On May 8, and in conjunction with its 100th Anniversary, the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC), one of the nation’s oldest Italian athletic clubs, will be hosting its First Annual High School Awards Banquet at its North Beach Clubhouse located at 1630 Stockton Street.
The awards program is modeled after the Downtown Athletic Club's Heisman Trophy but will recognize the top high school athletes and coaches in the City of San Francisco.
Each of the Awards has been named after an Italian-American or club member with ties to San Francisco and high character that makes them a great role model for our recipients. The event is a fundraiser that will support high school sports in San Francisco.
There is a wide array of awards being presented but the Mission Basketball team and 5-time NCAA champion University of San Francisco soccer Coach Stephen Negoesco will receive special recognition, plus the soccer awards will be in Negoesco’s name, Mission star Niamey Harris and Coach Arnold Zelaya will receive individual honors as well.
Harris will receive the Kevin Restani Basketball Trophy named after the former Riordan, USF and NBA who passed away in 2010.
The female recipient will be Cincinnati-bound IImar’I Thomas of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The top two soccer player from the City will be given the Stephen Negoesco Trophy. The male recipient is Dominic Galletti of St. Ignatius and the female winner is Lizzy Wagner of St. Ignatius.
The SFIAC Football Trophy will go to Turkey Day hero and two-way Lincoln star Ronald Phelps.
The Dante Benedetti Coach Trophy recognizes lifetime achievement by high school coaches in an sport in San Francisco. Benedetti was a native-born North Beach fixture as a restaurateur, and also was a baseball star himself as well at Galileo and USF. He also won 373 games as the Dons coach. The USF baseball diamond is named after Benedetti.
The inaugural winners are Ronald Isola and John Donohue.
Isola was an alumnus of Archbishop Riordan and went on to spend a lifetime as a teacher, basketball and baseball coach, and athletic director until his retirement in 2012. Donohue won 735 games in 33-years as the baseball coach at Lowell and was the American Baseball Association National Coach of the Year in 2013 and the Cal-Hi sports 2015 State Coach of the Year.
The Stephen Mariucci Trophy recognizes the high school Coach of the Year in any sport in San Francisco. Mariucci is a long time member of the SFIAC and was head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 1997 to 2002 and also coached the Detroit Lions and at Cal.
The 2017 recipient is Mission’s Zelaya, a 1987 alum of Sacred Heart. Zelaya led the Mission Bears to a 35-1 record, a AAA Championship and the CIF D3 State Championship, which was the first State Championship in the history of San Francisco public schools in basketball.
The winner of the Joe DiMaggio Baseball Trophy has yet to be announced.
Besides the SFIAC other sponsors include the San Francisco Giants.
Tickets for the banquet can be purchased by calling the club at 415 781-0165 or online at www.sfiac.org
Cost: Students and family $50, SFIAC members $65, guests $80. A portion of the ticket price will be tax deductible.
