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Rino Filippin

Rino Filippin, Hall of Fame Athlete
The winningest pitcher in the history of Santa Barbara High school baseball. That’s a lot of territory. But that what the record book says: Rino Filippin, Pitcher, 8-4 as a Sophomore, 9-3 as a junior, and 12-2 as a Senior for a composite record of 29-9. Like we said, the winningest pitcher in the history of SBHS baseball.

Filippin lettered two years each in football, basketball, and baseball, was All-CIF as a football tailback in the single-wing, and was All-CIF in baseball during both his Junior and Senior year.

But it was baseball that was Filippin’s sport. After graduating from SBHS in 1955, he attended SBCC where he led the Vaqueros to a State Championship as a Junior College All-American pitcher.

Following his career at SBCC he signed with the Cleveland Indians and played five years of professional ball.

When asked about Filippin, Chuck Sylvester, his coach at SBHS, said of the right-hander: “Rino was a very smart and intelligent pitcher who had great control and won games with his head as well as with his arm, and he did have a great arm.”

Sylvester added: “Rino was a natural baseball player and probably could have been All-CIF at any position. Filippin, who is with the U.S. Postal service, lives in Goleta with his wife, Julie. They have a son Bill and a daughter Traci.

Rino Filippin- one of our greatest!