County Stars to Be Inducted Into Hall of Fame Tonight

Isaac Curtis, who played with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League from 1973-84, will be inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame at its banquet tonight at the Emerald Hotel in Anaheim.

Other inductees include former jockey Alex Maese, retired Orange County Sheriff Jim Musick and Wendell Pickens, who started the athletic program at Orange Coast College.

Curtis is a former football and track star at Santa Ana High School. He played at the University of California and San Diego State before becoming one of the top receivers in the NFL.

Curtis played in four Pro Bowls and the 1982 Super Bowl. He scored 53 touchdowns and gained 7,106 yards in receptions.

Maese graduated from Anaheim High in 1946 and began a 29-year career as a thoroughbred jockey. He won the prestigious George Woolf Award in 1966 and rode a mount in the Kentucky Derby in 1961.

Musick was the starting fullback for USC from 1929-31 and played on two Rose Bowl teams. Playing for the Boston Redskins, he led the NFL in rushing in 1933. He served as the county’s sheriff for 28 years before his retirement in 1975.

Pickens was a four-sport star at Fullerton High and later played at Fullerton College and Arizona State. He founded the athletic program at Orange Coast College in 1948 and served as the school’s baseball coach for 20 years.

Other standouts who will be honored tonight include former Servite football star Todd Hart, who will receive the Woody Deitch Award for courage. Hart was injured in a football game against UCLA four years ago while playing for Cal State Long Beach. He was paralyzed and has been confined to a wheelchair most of the time since the injury but has managed to walk with a walker in therapy sessions. He has said that he plans to walk up to receive the Deitch Award.

Retired El Modena football Coach Bob Lester will receive The Good Guy Award, and Arthur (Red) Patterson of the Angels will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The dinner will begin at 7. For further information, call 835-4580.