Picking Gilroy’s finest from the past 25 years
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Bob Hagen Classic, an expert panel was assembled to come up with an all-time Gilroy team. The panel consisted of Rich Freedman (head coach, 1979-82), Salvatore Tomasello (athletic director, 1984-2000) and Alice Sakahara (longtime school secretary, resident GHS sports historian).
The list of players is simply based on the panel’s memory since the start of the tournament in 1979. They apologize in advance for forgetting any Mustang standouts from the past.
The List (graduation year in parantheses, comments made by Tomasello):
– Alfonso Aguilar (1984): “He could play the two or three … exceptional shooter.”
– Chad Alves (1997): “Point guard … tremendous leader … strong defender … unbelievably quick.”
– Derek Bruton (1986): “Big, had to be close to 7 feet … when I taught him in history I know I had to stand up in chair to be even with him … hard-worker and a very good student.”
– Fernando Haro (1991): “Excellent outside shooter … an extremely good athlete … always struggled between love of basketball and desire to play football.”
– Tony Hernandez (1983): “Extremely quick, hard-nosed player … great outside shooter.”
– Chris Jimenez (2001): “Just a competitor … got the most out of his athletic ability … really strong inside, mostly at power forward.”
– Richard Klauer (1996): “Great kid … all-league player … excellent post.”
– Steve Ledesma (1983): “Big and tall … not really strong defensively, but great shooter and rebounder.”
– Mike MacDonald (1984): “Just an all-around competitive hard-worker … one of most dedicated players we’ve ever had … very good defensively.”
