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2011 Hall of Fame inductees.
 
8:30am | It was a "Hall" of a night for Long Beach State -- and the MVP of the evening was probably special events coordinator extraordinaire Jessica Davidson Dugaw.  This year's induction ceremony was moved to the Long Beach Hilton's largest ballroom, where the huge crowd came to honor the heroes and heroines of sports' past.

The variety included not only the women’s volleyball players who put the Beach on the map with their 1989 National Championship including that shutout game against Nebraska but also footballer Mark Templeton and tennis player/coach Peter Smith, amongst others.

Templeton came down from Boise to enjoy the ceremony with his kids -- who seemingly spent more time waiting in line for autographs and pictures with Jered Weaver than they did saluting their dad who set the NCAA pass reception mark with the most catches in the land.

Smith, who stated he has moved his family some twenty-odd times, is clearly the most successful college tennis coach in America and has seen a lot of America. He and his family now live a lob shot away from the LB campus but makes the work commute to USC.

Weaver was in good spirits, particularly given his wedding is approaching this upcoming Saturday. His parents were in the front row along with his early inspiration, brother Jeff, who “took me to a lot of major league clubhouses and I decided that this would be a good gig.” Weaver quipped that he passed up offers to CSUN since it was “too close to home [in Simi Valley];” Fresno State was ignored because he “didn’t want to be Jeff’s baby brother;” and Fullerton was excised “because I heard that they do a lot of fighting and smoke down there.” Long Beach won he said because of their great academic support program.

Another Weaver in the house was international volleyball star and NCAA champ/POY Cheryl Weaver who also got some real and verbal hugs from Niner coach Brian Gimmillaro.

Well-known sporting figure honored was USA National Volleyball team coach Alan Knipe, who was a star on the Beach’s men’s NCAA title team before he started coaching LBSU and now is on sabbatical trying to drive his troops to the London Olympics. When asked how the facilities were in London, he replied, “We don’t care -- we just want to have our team there.”

Part of the big crowd was represented by the respected and well-known women’s basketball guard Margaret Mohr. “I’d introduce them all, but there are so many it’s more like a tribe than a family,” she joked.  In lieu, Margaret saluted super fan Morrie Stalk, who often supports her these days when she head coaches at Cypress College.

Another Weaver in the house was international volleyball star and NCAA champ/POY Cheryl Weaver who also got some real and verbal hugs from Niner coach Brian Gimmillaro. BG was the best of the CSULB speakers on the night, ahead of the AD and the even the President.

Meredith Cervenka (softball) and Le’Gretta Hinds (track) also hosted the best looking trophy in town (and its designer Bill Ridgeway came back for the event) as did the night’s final speaker, administrator Dr. Doug Robinson.

Doug has been the behind the CSULB scenes since he ended his football playing days at Iowa State (where he introduced the bump and run coverage). He served on the search for every 49er coach hire since he came to campus and regularly has to do some student affairs bump and run when the oft-times protesting Beach students stray from the path and skip study hall and bible study. “The great thing I see in our student athletes is that they are developing life skills and learning how to compete.” --DR. DAN

Photos by Steven Georges/Long Beach State Media Relations.

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