Former CIF Commissioner Fagans Earns Lifetime Award : Hall of Fame: Baylor, Cleary, Cromwell and Timmons inducted at Orange County sports banquet.

Ken Fagans, who was CIF Southern Section commissioner from 1954-75, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Thursday night’s Orange County Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Disneyland Hotel.

Fagans, 80, was honored at the conclusion of the evening’s program, which was highlighted by the inductions of former Ram defensive back Nolan Cromwell, former Angel Don Baylor, former USC football player Paul Cleary and volleyball player Steve Timmons.

Cromwell, a Ram starter for eight seasons (1979-86), led the NFL in interceptions with eight in 1980 and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Year. He played in four consecutive Pro Bowls, from 1980-83.

Baylor, who spent 17 major league seasons with Baltimore, Oakland, California, the New York Yankees, Boston and Minnesota, was the only Angel to be named American League Most Valuable Player. He was honored in 1979 when he hit .296 with 36 home runs and 139 RBIs.

Cleary was an All-American end at USC in 1947 and also was named Southern California junior college player of the year in 1942 when he led Santa Ana College to a 9-0 season and a No. 1 national ranking.

Timmons led the U.S. Olympic team to gold medals in 1984 and ’88 and was named volleyball MVP of the 1984 Games. The Newport Harbor High graduate also led USC to the NCAA championship in 1980.

Also honored Thursday night was former NFL punter Pat McInally, who received the Ralph Clark Award, which recognizes the distinguished achievements of sports personalities who have gone on to success in other careers; former Ram lineman Charlie Cowan, who received the Woody Dietch Award, and Ram front-office executive Jack Faulkner, who received the Good Guy Award.

McInally, a former two-sport standout at Villa Park High School, an All-American football player at Harvard and a kicker/punter with the Cincinnati Bengals, writes a syndicated column on youth sports that appears in 125 newspapers across the country. He also has written a book on youth sports.

Cowan, who spent 15 seasons on the Rams’ offensive line and made the Pro Bowl from 1967-70, has suffered from kidney failure in recent years. The Woody Dietch Award is presented annually to sports personalities who have shown the courage and strength to overcome serious injury or illness.

Faulkner spent 35 years in the NFL as both a coach and administrator. He is presently the Rams’ administrator of football operations.

Fagans, a standout basketball player who led Huntington Park High School to the 1927 Southern Section championship, spent the bulk of his career working with youths. He was the basketball coach at Compton High from 1950-53, during which time his teams won 53 consecutive games and two Southern Section titles.

During his tenure as Southern Section commissioner, the section expanded from 218 member schools to 458 and from 11 boys’ sports to 22 sports for both boys and girls. Fagans is credited with developing the modern playoff structure for what has become the nation’s seventh-largest high school athletic association.

“When I started, I had a part-time secretary who worked for nine months,” Fagans said. “We owned one typewriter and one desk. That was the office. Now, they have 14 full-time employees.”

Fagans witnessed an incredible amount of growth in his 21 years as commissioner, but the section has grown even more since his retirement in 1975. But some of the growth, most notably in the areas of corporate sponsorship and litigation, has shocked Fagans.

“I remember presenting an award at a championship event a few years ago, and the plaque had a Pepsi-Cola logo on it,” Fagans said. “The early pioneers in interscholastic athletics would have turned over in their graves if they saw that. Instead of the CIF tournament, it’s the CIF-Reebok tournament. I can’t get used to that.”

Court cases were not foreign to Fagans--he said the section had five or six in his 21 years--but they weren’t as common as they are now. Just last fall, the Savanna and Huntington Beach high school football teams attempted to overturn forfeited games in court.

“Litigation has gotten way out of hand,” Fagans said. “When you see parents and schools going to court to sue so kids can play, it’s a shame. But it’s a new era, and the same things are happening in all phases of sports. We had a number of court cases, but they were few and far between, and we won them all.”