Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Announcing the Class of 2019

Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame

FRESNO COUNTY ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES CLASS OF 2019

Inductees to be honored at annual enshrinement dinner in November

The Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame (FCAHOF) is pleased to announce the following individuals and teams have been selected for enshrinement in 2019:

  • Andrea Duran 
  • Matt Giordano 
  • Michael Pittman 
  • Adrian Williams-Strong 
  • 1960 Roosevelt American Legion (baseball) 
  • 1967 Fresno Volleyball Club

The class of 2019 will officially be inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame on Thursday, November 7th. It will take place at the Fresno Convention Center (Valdez Hall), during the 61st annual enshrinement dinner.

“We are thrilled to welcome the class of 2019 into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame,” said president Gordie Webster, Jr. “It is a huge honor to be enshrined alongside such valley legends as Tom Seaver, Laura Berg and Stephen Abas. These deserving members will soon get to share in that spotlight.”

Andrea Duran is being inducted for softball. A Selma native, Duran won two national championships at UCLA and an Olympic silver medal at the 2008 games in Beijing.

Matt Giordano is the current head football coach at his alma mater, Buchanan High School. Giordano helped the Bears win a valley title in 2000. He is a nine-year NFL veteran who won a Super Bowl in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts.

Michael Pittman was originally approved for induction into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. The fifth-leading rusher in Fresno State football history with 3,017 yards, Pittman would go on to play 11 seasons in the NFL. He is a Super Bowl champion, having won a ring in 2003 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Adrian Williams-Strong is a former WNBA all-star. A graduate of Clovis West High School, Williams-Strong went on to play at USC and later for eight seasons in the WNBA. She was a second-round draft pick by the Phoenix Mercury in 2000. In 2003, her all-star season, she averaged 9.8 ppg and 7.4 rpg for Phoenix.

Led by head coach Jake Abbott and future major league pitcher Wade Blasingame, the 1960 Roosevelt American Legion Baseball Team won the California state championship and went on to finish runner-up at the regional finals in Bend, Oregon. Abbott (1986) and Blasingame (1985) are already enshrined in the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame as individuals.

In 1967, the Fresno Volleyball Club ended its season with a national championship. John Alstrom, who was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame as an individual in 1991, was one of nine players on that team that won the National Volleyball Association Championship in Detroit, Michigan.

Founded in 1958, the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame was established to honor the past, celebrate the present and inspire the future. To date, it has enshrined 338 individuals and 32 teams. The Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame, which will soon have a permanent home inside Fresno's Save Mart Center, is a non-profit organization in our community. 

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