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2008 Hall of Fame Banquet

January 27, 2008

VC Star, Joe Curley, 1/28/08. Clint Strozier and Fran Fredette were football teammates at both Oxnard High and Moorpark College. Manny Trevino coached Colleen Gainey to a state championship in the javelin throw. Al Nordquist coached Frank Jackson to a pair of Western State Conference titles and Steve Parrott to the school record in career field-goal percentage. In the bat sports, Gabe Kapler and Malia Ouzts-Krogsdad were two of the top hitters in Moorpark history. The careers of the nine inductees in Moorpark College's fourth Hall of Fame class, inducted Sunday night at Moorpark Country Club, intertwined gloriously. "What makes Moorpark College special is its people," said Moorpark athletic director Howard Davis. Nordquist, who coached the men's basketball team to 513 wins in 28 seasons, not only was a founding member of the school's faculty, but returned to the school twice after his initial retirement. "I'm the only person in Moorpark College who has flunked retirement twice," said Nordquist. "I hope I can graduate this time." After Moorpark, Jackson guided Boise State to the NCAA Tournament and built a 14-year professional career in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. A baseball star at Camarillo High, Parrott recounted the story of how his high school friend and current Moorpark coach, Remy McCarthy, convinced him to try basketball. "I didn't want to wear those short-short pants," said Parrott. Before he coached Santa Clara High to a CIF football title in December, Fredette was named to All-America teams in football and wrestling. Strozier, a Marmonte League Player of the Year in both basketball and football at Oxnard High in 1972, was an honorable-mention football All-American at Moorpark who was on Liberty Bowl- and Rose Bowl-winning teams at USC before being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. "He's one of the top 10 athletes in the history of Ventura County," said Moorpark football coach Jim Bittner, who coached Strozier at Oxnard High and Moorpark College. "I'd like to have another one." Gainey, recruited out of a weight-training class by former coach John Keever, won the state javelin title at Moorpark and the NCAA Division II title at Cal State Northridge. Kapler, Moorpark College's first World Series champion, was in right field when the Boston Red Sox broke the "Curse of the Bambino" with a sweep of the Cardinals. He wore his World Series ring and told a story of the Red Sox's famous brawl with the rival New York Yankees, started when catcher Jason Varitek stuck his catcher's mitt in the face of Yankees star Alex Rodriguez. "We were struggling and Jason knew that we needed a spark at that moment," said Kapler. "I'm not condoning violence by any means. This is part of a teamwork story." Ouzts-Krogsdad was the WSC's Softball Player of the Year in 1986 and 1987 and still holds several school records including career batting average (.415). In 26 years at Moorpark College, Trevino coached the track and cross country teams to 19 WSC, five Southern California and the 1996 men's cross country state titles. His teams won 637 of 800 meets. Moorpark also introduced its new Champion of Character award, which "recognizes the character traits that we teach." "All you hear about is steroids and dogfighting and cheating in sports," said Davis. "It's all negative. We wanted to honor our student-athletes who did things the right way." Former men's basketball forward Macario Ruano and women's soccer defender Jessica Zuelhsdorf were honored with the award.