Burroughs names hall of fame class
BURROUGHS HIGH — Burroughs High Athletic Director Marty Garrison gets a kick out of looking for former athletes to induct into the school’s hall of fame.
Scanning through years of information and a large group of deserving individuals, Garrison and others make sure that each year the Burroughs Athletic Hall of Fame is well represented by former Indians standouts.
Throughout the years, Garrison said he is continually surprised at the response he gets when he tells a former athlete about his or her induction.
“It’s unbelievable at how honored they are to be going into the hall of fame,” said Garrison, a Burroughs graduate himself. “They are always appreciative and they try and do all they can to come back to the school for their ceremony.
“We had one former all member, Bill Flora. They even mentioned that he was a member of the John Burroughs hall of fame in his obituary. That’s how much it meant to him.”
Burroughs will be honoring its 2010 hall of fame class Oct. 15 prior to the Pacific League game against Arcadia. The ceremony will take place at approximately 6:15 p.m. at Memorial Field.
The inductees will also meet in the school’s gym prior to being led out to Memorial Field, and they will be treated to dinner adjacent to the field.
One of this year’s inductees, Mike Sheppard, is taking time off from his duties as a receivers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals to attend the ceremony. The Bengals have a bye the following Sunday.
A 1968 graduate, Sheppard was a three-sport standout at Burroughs, excelling in football, baseball, and basketball. He went on to enjoy success at football and baseball at California Lutheran University.
In baseball, Sheppard was selected to the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 team two straight years for the Kingsmen. He went on to play minor league baseball.
Along with coaching at the collegiate level in football, he has been an assistant in the NFL for 17 years. He was the head coach at Long Beach State and New Mexico, as well as serving as an offensive coordinator in the NFL at San Diego (1997-98), Buffalo (2001) and New Orleans (2005).
Also being inducted is Elvin “Hutch” Hutchison, who was Burroughs’ first head football and boys’ basketball coach.
He enjoyed a football career at Whittier College, graduating in 1937. Playing football, baseball and running track, he was inducted into the Whittier College Athletics Hall of Fame.
Following his collegiate career, Hutchison was a halfback for the NFL’s Detroit Lions in 1939. He also played for Los Angeles Bulldogs and Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League until 1948.
Hutchison was an official in the NFL from 1952-1959 and in the American Football League from 1960-69.
Joining the 2010 class is Kim Peppi-Kuenn, who starred in girls’ basketball and softball for the Indians from 1980-83.
A former All-American in softball at Burroughs, she also set school records with the Indians’ basketball team.
She went on to enjoy a award-winning career in softball as a pitcher and in women’s basketball at California Lutheran University. She still is among the top ten in a half-dozen categories for the Regals in softball, including second in innings pitched (176 1/3) tied for fourth in complete games (19) and tied for first in saves (three). She earned All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first-team honors all four years and was an All-American as a junior.
In basketball she scored 1,523 career points for the Regals from 1983-87 to set a school record, a record that lasted 19 years. He was inducted into the college’s hall of fame in 2005.
The final inductee is Jeff Fitzgerald, who was a football standout at linebacker for the Indians from 1974-77.
After Burroughs, he played at Oregon State and in 1985 joined the University of Cincinnati coaching staff. He was also an assistant at Alabama and San Diego State, and has had jobs in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals and the Baltimore Ravens.
He has gone on to enjoy a 17-year coaching career in the NFL, and is in his third season as linebackers coach with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Also being honored at the event is Monica Flores, a former Burroughs athletic secretary who worked for the district for more than 30 years.