Two former coaches inducted into hall of fame; four student
athletes honored
By Angie Young Special to the Times
With summer in the air signifying the upcoming season filled with vacation plans, relocating to college, and reliving the past glories of spring sports, the high school campus celebrated the merits of their best athletes both young and old.
The Live Oak Athletic Boosters presented the Hall of Fame ceremony with 250 attending the inaugural event to honor two legendary coaches and four student athletes.
The evening began with a barbecue dinner with live entertainment that was followed by the ceremony with featured the San Francisco 49ers’ starting linebacker, and a 1995 Live Oak alumn, Jeff Ulbrich.
Grilled tri-tip, onions and green peppers wafted throughout the quad as people stood in line to get their hands on the tasty sandwiches catered by San Martin Meats while listening to the live band Dadz.
Students and adults alike crowded around the prize-give-away table where gobs of tickets were sold to the hopeful vying for a large TV, an overnight stay at Corde Valle Golf Country Club, an iPOD with nano-screen and the Live Oak signature black sweatshirt with gold and green logo, hat and booster chair.
But for all the entertainment that filled the night, the evening focused on the six who had impacted Live Oak.
Duane Asplund and John Manning left an indelible mark in history as far as many from Morgan Hill and the outside world are concerned.
“If I could be half the coach Duane is, I could be two inches taller,” said Mack Haines, head aquatics coach for Live Oak.
Asplund moved to Morgan Hill in 1962 and became the boys’ varsity basketball that year and won league titles consistently from ’62 to ’67.
In addition to coaching on court, Asplund led the Acorn football team in victory grabbing league titles during that same time period.
His leadership shined as his track and field team took home 16 league wins from 1977-1994.
Manning, who was honored second, was introduced by Head Football Coach Rick Booth, who said he was impressed by Manning’s unselfishness.
“When our current athletic trainer couldn’t go on our trip for the upcoming football game in Truckee, I called John if he could be our trainer for the day,” Booth said. “John asked, ‘when and where?’ He never complained during the Oct. 1 game on a Saturday. It was 40 degrees and he was there taping the players’ feet. He liked to talk to the kids while training them or treating them for injuries.”
Manning was the head athletic trainer at Cal State Sacramento from 1967-68 and from there he developed a sports medicine program for Santa Clara ROP. In 1969, Manning arrived at Live Oak teaching biology, anatomy, physiology, ecology and sports medicine.
Outside the classroom, he coached football, track and baseball and employed a sports medicine training curriculum.
In 1975, Manning became a certified athletic trainer, and created a sports medicine clinic – the first kind for high school in California.
After the two coaches were brought before the crowd, Ulbrich took the mic and introduced the four student athletes who were honored for their performances on and off their respective fields of play.
“I have a ton of memories here,” Ulbrich said. “I never played football before coming to Live Oak, Mark Cummins was my coach, Glen Webb and Norm Dow. The winners have all my respect. I’m honored to do this.”
Ulbrich then called up the four athletic winners of the year. Justin Short received his plaque for Water Polo All American and MVP successes, shook Ulbrich’s hand and quickly exited the stage. Cobbie Jones captured the award for her legacy she gave to Live Oak’s Track and Field. She plans to attend UCLA in the fall and resume her running career down there.
“I didn’t know I was going to get this award,” Jones said.
She mentioned her stress fracture in her left tibia that sidelined her during the spring track season.
“Eight weeks I didn’t run but I did train to maintain health and fitness,” Jones said. “Now I’m training and I’m so excited to be running. My dad always supported me and my mom was at every race – she’s my biggest supporter.”
The best male Scholar-Athlete of the year award went to Dustin Muhn in track and football and for his GPA of 4.17. He plans to attend UC Berkeley in the fall.
The best female scholar winner, Ronni Gautschi, took the honor for her water polo and swimming achievements with All CCS and TCAL honors along with her 3.9 GPA.
She plans to attend San Diego State on a scholarship.
