Outstanding Athlete
2018 Hall of Fame
A class act. That was Mike Giusto as a student athlete at Carpinteria High and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Besides being a four-time NCAA Division 2 Tennis Individual Tournament qualifier in singles for Cal Poly, Giusto was presented the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award for Division 2 in 1988.
He considers the prestigious honor his proudest athletic achievement. Giusto achieved a lot during his high school and college athletic careers.
At Carpinteria High from 1980-83, he played on CIF 1-A Division championship tennis teams in ’81 and ’82 and a runner-up squad in ’83. Individually, he was CIF doubles semifinalist for all divisions with partner Ferenc Hodosy in ’83.
In the Tri-Valley League, he played on an undefeated championship team all four years and was undefeated as a player. He won TVL singles titles his junior and senior years after finishing as the runner-up to a teammate as a freshman and sophomore.
Giusto also was an impact player on the basketball team for the Warriors. He was reserve guard as a sophomore on a team that won the TVL and reached the CIF 1-A quarterfinals.
The next two years he started at point guard. He was named all-league as a junior, leading the team in assists, steals and free-throw percentage. The team won the TVL title and again advanced to the CIF 1-A quarterfinal. He was team captain as a senior but his season was cut short by an injury.
He had a distinguished tennis career at Cal Poly, earning All-American honors all four years, twice in singles and twice in doubles. He posted four wins against Division 1 top 100 players, including two in the top 10.
He reached the Division 2 Round of 16 in singles three times (’84, ’87, ’88) and was a quarterfinalist in doubles in ’87. aGiusto is in the Cal Poly Hall of Fame.
He earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Engineering Science and currently works as a manager in manufacturing engineering for Intuitive Surgical Inc. in Sunnyvale.
He and his wife, Tina, have twin 15-year-old boys (Cole and Jordon) and live in Los Gatos.
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