Hall of Fame Will Honor John Raitt With Award

Broadway performer John Raitt, a former three-sport star at Fullerton High School, will receive the Ralph Clark Award at the Orange County Hall of Fame Banquet Feb. 16.

The award, named for Clark, an Orange County supervisor who has been involved in athletics throughout his career, is presented annually by the Hall of Fame to a former Orange County athlete who has distinguished himself in a field other than sports.

Raitt competed in football, basketball and track at Fullerton in the 1930s and held the state record for the shotput at 55 feet 10 inches.

Raitt made his Broadway debut April 19, 1945, as Billy Bigelow in Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel.” That performance was voted best of the year by an actor in a musical by the New York Drama Critics, the Theatre World and Donaldson Awards committees.

He went on to portray Sid Sorokin in “The Pajama Game,” playing the lead male role in 1,060 performances. He later appeared in the motion picture of the same name. In 1975, he celebrated his 30th year on the stage by playing the title role in the National Company’s musical “Zorba.”

Raitt will open Feb. 19 in “Most Happy Fella” at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

He is also the father of pop singer Bonnie Raitt.

Raitt joins four Hall of Fame inductees who will be honored at the Feb. 16 banquet at the Emerald Hotel in Anaheim. They are former Ram star Jack Youngblood, All-American basketball player Ann Meyers, four-time Olympic gold medal diver Pat McCormick and Harry M. (Cap) Sheue, who had a distinguished three-sport coaching career at Huntington Beach High School.

For ticket information, call 835-4580.