A coach with the Super Bowl-bound Pittsburgh Steelers and a U.S. Olympian are part of the latest induction class to the San Marcos High Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2011 includes Stefanie Christoferson (1997), Alan Everest (1968), Anthony Hunter (1981), John Pate (1977), Satini Puailoa (1974), Walt Rehm (1966), and Mark Warkentin (1998).
They will be honored, along with former baseball coach Joe Mueller, at a celebratory dinner on Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Santa Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 1205 San Antonio Creek Road, Santa Barbara.
Proceeds from the evening will benefit The Field of Champions, a local campaign to build a synthetic turf field on the Sut Puailoa Field at Valley Stadium. Tickets are $65 per person.
The seven inductees will be introduced at halftime at the Feb. 4 San Marcos vs. Ventura basketball game at Maury Halleck Gym. This elite group joins a Hall of Fame list that includes Chuck Liddell (former UFC champion) and Todd Rogers (2008 Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball).
Everest won’t be making it to Hall of Fame festivities. Instead, he’ll be busy preparing for the Super Bowl as the special teams coordinator for the Steelers.
Everest joined the Steelers staff in January 2010. Prior to that he worked with the Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers. He was named NFL Special teams coach of the year in 2002 while with the Saints and won the award again in 2007 with the 49ers.
Everest was a three-sport star for the Royals, lettering in football and baseball for three years, and adding basketball to his credentials his senior year. He was named the top scholar-athlete in all three sports, was the MVP in football and baseball, and was all-league and an All-Star participant in football and baseball.
As a junior, he was an important part to the famed undefeated 1966 Channel League champion football team.
Everest moved on to SMU, where he was the starting safety from 1970-1971. In 1972, he became a graduate assistant under famed coach Hayden Fry. This started a coaching career of more than 37 years in the National Football League, European Professional Football, college football and baseball.
In Europe, Everest won two Italian Super Bowls and one European Championship.
Warkentin is the Olympic athlete of this Hall of Fame class. He competed open-water swim at the Beijing Games and finished eighth in the 10-kilometer event.
He is a two-time national champion in the 25k swim and a national champ in the 10k as well. In 2008, he was named USA Swimming’s Open Water Swimmer of the Year.
At San Marcos, Warkentin was a four-year letter winner in swimming, participating in a variety of events and relays. His specialty was the freestyle. He never lost an individual race in Channel League competition and won 11 league championships. He still holds the Channel League Meet record in the 500 freestyle of 4:27.65, and also several San Marcos records.
Warkentin was a four-time CIF-Southern Section Division 1 champion, three times in the 500 free (‘95, ‘96, ‘98) and once in the 200 free (‘98). As a sophomore, he was an Olympic Trials Finalist for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
He continued his swimming success at USC, where he was a four- time NCAA All-American.
Swimming for his country, he won a gold medal at the Goodwill Games in 1998, and won four Golds at the World University Games in 1999.
Here is the rest of the San Marcos Hall of Fame Class of 2011.
Stefanie Christoferson: She was a four-year varsity starter and letter winner in both basketball and softball, earning first team All-Channel League and All-County honors in both sports, as well as being named to the All-CIF Southern Section team in both sports.
She was the leading scorer and MVP of the basketball team her sophomore, junior, and senior years. As a junior, Christoferson helped the softball team win the Channel League championship and reach the CIF-SS semifinals.
She received a Division 1 scholarship to play catcher for the University of Illinois-Chicago softball team, where she quickly became one of the top players in the NCAA. She was named the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Player of the Year her junior and senior seasons. In her senior year, she was won the conference triple crown and earned All-American honors.
Christoferson holds the UIC career record for hits and the career and single-season records for home runs. She is the NCAA career leader for games played with a total of 304 over a four-year period.
She is a member of the UIC Hall of Fame.
Anthony Hunter: He was a member of the famed “Runnin’ Royal” basketball teams of the late 70s and early 80s. He is the fourth all-time leading scorer in San Marcos history, and was a vital member of three consecutive Channel League championship teams, and also the 1981 team that reached the CIF-Southern Section final.
John Pate: One of the premier amateur golfers in the state, Pate was an integral member of the 1977 CIF-Southern Section championship team. He moved on to Santa Barbara City College, where he was the No. 1 player in 1978 and 1979. In 1978, he was the conference Player of the Year.
Pate continued on at UCSB, where he was the No. 1 player in 1980 and 81, and also earned Academic All-American status.
Pate has enjoyed tremendous success in the amateur ranks, winning over 150 tournaments, including a record six Santa Barbara City Championships. He has also qualified for 16 United States Amateur Championships and Mid-Amateurs, and represented California in the USGA State Team Championship in 1995 and 1999. Also in 1999, Pate won the prestigious Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship, which is one of the nation’s oldest continuously contested amateur tournaments.
In 2000, Pate added the SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship to his list of accomplishments.
Satini Puailoa: The son of the legendary Sut Puailoa, Satini was a successful athlete and coach for the Royals. He was a two-sport star, earning All-Channel League honors in both football and track. He went on to star at Santa Barbara City College, playing football in 1974 and 75, before moving to Cal Poly, where he earned the Mustang Outstanding Athletic Achievement Award in 1979, the same year Cal Poly was the No. 2-ranked team in the nation.
After graduating, Satini worked as an assistant coach on Mike Warren’s staff at Lompoc. He got his first head coaching job at Montebello High, where he coached football and track. His football teams won two league titles in five years, and in 1983 had the best season in school history. As a head track coach, he increased the team numbers twofold and won eight out of a possible 10 league titles.
He returned to San Marcos as the head football coach, and his teams qualified for the playoff five out of eight years (and this was when there were eight teams in the Channel League). His 1992 team was his best, reaching the semifinals for the first time in school history, and tying the school record for most wins in a season. He was named Channel League Coach of the Year in 1992.
Satini moved on to Sandpoint High in Idaho and turned around a program that had only won four games in six years. Over a 10 year period, his teams won 64 percent of their games, and won an Idaho State Championship in 1997. He was named Idaho Coach of the Year.
Five years later, Puailoa coached Sandpoint to an Idaho State Track Championship.
He was inducted into the Sandpoint Bulldog Hall of Fame in 2009.
Walt Rehm: A two-sport athlete in baseball and cross-country, Rehm’s earned his fame on the mound for the Royals.
In 1966, he set the San Marcos record for most consecutive wins with eight. He had 89 strikeouts in 72 innings pitched, while also batting .375. For his accomplishments, he was named the team MVP and first team All-Channel League.
Rehm moved on to UCSB, where he holds the sixth-best single season ERA of 2.06 from his 1970 season. He has the second-best career ERA of 2.31, and holds the record of the fewest career earned runs. In 1970, he struck out a record 16 batters in a game, a feat that was equaled by Barry Zito in 1997.
Special Recognition of Joe Mueller: He was the head baseball coach from 1965 through 1986, and the baseball coordinator from 1987-1992 when he retired.
Mueller guided the Royals to the CIF playoffs eight times and won three Channel League Championships, as well as a Santa Barbara County title.
Mueller coached a number Royals who went on to professional baseball careers, including Gary Woods, Steve Moore, Fran Cutty, Bob Weirum, and Mike Kelley.
Tickets and more information for the San Marcos Hall of Fame dinner, sponsored by the San Marcos Athletic Boosters, are available by emailing Christi Phreaner at [email protected]. Anyone interested in contributing to The Field of Champions should contact Scottee Reid at (805) 679-7592. Online donations can be made at www.thefieldofchampions.org, or mail to TFOC, P.O. Box 60208, Santa Barbara CA 93160.
