in an “unofficial” time of 9.9 seconds – from a standing start while wearing baseball cleats. Impressive, yes, but considering Campo’s athletic history, maybe not. Campo moved to Vallejo from Oklahoma when he was 7 and attended Everest Elementary and Carquinez Elementary before moving on to Franklin Junior High School and eventually Vallejo High School on the old 4-4-6 program. He was an All-City linebacker in junior high school, and was City batting champ in the 10th grade. His junior high years were just a portent of things to come. While attending Vallejo High School in 1958 and 1959, Campo’s teams won league titles in baseball, basketball and football, when he was team captain and Most Valuable Player in all three sports. But his athletic career didn’t end there. After graduating in 1959, Campo moved on to Vallejo Junior College, where in 1961 he was named a JC All-American at running back and was selected to participate in 1961 All America Junior College Football Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He continued his winning ways at San Francisco State, where he played football and baseball. As a wide receiver, the 1962 football team won the league championship, while the baseball team took home the league title in 1963 with Campo hitting lead-off and playing the outfield.