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Venturi, Jones, Jordan
sisters, Pierce to be honored
For
Immediate Release
Contact: Jody Meacham, 408 / 288-2934, jody@sjsa.org
SAN JOSE (June 27, 2005) – Five
South Bay sports personalities who made their marks
in golf, the NFL, tennis and high school football form
the 2005 Class of Inductees as the San Jose Sports
Hall of Fame begins its second decade.
The 2005 Class,
which will be inducted in November dinner ceremonies
at HP Pavilion, includes:
- Ken Venturi, former San Jose
State golfer whose professional titles include the
1960 U.S. Open,
- Brent Jones, a football
star whose entire career – from
Leland High to Santa Clara to the San Francisco 49ers – was
spent in the Bay Area,
- Sisters Barbara and Kathy
Jordan, national championship tennis players at
Stanford before going on to win
singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon and in
the Australian,
French and U.S. Opens,
- Benny Pierce, football coach
at Saratoga High for 33 seasons and winner of 17
league championships.
The
November event, date to be determined, begins with
a VIP reception and silent auction followed by
the dinner ceremony. Dinner tickets begin at $150 each
and may be reserved by calling (408) 288-2936.
The 2005
Class brings to 54 the number of South Bay sports figures
in the Hall
of Fame, which recognizes
each honoree with a bronze plaque mounted in the concourse
of HP Pavilion. The annual dinner is an event of the
San Jose Sports Authority, San Jose Arena Authority,
HP Pavilion Management/San Jose Sharks and the City
of San José. A portion of the proceeds benefits
Special Olympics Silicon Valley Region.
The
San Jose Sports Authority is the sports marketing agency
for the City of San
José and supports
youth and amateur athletics throughout the community
as well as bringing premier sports events to the city.
Visit our website at www.sjsa.org.
San Jose Sports Hall of Fame 2005
Induction Dinner
Sponsorship packages
Reception Sponsor – $15,000
Includes:
- Signage at VIP and attendee reception
- Representative
from your company will welcome guests to the VIP
reception
- Ten tickets to VIP reception
- Company logo on event
screens
- Full page ad in event program
- One 10-seat table
at dinner, premium location
- Opportunity to have celebrity
athlete at your table
- Commemorative gift
Platinum Table Sponsor – $5,000
Includes:
- One 10-seat table, premium location
- Tickets to
VIP reception
- Name and logo in event program
- Opportunity to
have celebrity athlete at your table
- Commemorative
gift
Gold Table Sponsor – $2,500
Includes:
- One 10-seat table, gold section
- Tickets to VIP
reception
- Name and logo in event program
- Commemorative gift
Silver Table Sponsor – $2,000
Includes:
- One 10-seat table
- Name in event program
- Commemorative gift
Inductee biographies
Ken Venturi
Venturi attended high school in San Francisco
and was the star of San Jose State’s golf team in
the early 1950s. He won collegiate and amateur tournaments
as a Spartan and was a member of the U.S. team that
won the 1953 Walker Cup. Venturi won the Bing Crosby
Pro-Am in 1960 and the U. S. Open in 1964, the year
he was chosen as PGA Player of the Year. A hand injury
ended his playing career prematurely, and he moved
into the television booth, where he worked as one of
golf’s best-known analysts until his retirement
in 2002. He was inducted into the California Golf Hall
of Fame in 1960. He is also in Bay Area Sports Hall
of Fame and San Jose State Hall of Fame.
Brent Jones
Jones spent his entire 11-season National
Football League career with the San Francisco 49ers
and played
on Super Bowl championship teams in 1989, ’90
and ’95. A graduate of Leland High and Santa
Clara University, where he was a Division II All-American
in 1985, Jones was taken in the fifth round of 1986
NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and was traded
to the 49ers. Jones caught 417 passes for 5,195 yards
and 33 touchdowns in his NFL career. He went to the
Pro Bowl every year from 1993 through ’96. He
is a member of the San Jose Sharks operating committee
and is in the Santa Clara University Hall of Fame.
Barbara
Jordan
An outstanding junior tennis player in Pennsylvania,
Jordan was one of the first women to receive a sports
scholarship to Stanford, where she was a three-time
All-American in 1976-78. She was a member of the 1978
national championship team and was the collegiate doubles
champion with her sister, Kathy. Jordan turned pro
in 1979 and won the singles title at the Australian
Open. Her doubles record includes the French Open mixed
doubles title in 1983. Jordan also served the game
off-court on the Women’s Tennis Association board
of directors, where she worked to make the WTA a more
professional organization. She was honored with WTA’s
Player Service Award. She is a lawyer with the San
Jose city attorney’s office. She was inducted
into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of
Fame in 2004.
Kathy Jordan
The sister of Barbara Jordan, she attended
Stanford in 1978 and 1979, then turned pro. Jordan
was a member
of the 1978 national championship team, winning the
doubles title with her sister. She won the collegiate
doubles title again with Alycia Moulton in 1979, when
she also won the singles championship. She was an All-American
in 1978 and ’79. Jordan won the U.S. Open doubles
and Australian Open doubles 1981, French Open mixed
doubles in 1986 and three Wimbledon doubles titles
in 1980, ’85 and ’86, the last in mixed
doubles. Jordan won the WTA’s Player Service
Award in 1991. A year later she received her bachelor’s
degree from Stanford in political science. Jordan is
in the Stanford Hall of Fame and was inducted into
the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame
in 2004.
Benny Pierce
Pierce was football coach at Saratoga
High for the first 33 seasons of the school’s existence. A
football halfback at Los Gatos High and San Jose State,
Pierce compiled a 270-84-4 record before his retirement
following the 1994 season. He was the 1976 California
high school coach of the year. His teams won 17 league
titles, one county championship in 1971 (before the
Central Coast Section playoffs were inaugurated) and
CCS titles in 1973, ’76, ’80 and ’87.
Saratoga was the top area team of the 1970s, going
97-15 with undefeated teams in 1973 and ’76,
and four other seasons with only one loss. Pierce is
a member of the Los Gatos High Hall of Fame. Saratoga
High’s first on-campus football field opened
in 2004 and is named in his honor. |
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