Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Announces 2009 Enshrinement Class
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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.