High school football all-stars returning to Spartan Stadium

Spartan Stadium has been a major sports venue in the Santa Clara Valley since it first opened back in 1933 as the 4,000-seat home of the San Jose State University football team.

More than 70 years later, the Spartans continue to play football on the grass floor of the S. 10th Street stadium. It has since grown to become a 30,000-seat facility that through the years has also been home to the San Jose State soccer teams, professional soccer teams, the NCAA's now-defunct Silicon Valley Football Classic and many other events.

For many years, too, Spartan Stadium was home to the Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game. Now, after a six-year hiatus, the all-stars are back.

The 33rd edition of the summer football classic will return to Spartan Stadium on July 18, 7:30 p.m., back on the turf where it all began in 1974. With the exception of 1976 when there was no game, the summer clash that features the top football players of each year's graduating class was played at Spartan until 1989. The game was played at San Jose City College from 1990 to 1996, moved to Independence High School in 2001 and went back to City College from 2002 to 2006.

But finally the all-star game is back where it belongs — at Spartan Stadium. The South enters the July 18 game with a 17-13-2 edge in the series, but the North is coming off of a win that snapped a string of four South victories.

The game, sponsored by the Almaden Valley Rotary Club and called the "Best Game in Town," featured future National Football League stars as St. Francis tight end Doug Cosbie of the Dallas Cowboys and Archbishop Mitty linebacker Don Schwartz of the St. Louis Cardinals and New Orleans Saints in that first game in '74.

In following years, the game has included such future professionals as Jeff Garcia (Gilroy) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Jeff Toews (Del Mar) of the Miami Dolphins; John Tuggle (Independence) and Erik Howard (Bellarmine) of the New York Giants; the late Pat Tillman (Leland) of the Arizona Cardinals; Jared Allen (Los Gatos) of the Kansas City Chiefs; Jeff Ulbrich (Live Oak), the late Carl Monroe (Overfelt) and Randy Kirk (Bellarmine) of the San Francisco 49ers; Rich Campbell (Santa Teresa) of the Green Bay Packers; Tim Ryan (Oak Grove) of the Chicago; and Nathan Jackson (Pioneer) of the Denver Broncos.

Los Gatos quarterback Trent Edwards, who recently signed with the Buffalo Bills, and Fremont's Tully Banta-Cain, a new addition to the 49ers, also played in the summer game.

Who knows what future pros may be on the field at Spartan Stadium for the 2007 summer classic on July 18? Another Jeff Garcia or Trent Edwards? Another Tully Banta-Cain or Don Schwartz? Another Pat Tillman or Doug Cosbie?

Among the local players set to play for the South team in the summer game are Chris Brookmeyer, steven Lopes, and Jason Wetzel of Pioneer, and Lance Gemette, Adam Ondi and Daniel Schroeder of Leland.

Former local stars who have participated in the summer classic include:

Leland
1974—Jeff Lyall, Steve Mills; 1975—Ed Buller, Tom Pinault, Doug Malinoff; 1977-Pat Graham, Mike Mainini, Dave Ramona; 1978—Ken LaCosse, Greg Jones; 1979—Chris Campbell, Jerry Morrison; 1980—John H. Ornellas, Kevin Moore; 1981—Jim Cranston, Michael Reed; 1982—Scott Chambers; 1983—Greg Raj ala, Sean Onderick, Mark Dean; 1984--Bryan Kellen, Craig Jones, Jim Cureton; 1985—Todd Baxter, Scott Sumwalt; 1986—Steve Thompson; 1987—Bob Jones, Dennis Weber; 1988—Billy Cannan, Nick Tabellion, Bryan Christopher, John Wirtz; 1989— Amir Tadayyon, Mark Ferone, Mike Weber; 1990—Chris Morton, Alex Garwood, Bill Hoyt, John Lonardo; 1991—Maurice Johnson, Jimmy Jewell; 1992—Joe Liao, Patrick Bush, Matt Strickland, Seth Wiener; 1993—Eric Dunham, Carson Sprott, Tim Hoyt; 1994—Paul Cardena, Scott Matsuura, Pat Tillman, Eric Wiener, Brian Hargrave, Scott Herzing; 1995—Eric Normington; 1996— James Chapman, Kevin Pedro; 1997—Richard Vye, Michael Lewis, Chad Patonai; 1998—Adam Herzing, Justin Petersen, Paul Ugenti, Brent Vickers, Phillip Neu, James Shomit; 1999—Francisco Cantanefieda, Richard Tillman, Jeremy Hoge, Jimmy Bugarin; 2000—Kevin Ernst, Nate Ramezane; 2001—Brian Bugarin; 2002—Tyler Jones; 2003—John Gardner; 2004—Alex Baumeister, Mike Day, Scott Glicksberg; 2005—Alex Bynum, Gabe Castaneda, Blake Ferras; 2006—Melis Barota, Michael Daily, Travis Delamore.

Pioneer
1974—Rob Becker, Jim Ogle, Randy Vorsters; 1975—Kevin Douglas, Harry Reed, Dan Burke; 1981—Brent Zappacosta, Craig Wince; 1983—Jon Stewart; 1984—Jim Grzelak, Dan Hustaca; 1985— Mike Nedved, Paul Hembrooke; 1986—Jim Orlowski; 1987—Troy Marseline; 1988—Rick Grant; 1989—Bryan Hilborn, Carlos Vasquez, Richard Dole; 1990—Eric Perry; 1991—Issac Kendrick; 1992—Brian Yoshikawa; 1993— DePrice Kelly, Scott Howell; 1995—Adam Swantko, Edgar Alcala, Pablo Martinez; 1996—Tim Snow; 1997—Kyle Murdock, Nathan Jackson; 1998—Rob Basuino; 1999—Jason Murdock, Grant Murdock; 2000—Mike Wiens, Brian Davis, Travis Murdock; 2001—Tim Scheffer, Josh McDonnell; 2002—Christian Baraj as, James Dunne, Jacob French, Matt Mallon, Jeff Worrell; 2003—Tyler Ruocchio, Luis Salazar, Alan Walsh; 2004—Armando Apolinar, Jeremy Landucci; 2005—Rolano Gomez, Bobby Lopez, Steve Matos, Pat Walsh; 2006—Nick D' Antonio, J.J. Goulden, C.J. Miller, Shaun Souza.