Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2010

Three inducted into Chowchilla Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame

When it comes to dinners that support the youth of Chowchilla, the community comes out strong.

About 250 people were in attendance on Feb. 20, for the Chowchilla Athletic Foundation's Sixth Annual Hall of Fame dinner.

The dinner was held at the SFA Portuguese Hall in Chowchilla and made more than $6,000 to go towards the athletic sports in Chowchilla.

Chowchilla Athletic Foundation Founder/President Alex Pittz stated, "We (CAF members) feel like it was a very successful night. We had lots of help from the high school students setting up and cleaning after for their community service hours."

Pittz continued, "We had a packed raffle and silent action. People really came through with the donations for those."

Each sport donates gift items for the raffle and silent auction. Money collected for those items go towards the sport that donated the gift.

With the youth sports coming on board, Pittz believes that in the upcoming years, the dinner is just going to get bigger and better.

The first person to be inducted into the CAF Hall of Fame was Dianna Hansen. Her daughter, Sandra Hansen, spoke about her mom. She told how her mother loved working with the sports activities around Chowchilla. "Even when she was unable to attend the sports events due to her illness, my mom always asked about how the Redskins were doing," she said.

Dianne Hansen spent most of her adult life serving youth sports in Chowchilla. She served as a coach for each of her daughter's Bobby Sox softball teams, and in the mid 1980s began working part time for the Chowchilla Parks and Recreation Department. Dianna also served on numerous boards for Chowchilla youth sports programs and was the Treasurer for many years on the Chowchilla Athletic Boosters Board. She spent many years working at the weekly bingo fundraisers and at the high school concession stand, and even worked at the Athletic Foundation's first Hall of Fame Dinner. Dianna volunteered her time and work to numerous organizations until her health no longer allowed it. She was always very proud to help her community.

The second Hall of Fame inductee, Stacey Miller, was introduced by former coach Maureen Riley. Riley talked about how Stacey still holds some records at Chowchilla Union High School. Riley feels privileged to be a part of Stacey's high school years and enjoys working with her now on campus as a basketball coach.

Miller stated she was excited to be a part of a small community. She was very thankful to her parents, Pete and Rita Cornaggia for supporting her through all of her endeavors. She looks forward to continue working on the CUHS campus as the girls varsity head basketball coach.

Stacey (Cornaggia) Miller played volleyball and basketball at Chowchilla High from 1984-1988 and was a first team All-League performer in both sports. She also played during her high school years in Russia and Sweden on an All American team. After high school, Stacey received a basketball scholarship to Fresno State and was a starter there for four years. She is currently the 11th leading scorer in school history with 1,172 points. After college, Stacey coached an AAU basketball team in Reno, Nev. for two years before returning to Chowchilla. Since returning to Chowchilla, Stacey has continued to coach at the high school and youth levels and is currently the girls varsity head basketball coach. She's also a current member of the Chowchilla Lioness Club, was the co-director of the Miss Madera Pageant for three years and was on the board of directors for the Chowchilla Redfins Swim Club for four years (she served as president for two of those years).

The last inductee, Rich Bartlewski, was introduced by former CUHS coach Bob Prior. Prior was a coach and teacher in the 1980s at CUHS. He was the assistant football coach and the head track coach. Prior told numerous stories about Bartlewski's high school career. He told how he took tapes to show Bartlewski's talent. He was more than thrilled to be asked to introduce Rich Bartlewski.