Several former San Bernardino Valley College athletes took a permanent place in the school’s athletics complex on Jan. 22 as the school’s Wall of Professional Champions was officially unveiled.
The display, located in the second floor foyer of the athletics complex, honors those former SBVC athletes who went on to win a championship while playing for an American-based major league sports team.
SBVC Hall of Famer Michael Sola was master of ceremonies for the event, which unveiled the display and brought together friends and families of the honorees.
The five athletes currently part of the Wall of Professional Champions are Rich Dauer (Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros), Dino Ebel (Los Angeles Dodgers), David Lang (Dallas Cowboys), Craig Newsome (Green Bay Packers), and Jim Weatherwax (Green Bay Packers).
Ebel, the only honoree in attendance, spoke passionately – and pointedly to the SBVC baseball players in attendance - about the desire and work ethic it has taken him to get him where he is in the Dodgers’ organization today.
“I’ve always said once I have that uniform on at any level … everywhere I went it was about winning a championship,” Ebel said. “Being that team guy and getting better every single day.
“When I was a player in rookie ball, we won the championship. When I went to A ball, we won the championship. When I started to coach, we won the championship. When I managed, we won the championship. But, I was missing that one ring. In 2020, this is the ring that I’ve always wanted – this ring right here.”
Now that he has reached the goal of winning a World Series ring, Ebel still has one more goal he is chasing: To one day be a Major League manager. And he plans to keep chasing that dream.
“For a guy like me, I said I’m never going to take this uniform off until they take it from me,” he said.
Dauer was represented at the event by childhood friends Stan Sanchez (a fellow SBVC Hall of Famer) and Ray Carver. The two relayed stories of Dauer’s success on and off the field over the years – including having been voted the best player in the history of the University of Southern California baseball program.
Retired SBVC track and field coach Mike Powell recounted stories of the late David Lang, who ran track at SBVC before making it to the NFL. Powell talked about the work Lang did in the San Bernardino community to help the next generation of athletes, as well as at-risk youths who were wards of the court.
“He was happy to do that,” Powell said. “This was after he had a Super Bowl ring. He would literally go into the units and take that ring off and let the kids hold this – I think the rings then were like $30,000, pretty expensive – but he didn’t have a problem with letting those kids touch that ring or hold that ring. I mean, it was the biggest thrill. He was just a very kind and gentle giant.”
Newsome, now a high school football coach in Wisconsin, sent in a statement that Sola read:
“I want to thank SBVC for making this possible, but most of all I want to thank my teammates and my coaches for giving me the opportunity to live my dream and doing what I love. I wouldn’t be where I am today without having a good loving family so I want to say I appreciate you and love you guys.”
Weatherwax played at San Bernardino Valley in the 1960 and 1961 seasons before ending up playing at Cal State Los Angeles. He was drafted from Cal State LA in 1965 by the Green Bay Packers, and went on to play in what was later called Super Bowl I and II with the Packers. He has been credited as having the first tackle in what was originally known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game while playing on the kickoff team for Green Bay.