Cortez: Davis High’s Mazza among legends nominated for CIF all-century team
Jim Plunkett. John Elway. Ronnie Lott. Bill Walsh. John Madden. Billie Jean King.
And don’t forget Andrea Mazza.
Wait, who?
Andrea Mazza, the 1992 Davis High School graduate who starred at goalie for the Spartans water polo team.
Mazza may not be a household name like the others mentioned above, but she is on the ballot for the California Interscholastic Federation’s all-century team.
“I feel extremely honored to be on a list with such amazing athletes,” said Mazza, who coaches the varsity and junior varisty boys and girls at her alma mater. “I had a great time playing water polo; it was an awesome experience. I’m trying to give that to these kids.”
Mazza is one of 23 Stanislaus District athletes named on the ballot.
“The CIF is excited to be celebrating 100 years of education-based athletics in California,” executive director Roger L. Blake said in a press release. “We encourage everyone to please join us in the celebration of high school sports and participate in selecting and honoring our CIF All-Century teams throughout the school year.”
Fans can vote for their favorite fall-season athletes at cifstate.org/news/100_fall_voting.
Voting concludes on Nov. 1, and since it’s limited to fall sports, only football, volleyball, water polo, girls tennis and cross country players are eligible.
Of the nominees from the Stanislaus District, Riverbank cross country runner German Fernandez, a two-time state champion who still holds the state meet record, seems the most likely to make the team. The 2008 graduate also set two national records at the state track and field meet, a fact that should get him placed on the spring sports ballot later in the school year.
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (Pitman, 2006) was not on the ballot, but there was one Turlock football player who was – Turlock High’s Paul Larson, Class of 1950.
Most kids, and a lot of adults outside of Turlock, probably have never heard of Larson, whose athletic exploits occurred five decades ago.
Larson was California’s Player of the Year in 1949, helping the Bulldogs win 28 consecutive games during his time in blue and gold. All 11 starters on that Turlock team – everybody played both ways – went on to college. Larson played at the University of California, where he was named All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and was fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting (Wisconsin’s Alan Ameche won the award) in 1954.
“I’m just glad to be included,” said Larson, 82, who still lives in Turlock. “All those awards really mean a lot to me. I’ve had a lot of them and really I appreciate it and I’m so happy when they recognize me. I’m very proud.”
Larson said he didn’t know he’d made the All-American team until the following year when he was playing for the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL. And he didn’t know he’d been so close to the Heisman Trophy until four or five years later. That probably seems impossible to the social media generation.
In 2012, Larson was named to the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Hall of Fame – and he knew about that one in time to attend the induction dinner.
The CIF seems to have relied heavily on the Cal-Hi Sports record book. If you compare the list of All-Century nominees to a list of Cal-Hi Players of the Year, you’ll see a lot of the same names. And that’s fine. Cal-Hi has long been recognized as the premiere authority on statewide high school athletics.
But there were oversights.
For instance, Onterrio Smith of Grant High (Sacramento) was one of the greatest running backs in the history of the Sac-Joaquin Section. He rushed for more than 3,000 yards and scored nearly 60 touchdowns as a senior. He went on to play at the University of Oregon and in the NFL. Still, he was left off the ballot, as was former Ripon Christian coach Randy Fasani, a highly touted prep quarterback at Del Oro (Loomis). As a senior, Fasani was a Parade All-American and the most sought after quarterback in the nation. He went on to play at Stanford and briefly in the NFL.
“As the person who chases down Hall of Fame nominees for the section, I know it’s super easy to miss somebody,” said Will DeBoard, director of communications for the Sac-Joaquin Section (and former prep editor at The Modesto Bee). “We count on our schools and regular folks to send in information.”
Of the nearly two dozen nominees, Turlock had the most with six, while Davis had five and Beyer four. Of the 23, 19 were girls water polo players.
This story was originally published September 10, 2014 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Cortez: Davis High’s Mazza among legends nominated for CIF all-century team."