Countdown of Glendale’s greatest begins

Jim Riggio

Over the course of a century, the city of Glendale has produced a

tremendous amount of quality athletes in many sports.

Although the selection process was long, hard and difficult, the

News-Press has narrowed its list down to its 50 greatest of all-time.

In forming this list several criteria were taken into account. First

and foremost, the athlete has to have either played sports at a local

school or lived in the city for a significant amount of time in their

life.

Another criteria taken into account was how dominant one was amongst

their peers in the era he or she competed in.

So without further adieu, here are the selections from 41-50.

50 -- Mike Baele: The 1983 Hoover High graduate earned All-America

honors and won five CIF Southern Section titles in swimming, taking the

50 freestyle in the 3-A in 1981 and 1982. He also won the 100-yard

freestyle in 1981, 1982 and 1983. He later competed at the Tulane

University, where he also earned All-America honors.

49 -- Darrell Sutherland: A 1959 graduate of Glendale High, Sutherland

was named the CIF Southern Section major division most valuable player.

Also an excellent baseball player, he played four years in the major

leagues, compiling a record of 5-4, all of which came when he played for

the New York Mets.

48 -- Margarito Casillas: The 1993 Hoover High graduate won two CIF

Southern Section and one state Division I title in cross-country. He also

won one CIF title in track and field. But Casillas’ biggest

accomplishments were winning the Kinney West Regional cross-country title

in 1991 and following that with a first-team All-America finish the

following week in the Kinney Nationals. Casillas, who is one of only

three runners to break the 15-minute barrier on the Crescenta Valley Park

course, competed at the University of Arizona and earned academic

All-America honors. He was a key member of the Wildcats’ 1994 Pac-10

Conference championship team.

47 -- Kenny Carpenter: The 1999 Crescenta Valley graduate won five CIF

titles in events and was a member of two CIF championship teams. Also a

water polo player, he earned All-America honors 20 times in his career,

which include swimming, water polo and academic achievement awards.

Carpenter is currently attending Brigham Young University.

46 -- George Musacco: Hailed as the one of the greatest football

players in Glendale High, history the 1947 graduate earned All-CIF

honors. He later went on to star at Loyola University (now Loyola

Marymount)where he was named the most valuable player all four years on a

team with many players who went on to play professionally. He was drafted

in the third round by the New York Yankees, which switched cities and

names several times before becoming the Baltimore Colts. The only thing

that kept him from playing professionally was the fact that he was also

drafted into the Navy because of the Korean War.

45 -- Michelle Greco: A 1998 graduate of Crescenta Valley High, Greco

was named the state’s top girls’ basketball player in her class all four

years in high school. She also played tennis at CV, winning four league

titles. Greco, whose grandmother is Musacco’s sister, the 46th greatest

athlete, is currently a member of the women’s basketball team at UCLA.

44 -- Andy Di Conti: A 1980 graduate of La Canada High, Di Conti was

a dominant distance runner.

He finished fourth in the inaugural Kinney (now Foot Locker) National

cross-country championships. He also went on to win the state title in

the 3,200-meter event in 8:55.37. He has personal bests of 4:08.5 in the

1,600 and 8:54.29 in the 3,200 runs. Di Conti is currently a teacher in

the La Canada Unified School District.

43 -- Steve Turner: Was a dominant track and field athlete at Glendale

High in 1950. He won two state titles and finished second in a third

event. Turner won the 120-yard high hurdles in 14.1 seconds and the

180-yard low hurdles in 19.0. He also won the 1950 CIF Southern Section

long jump title by going 24-6 1/2.

42 -- Dave Read: A dominant tennis player at Glendale High, Read lost

only once in his high school career. Read won the CIF Southern Section

individual singles titles in 1960 and 1961 and lost in the 1959 final. He

later went on to play at UCLA, where he earned All-America honors three

times, playing on a team that included the likes of tennis legends

Charlie Pasarell and Arthur Ashe.

41 -- Anita Siraki: The most dominant of Hoover Coach Greg Switzer’s

four All-American distance runners. Siraki recently finished fourth in

the Foot Locker National cross-country championships. Only a junior in

high school, Siraki already has three CIF Southern Section titles and one

state title, in addition to the first-team All-America honors she

received in the national championships earlier this month. Siraki is tied

for the second fastest time ever for a girl cross-country runner at Mount

San Antonio College, running 16:58. She has a personal best of 10:30.81

in the 3,200 meters.