Ferguson inducted into GCC Athletic Hall of Fame

Mirjam Swanson

GLENDALE -- When the best of the best former Glendale Community

College athletes gathered for a celebration, it was no surprise that

Cathy Ferguson was among them.

About 200 supporters were on hand Sunday as Ferguson, a Burbank High

graduate, Donna Mayhew, Carl Boldt, J. Walter Smith, Chuck Gibson and the

1985 Vaquero football team were the first class inducted into the

Glendale Community College Athletic Hall of Fame at the J.W. Smith

Student Center on the GCC campus.

It was a fun, memory-stirring event for the appreciative group of

honorees.

“This is quite an honor,” said Ferguson, who received the Pillar of

Achievement induction.

Ferguson played basketball at GCC, after -- as a Burbank student --

won two gold medals and set two world records as a swimmer at the 1964

Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Graduating from GCC in 1966, Ferguson is now the Chief Marketing

Officer for the American Youth Soccer Organizatio. He also serves as the

vice president of United State Olympians.

“Perhaps the most fun of all my years of education were here at

Glendale College,” Ferguson said.

“First and foremost, education is the key component to everything,

whether you’re an athlete nor not, you choose what you do with your life.

“Sports will be thre, but intimate participation will be short-lived,

while education will be with you for the rest of your life.

“And this [induction event] has been great, they’ve treated me

wonderfully well.”