Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Announces 2009 Enshrinement Class

Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Announces 2009 Enshrinement Class

For release on:
Sunday, September 28, 2008
For more information contact:
Thomas Martz, BASHOF (415) 296-5610
Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Announces
2009 Enshrinement Class
Women’s professional tennis legend Billie Jean King, football stars Craig Morton
and Dave Casper and pitching great Gaylord Perry have been elected to the Bay
Area Sports Hall of Fame, BASHOF President Thomas Martz announced today.
They will be honored at BASHOF’s 30th Annual Enshrinement Banquet on March 9,
2009 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, joining 129 previous
Enshrinees.
The dollars raised by the banquet and other BASHOF activities “Help Kids Play
Sports”.
Apart from ranking as the top women’s player of her era, and winner of 12 Grand
Slam events, including six Wimbledon and four U.S. Championships, Billie Jean
King was an innovative leader in advancing the women’s game. She was a major
influence in the formation of the professional Virginia Slims Tour and the
Women’s Tennis Association. In 1973, she campaigned successfully to secure
equal prize money for women at the United States Open. Her celebrated victory
over 55 year old Bobby Riggs in a $100,000 “Battle of the Sexes” challenge match
aroused further respect for the quality of women’s tennis. Billie Jean was a huge
force and led the drive for equality in all women’s sports and the formation of Title
IX.
In his senior season at Cal, Craig Morton surpassed virtually every existing school
passing record as an All American quarterback in 1964. He won the Pop Warner
Award as the Most Valuable Player on the west coast and was a first round pick of
the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL draft. He then embarked on an 18-year
professional career that included stints with the Cowboys, the New York Giants
and the Denver Broncos. He remains the only quarterback in league history to
start a Super Bowl with two different teams, the Cowboys in 1970 and the Broncos
in 1977. In his next to last season, 1981, at age 38, he passed for more than 3000
yards and 21 touchdowns. He appeared in 11 post season games, including the
two Super Bowls.
Nicknamed, “The Ghost” after the cartoon character also named Casper, Dave
Casper played ten seasons for the Oakland Raiders, establishing himself as
among the NFL’s most dangerous receivers while playing tight end. He made
famous the “Ghost to the Post” play with his spectacular catches and was
selected to play in five Pro Bowls. He was a member of the Raiders’ Super Bowl
champion teams of 1977 and 1981, and scored the team’s first touchdown on a
pass from Ken Stabler in the 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in 1977 Super
Bowl XI. He was also involved in the Raiders’ infamous “Holy Roller” play against
San Diego in 1978 when, trailing 20 to 14 with ten seconds left to play, first Stabler
then running back Pete Banaszak fumbled the ball forward before Casper finally
propelled it into the end zone and fell on it for the winning touchdown. Needless
to say, this provoked a hasty change in the rules.
Gaylord Perry began his 22 year major league career with the San Francisco
Giants in 1962. Before the decade had ended, he and Juan Marichal had formed
one-two pitching punch comparable to the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax and Don
Drysdale. Perry’s breakout season was 1969 when he finished with a record of 218, the first of four 20-plus winning seasons he would enjoy. He won 134 games in
ten years with the Giants, a record second only to Marichal’s. Those wins
included a no-hitter against the Cardinals on September 17, 1968. In his travels
after leaving the Giants by trade in 1972, he would in total win Cy Young trophies
in both leagues, accumulate 314 career victories and notch 3534 strikeouts. The
Giants have retired his number 36 jersey. Gaylord Perry was inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1991.
These four remarkable athletes were elected by a panel of 70 Bay Area journalists
and broadcasters. For reservations and further information on BASHOF’s
Enshrinement Banquet, please contact the BASHOF office at 415-296-5607 or visit
www.bashof.org.