Players know it - it's the 'Best Game in Town'

"To play in this game is something I'll remember the rest of my life," said Leland's Ryan Smith just moments after helping the South team pull out a thrilling 20-15 win over the North last July.

"This was like a dream come true," added his teammate, Dan Winter of Willow Glen.

And the sentiments were similar on the North side.

"It's kind of humbling in a way," Saratoga's Connor Clarke of the all-star experience.

"It's nice to know you've been picked to play with these guys. It's quite an honor."

"We really wanted to win this game," added the North's Andrew Berg of Los Gatos, "but it was awesome to play with the best of the best."

The four were playing in the all-star game, sponsored each summer by the Almaden Valley Rotary Club, just over a month after their high school graduations. Now, in just a couple of months, more recent high school graduates will be making memories of their own when the 37th edition of the Wedemeyer Silicon Valley Youth Classic returns to San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium on July 20, 7:30 p.m.

For some of the high school all-stars, the game will mark the end of their football careers; for others it will be only be the beginning. Many players in the summer classic have gone on to greatness at the collegiate and professionals levels. And as the classic returns for a 37th time this summer, the question remains: Who will be next future stars playing in the "Best Game in Town?"

The rosters for the 2011 all-star game have been released. Among the local players set to play for the North team in the summer game are Blair Gardner, Taig McNulty and Preston Rind of Los Gatos and Kenny Hannan of Leigh.

Former stars
The local players join an impressive cast of former all-stars, many of whom went on to greatness following their participation in the summer all-star game.

Former Los Gatos High School stars Trent Edwards and Jared Allen were all-stars who now active players in NFL. Edwards, a quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Allen, a defensive end with the Minnesota Vikings, each played for the North squad in the summer game before starring at the college level, then turning pro.

Quarterback Jeff Garcia (Gilroy/San Jose State University) is a former all-star who went on play for six NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, and Doug Cosbie (St. Francis/Dallas Cowboys), Don Schwartz (Mitty/St. Louis Cardinals), Jeff Toews (Del Mar/Miami Dolphins), Rich Campbell (Santa Teresa/Green Bay Packers), Greg Woodard (Silver Creek/ Oakland Raiders), Ben Bennett (Peterson/Chicago Bears), John Faylor (Mitty/49ers), Erik Howard (Bellarmine/Giants), Randy Kirk (Bellarmine/49ers) used the all-star classic as springboard to the professional ranks. Also included on that list are the late Pat Tillman (Leland/ Arizona Cardinals), Carl Monroe (Overfelt/49ers) and John Tuggle (Independence/New York Giants).

Bill Haselman (Saratoga) and the late Ken Caminiti (Leigh) each played in the summer game, then went on to play baseball in the major leagues, and Millard Hampton (Silver Creek) was an all-star who went on to win an Olympic gold medal.

Rotary sponsorship
The Almaden Valley Rotary Club sponsors the football game each summer, with proceeds going to the Rotary charity and scholarship programs. And it all started because members of the Almaden Valley Rotary Club had an idea.

"Three Rotarians came to the police department and met with me at the PAL office." said game chairman Jim Guido, now a Rotarian himself but at that time the head of the San Jose Police Activities League. "They said, 'We have an idea for an all-star football game.'"

So Guido, his PAL staff and the Rotarians went to work to make the idea a reality.

"We had a marriage of sorts." said Guido of the relationship between the Rotary and PAL.

"They came up with the idea, which was a good one, and we had the expertise to put the game together."

The first game was played in the summer of 1974. With the exception of 1976, the game has been played every summer since, and Guido has been involved in every one of the 37 games.

"The great thing about this game is that there are no politics involved," said Guido. "This game is for the kids."

Football banquet
The players and coaches selected for the 2011 game were invited to a banquet in their honor on May 16 at the 300 bowling center in San Jose. Special guest Mike Maclntyre, the head coach at San Jose State University, was the evening's guest speaker. Maclntyre, a former NFL assistant coach, spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Duke before taking the head job in San Jose in December 2009.