SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The 2nd Annual San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC) High School Awards Banquet completely filled all 250 seats at the club’s historic 101-year old Washington Square location in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.
The banquet is supposed to be about recognizing the best high school athletes and coaches in the City of San Francisco while raising money for high schools sports in the city, and it was.
However, on Monday night it was quite a bit more as the club took the opportunity to announce that San Francisco Italian Athletic Club member Steve Mariucci, who was the 49ers head coach from 1997-2002 after a year at the helm of California, was a Guest of Honor and a SFIAC Hall of Fame inductee as well as the keynote speaker.
Besides Mariucci being honored, the Steve Mariucci Trophy given to the Coaches of the Year is named in honor of the current NFL Network analyst.
Another Guest of Honor was former University of San Francisco soccer coach Stephen Negoesco. The 92-year old Negoesco won five NCAA championships and the Stephen Negoesco Soccer Trophy the club gives to the top boys and girls soccer players in the city is named in his honor.
The members of the CIF Division 6-A Bowl Game champion Galileo Lions football team were also Guests of Honor and were recognized along with Mariucci and Negoesco.
Despite a who’s who of San Francisco high school sports celebrities and business leaders, the star of the show prior to the student-athletes being honored, was Mariucci. With his wife and daughter in the audience the Santa Clara County resident gave an enthusiastic 10-minute talk and then showed a 10-minute motivational film produced by NFL Films.
Mariucci had said prior to the festivities and told the audience as well that this was a night for the student-athletes and his entire talk was geared toward the kids.
“I mean it’s a thrill I’m being inducted into the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club Hall of Fame but it’s an even more of a thrill to honor the student-athletes of the city. The highlight of the program is honoring the student-athletes and coaches,” said Mariucci, whose family is involved in a number of charitable adventures involving youth and sports including the Steve Mariucci Foundation.
“I’m always looking to help a kid along,” continued Mariucci. “The lessons these deserving award winners learned in sports will mean so much to them as they continue to mature.”
Student-athletes stand out
Besides Mariucci there were 28 student-athletes and three current and two retired coaches honored, and when it came to the young people the phrase “student-athlete” was paramount.
There were 15 SFIAC Athletes of the Year honored and one of them, Alex Enos of St. Ignatius, was named the SFIAC Athlete of the Year.
Enos, a track and field star for the Wildcats, shattered the CIF Central Coast Section long jump record at the CCS Top 8 meet three weeks ago, winning the competition with a 25-0 jump. The previous mark, set in 1992 and matched nine years later, was 23-10. While Enos’ mark ranks No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the nation he was totally off the radar screen until this season.
“Last year I didn’t make it out of league and that angered me, so I was motivated to not let it happen again,” Enos said with reference to his big turnaround.
Not only does Enos do it on the track but at academically challenging St. Ignatius he carries a 4.5 weighted GPA and scored 1,460 on the SAT.
Eight finalists were named SFIAC Student Athletes of the Year with Lowell baseball player Owen Mahoney honored with the Angelo “Hank” Luisetti Trophy as the Student Athlete of the Year. Luisetti grew up in San Francisco’s North Beach, attended Galileo, and while starring at Stanford the Basketball Hall of Famer was considered the first high-profile player to use a jump shot.
Mahoney carries a 4.4 weighted GPA at ultra-tough Lowell and led Lowell to its sixth consecutive Academic Athletic Association (CIF San Francisco Section) championship last week.
There were also trophies given out in four sports.
Yarvell Smith, a sophomore running back from Galileo who rushed for 1,522 yards and 21 touchdowns and also had 78 tackles as a linebacker, won the Vince Tringali Football Trophy.
The late Tringali, a North Beach native, starred on the undefeated 1951 University of San Francisco football team and later coached at St. Ignatius.
The Kevin Restani Basketball Trophy named after the late Riordan and University of San Francisco star, went to Spencer Spivy of University and Miya Lewis-Hampton of Leadership High. Spivy was the top player on the 31-4 Red Devils team that made it all the way to the CIF Northern Regional Division III semifinals. Lewis-Hampton led the Excelsior District Griffin girls with a 27.3 point per game average this season and last year scored 56 points in a game against Washington.
The Negoesco Soccer Trophy was won by Nathan Kushner of St. Ignatius and Kikki Tucker of Lowell.
Sacred Heart Cathedral baseball player Martin Chavarria was the recipient of the Joe DiMaggio Baseball Trophy named after the North Beach native Yankee Clipper.
Three coaches received the Mariucci Trophy as Coaches of the Year, Mark Hunyh of CIF state football champion Galileo, Carin Marrs of University cross country, and St. Ignatius soccer coach Alan Downey.
Two retired coaches, Ernie Feibusch who coached soccer at Lowell, and legendary St. Ignatius basketball wizard Bob Drucker were honored with the Dante Benedetti Trophy for Lifetime Coaching Achievement. Benedetti was also a North Beach resident and a renowned baseball coach at the University of San Francisco.
Drucker had several members from one of his Wildcats teams from the early 1970’s at his table and was the night’s final honoree and speaker.
SFIAC Athletes of the Year
Travis Benham, Riordan football, basketball and baseball
Alex Bradshaw, Lowell baseball
James Chun, Riordan basketball
Marty Cole, Sacred Heart Cathedral baseball
Alex Enos, St. Ignatius track & field
Talo Li-Uperesa, Sacred Heart Cathedral basketball
Walter Lum, Lick-Wilmerding basketball
Julia Munz, University field hockey, soccer and track & field
Amin Oglesby, Sacred Heart Cathedral football and basketball
Ariana Pacheco, Washington soccer and softball
Adrian Poot, Galileo football
U’Jah Pratt, Mission football and basketball
Lana Radakovic, Lincoln volleyball
Darion Trammell, St. Ignatius basketball
David Woodruff, St. Ignatius football and soccer
SFIAC Student Athletes of the Year
Brandon Beckman, St. Ignatius basketball
Matthew Calhoun, Riordan baseball
Yasmin Jimenez, Lincoln basketball
Owen Mahoney, Lowell baseball
Julian Manyika, University basketball
Jorim Powell, Stuart Hall football, basketball and track & field
Courtney Resch, University basketball
Fiona Tam, Lincoln basketball
All proceeds from the banquet, which raised around $5,000 last year, goes to the Academic Athletic Association and Dante’s Boys Foundation, a non-profit in the spirit USF’s Benedetti that brings sports to underprivileged children.
Besides the SFIAC other sponsors were the San Francisco Giants, Original Joe’s restaurant, Jane Poppelreiter Real Estate, William M. Black CPA, Pinotti & Associates, Inc., Zephyr Real Estate, Toast Eatery, Advanced Wellness, SFIAC Events – Lisa Michelis and BFI LLC.
While the banquet is over the fundraising efforts for cash-strapped San Francisco high school and youth sports by the SFIAC is not.
“Any additional donations would be greatly appreciated and at this point would all add to our net and go to our beneficiaries,” Bessolo said. “If someone wants to donate they can contact me or send a check to SFIAC Foundation - HS Awards Dinner to 1630 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.”
To contact Bessolo or the SFIAC call 415 781-0166 or go to www.SFIAC.org
