New Magnificent Seven — Noah Bryant, Mike Cano, Heather Hafner, Kiley Neushul, William Schabram, Mike Warren and Kelly White — to be inducted during 54th annual banquet
Sports heroes are forged into legends in the cauldron of storytelling.
The Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table has tended that fire for us for more than a half-century.
It will induct seven new members into its Hall of Fame during its 54th annual banquet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Cabrillo Pavilion on the Santa Barbara waterfront.
Athletes Noah Bryant, Heather Hafner, Kiley Neushul, William Schabram and Kelly White; special achievement honoree Mike Cano; and community leader Mike Warren will bring its total number of inductees up to 330. (Scroll down for biographies.).
Babe Ruth himself declared that, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”
The memory of a local version of the Babe named Gene Lillard — an inductee in the Athletic Round Table’s inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1968 — flared to life this summer when the Chicago Cubs played the St. Louis Cardinals.
Lillard out-slugged another New York Yankee legend during the Pacific Coast League season of 1935 when he hit 56 home runs for the minor league Los Angeles Angels. “Joltin’” Joe DiMaggio of the San Francisco Seals finished 32 homers behind him in second place.
But Lillard, a 1932 graduate of Santa Barbara High School, also showed his Babe Ruthian versatility after converting into a pitcher.
After the Cubs give him nary a look as a hitter in 1936, offering him only 37 plate appearances, he returned to the minors to win 14 games as a pitcher with the Seals in 1937. The Cubs recalled him after he won 16 more games with the Angels in 1938.
His Major League Baseball career consisted of just three seasons, but he made his pitching debut in a blaze of glory. His first two appearances with the Cubs in 1939 — complete-game victories of 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates and 4-1 over the Cardinals — were recalled by the Chicago media last June after rookie Matt Swarmer had his own first two outings with the Cubs.
Swarmer’s 6-1 win over the Cardinals marked the first time since Lillard’s feat that a Cubs’ pitcher had allowed one run or less in six-plus innings during his first two outings.
All of the remaining members of the Athletic Round Table’s Hall of Fame Class of 1968 were Lillard’s contemporaries.
Clarence Schutte, the first coach to gain induction, had been Lillard’s mentor at Santa Barbara High. His name will soon return to the limelight as Bishop Diego High’s Tom Crawford approaches his Santa Barbara County record for football coaching victories.
Schutte compiled a record of 171-48-10 from 1925 to 1950, winning three CIF Southern California championships and finishing second four times. Crawford, who won the 2017 CIF State title and finished as a CIF-Southern Section runner-up in 2007, has a record of 158-98-1 over the last 23 seasons.
Max Fleishmann, the yeast king and philanthropist, was inducted alongside his close friend, Schutte, in 1968 as a community leader. Fleishmann, a renowned yachtsman who helped build the Santa Barbara Harbor, became a Dons’ booster when he paid for the lights at Peabody Stadium.
Two other Dons of note — tennis star Keith Gledhill and football stalwart Lou Tsoutsouvas — joined Lillard as the first athletes to gain induction.
Gledhill actually won his first High School Singles Championship at the Ojai Invitational when he was just 11 years old. He claimed the crown in both 1922 and 1923 while attending Eichler’s School, and again in 1925 as a Santa Barbara Junior High student. He won it again in 1927 for the Dons.
He also captured the 1931 NCAA singles championship and 1932 doubles title while playing for Stanford. He was a doubles champion at both the U.S. and Australian championships and also made the singles final in the Grand Slam event in Australia.
Tsousouvas was just one grade behind Lillard at Santa Barbara High. He earned All-CIF Southern California honors as a football center 39 years before his son, Mike, was voted onto the 1971 All-CIF team as a running back.
Lou also played at Stanford before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. He coached at Humboldt State before returning to town to succeed Schutte, serving as the Dons’ coach from 1951 to 1955.
The glorious Hall of Fame parade continues with this year’s class:
Athlete Inductees
Noah Bryant, Carpinteria High School
Noah Bryant excelled in two sports for Carpinteria High School, winning a state championship in track and field while also earning both All-CIF Southern Section and All-County honors in football for the Warriors.
He received All-State recognition as a shot putter for two years in a row while setting the Santa Barbara County record. He won the CIF California State Meet during his senior year of 2002 by defeating Adam Tafralis, the son of Olympian Gregg Tafralis.
Bryant continued to USC where he won All-America honors four times in the shot put. The accomplishment was even more remarkable considering that he lost most of his sophomore season after a freak hammer throw accident. He needed reconstructive surgery after the implement bounced off the protective screen and into his face.
He captured NCAA titles in 2007 at both the indoor and outdoor championships, earning the Trojans’ Most Valuable Athlete Award. He was also a two-time All-Pac 10 champion. His school record of 20.56 meters stood until last year. He also competed that year at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
He finished fourth at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2007 and sixth in 2009. Bryant, who finished second at the Pan American Junior Championships as a USC freshman, later competed for the United States at the regular 2011 Pan Am Meet in Mexico. His lifetime bests were 20.80 meters in the shot put and 61.73 in the hammer.
Bryant also coached shot-putters at Texas A&M while training and competing professionally, and volunteered for the Special Olympics.
Heather Hafner, Bishop Diego High School
Heather Hafner led Bishop Diego to CIF-Southern Section girls volleyball championships as an outside hitter during each of her last three seasons — 1977 through 1979. She was voted CIF Player of the Year in 1978 and Tri-Valley League MVP in both 1978 and 1979. The Cardinals inducted her into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame last month.
She continued her success during her four years as a starter at Cal State Northridge. The Matadors won the NCAA Division II championship in 1983 and made it to the finals in her other three seasons (1982, 1984 and 1985).
Hafner helped the Matadors win a school-record 21 consecutive matches during her senior year while earning California Collegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Player honors. She was a three-time All-CCAA selection at Northridge.
She made the NCAA All-Tournament Team in both 1983 and 1985 and was a three-time NCAA All-American. Her career hitting percentage of .340 still ranks fourth in the CSUN record books. She’s also among its single-season top 10 for both hitting percentage and solo blocks. She was inducted into the Matadors’ Hall of Fame in 2018.
Hafner also played professional beach volleyball for 12 years. She was ranked in the top 25 of the Women’s Professional Volleyball Association six times during a seven-year span (1987-1993). She also played on the AVP Tour, making the semifinals in two of its tournaments.
She even returned to the indoor game, playing for the Dallas Belles of Major League Volleyball, as well as internationally for Niort, France.
One of her proudest achievements was to return “to the professional tour as a lefthander” after undergoing reconstructive surgery on her right shoulder.
Kiley Neushul, Dos Pueblos High School
Kiley Neushul starred on four consecutive CIF-SS championship teams (2008-2011) for Dos Pueblos High School, winning the first title in Division 2 and the next three in Division 1. She was named CIF-SS Player of the Year in all four of those seasons. The Chargers had a 67-game winning streak during her tenure.
She also helped her Santa Barbara Aquatics Club team win a national title and earned All-America honors in 2011.
Neushul accepted a scholarship to play at Stanford, leading the Cardinal to three NCAA championships. She gained All-America honors during all four of her seasons — making the first team three times — and finished her career as one of only four Stanford players to reach the milestone of 200 goals.
She won the Peter J. Cutino Award as the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Player of the Year during both her freshman and senior years.
She served as captain of the USA Junior National Team that won the FINA Junior World Championships in 2013. She also helped the USA Women’s Senior Team win a bronze medal that same year at the World League Super Final.
Neushul’s crowning achievement was to win the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro while scoring 10 goals.
She also helped Spain’s CN Sabadell win championships in the European Cup, in the Spanish League and in the Spanish Cup.
William Schabram, San Marcos High School
William Schabram and San Marcos High School classmate Dennis Savage were the one-two punch for the Royals’ track and field team of 1965. They both clocked 4:11.9 in the mile run at the at the CIF-SS Meet, with Schabram edging out his teammate by a nose to finish second in the Class A Division.
Schabram, who was named San Marcos High’s Athlete of the Year as a senior, held the school record in the mile for 25 years.
He also won the CIF-SS Division AA cross country championship in both the falls of 1963 and 1964. He clocked the fastest time for all divisions on both occasions.
Schabram excelled at Occidental College, as well. He placed second in the mile at the 1969 NCAA Division II Championships and still holds the school records in both the mile (4:02.9) and two mile (8:56.9).
He competed for the U.S. Army team at the World Military Championships in cross country in Italy in 1970 and in track and field in Finland in 1971. He was invited to the Olympic Training Camp in Oregon during the summer of both years.
Schabram, who was previously inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at both Occidental and San Marcos, volunteered to train the Royals’ distance runners during the spring of 1972.
Kelly White, San Marcos High School
Kelly White led San Marcos to a share of the CIF-SS Division 2 soccer championship in 2006, battling highly ranked Tesoro High School in Orange County to a scoreless draw. She was named as the division’s Defensive Player of the Year for her efforts.
White won the MVP Award for the Royals in both 2004 and 2005, and was named Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Girls Soccer Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. She capped her high school career with the Channel League’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
She continued her career at the University of Hawai‘i-Hilo where she was named team MVP and an All-Pac West player as a freshman. She led the nation that year with nine assists and also scored six goals before breaking her leg. She broke the school’s single-season assist record and was ranked 11th nationally despite playing in only 14 matches.
As a sophomore, White was one of only two players to be voted all-conference for the second-straight year. She was also voted PacWest Conference Preseason Player of the Year that season.
White is the career leader in assists at Hawai‘i-Hilo and ranks eighth in total points.
Special Achievement Inductee
Mike Cano
Mike Cano, a 1976 graduate of Bishop Diego High School, had just completed his service as its interim athletic director when he died of a brief illness in July 2020. His death marked the end of his four decades of service as a renowned sports official, administrator and coach.
He joined the Channel Coast Officials Association as a football referee in 1979. He also umpired both baseball and softball, and eventually served as both president and secretary-treasurer of the organization.
Cano was selected to work the CIF-Southern Section football finals five times, and also worked the 1996 Shrine Football High School All-Star Classic that pitted the best players from California and Texas.
As a baseball umpire, Cano worked the CIF-SS Division 1 championship games at Dodger Stadium in 1998 and Anaheim Stadium in 2003. He also umpired the 2012 Division V final at UC Riverside.
The Channel Coast Officials Association honored him “for his service” with its 1998 Dick Olmstead Award and “for his performance” with its 2016 Cal Houston-Burt Davis Award.
Cano officiated junior college as well as NCAA and NAIA collegiate baseball. He also umpired California Collegiate League summer games and was selected to work the 2010 National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas.
He returned to Bishop Diego in 2015 to serve as its associate athletic director. He also coached the school’s junior varsity football and baseball teams, girls golf, and was an assistant coach for girls softball.
Cano filled in for Dan Peeters from July 2019 to May 2020 when the 4-year-old son of the Cardinals’ then-athletic director was diagnosed with leukemia.
Community Leader Inductee
Mike Warren
Mike Warren, a star linebacker for the UC Santa Barbara football team during the late 1960s, served on the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table’s Board of Directors for nearly a dozen years after completing a nearly 50-year run as a coach and athletic director. One of his main endeavors before his death in January was with the Positive Coaching Alliance.
He was hired to his first teaching and head coaching job at Carpinteria High in the fall of 1971. He went 33-7 in four years with the Warriors, winning a pair of Tri-Valley League championships as well as the Athletic Round Table’s High School Coach of the Year Award in 1974.
Warren also posted a 94-28-3 record during 10 seasons at Lompoc High School, which featured eight league championships and four straight appearances (1977 through 1980) in the CIF-Southern Section finals. He coached the South team at the 1982 Shrine All-Star Football Game at the Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the North Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame in 2017.
UCSB, which had dropped football in 1971, went to Warren when it decided to resurrect the sport. He took over as head coach of its club program in 1985 and then guided his alma mater’s re-entry into NCAA competition in the fall of 1986. He posted an 18-11 record in three seasons against Division 3 and Division 2 competition.
Warren stepped down after going 8-2 in 1988 to become the athletic director at Lompoc High, where his children, Kevin and Jennifer, were student-athletes. He also served as athletic director at Santa Barbara City College from 2006 to 2010.
— Noozhawk sports columnist Mark Patton is a longtime local sports writer. Contact him at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook. The opinions expressed are his own.
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