Event will honor Asplund, Manning; also student athletes
The Live Oak Boosters and the Live Oak Athletic Department will host a tri-tip barbecue and celebration starting at 5:30pm Thursday evening at the Live Oak quad where two former coaches will be inducted into the hall of fame.
Duane Asplund and John Manning, who began teaching at Live Oak High School in the 1960s, will be inducted during a ceremony that will also honor student athletes.
The event will include dinner from 5:30-7pm, which will feature musical entertainment by the Dadz. Following dinner will be the awards ceremony.
An all-Acorns team will be honored from the 2005-06 school year.
Special guest Jeff Ulbrich will be on hand to present awards for the Live Oak athlete-of-the-year as well as the high school’s scholar athlete.
Ulbrich is a starting linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers and a 1995 graduate from Live Oak.
Asplund was a highly respected and dedicated coach working for more than three decades as a teacher, the boys and girls basketball coach, the boys and girls cross country coach and the football coach.
Asplund graduated from Kingsburg High School in 1952 where he starred in football, basketball and track. His teammates that year included Olympian Rafer Johnson and future 49er coach Monte Clark.
Asplund attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, where he excelled on the basketball team and was the team’s leading rebounder.
During his career at Cal, Asplund faced the great players of his era such as Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
Asplund and his wife, Shirley, moved to Morgan Hill in 1962 after his first teaching and coaching job at Fremont High School.
At Live Oak, Asplund coached the boys varsity basketball from 1962-1976, wining consecutive league titles from 1965 to 1967.
Asplund led the Acorn football squad from 1962-1969 winning league titles from 1965-1967.
He continued bringing league titles to Live Oak as the cross-country coach from 1977-1994. The boys and girls teams combined to win 16 league titles under his leadership.
The years 1979-1980 Asplund brought his girls basketball team to CCS finishing second and to the state tournament with a winning record of 28 and 3.
In 1964 Asplund started Live Oak’s first golf team.
Rounding out his coaching diversification, he also coached Live Oak’s Varsity Water Polo team.
Asplund attributes his success to the Morgan Hill community and the Live Oak athletes “whose talents make up for any deficits I had as a coach.”
“The list of athletes is long, but all of the kids who played for me have a special place in my heart,” Asplund said.
During his career, Asplund saw Live Oak grow from a small country high school to a large suburban school.
Asplund said he enjoyed having his five children attend Live Oak and participate in the athletic programs there.
All five of Asplund and Shirley’s children were aquatic standouts, with their eldest daughter, Kelly, receiving an athletic scholarship to Stanford University and a spot on the 1980 Olympic swim team.
Greg, Terry and Marty Asplund received high school All American honors as well as college athletic scholarships for water polo and swimming.
Asplund’s daughter Julie was an All League champion in swimming.
The second inductee, John Manning, attended schools in Texas, Colorado and California.
Manning graduated from Cal State University Sacramento where he played football and baseball. Manning was the acting head athletic trainer at Cal State Sacramento from 1967-68.
After developing a sports medicine program for Santa Clara ROP, Manning came to Live Oak in 1969 where he taught biology, anatomy, physiology, ecology and sports medicine.
Manning coached football, track and baseball, and implemented a sports training program at Live Oak in 1969.
Students received certification after completion of two years of class, and practical use in sports medicine.
In 1975, Manning became certified as an athletic trainer and started a sports medicine program, the first high school sports medicine program in California. Manning opened a free sports medicine clinic for South County Athletes.
Manning retired in 1998, and lives in Palm Desert in the winter where he enjoys playing golf.
During the summer John, and his wife Linda reside in South Lake Tahoe.
John and Linda Manning have been married for 46 years, and have three daughters, Michelle, Kristen, and Nancy who are all graduates of Live Oak High School. During their high school years, they participated in numerous sports, and marching band.
The entire community is invited to attend this celebration. Tickets are available at the Live Oak High School front office or at Booksmart on Second Street in downtown Morgan hill. A hot dog dinner is $5 and a tri-tip dinner is $10. Dinners will be sold at the door on a
For more information call Booster President Lisa Jones at 888-6075 or Athletic Director Mark Cummins at 201-6140.
