49er
Hall of Fame inducts new members
Athletics:
Eight new members were inducted into the
Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame,
including Dave Snow and Ray Ratelle.
By
Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame
inducted eight new members last night at
a dinner held at the Hyatt Regency Long
Beach.
Joining
the 163 existing members were Dave Snow,
Bill Birch, Sabrina Hernandez, Gary Little,
Bill Mitchell, Ray Ratelle, Dave Toohey
and Stacy Van Essen.
•
Snow was the head baseball coach for 13
years, leading the 49ers to four College
World Series and six Big West Conference
titles. He was named Big West Coach of the
Year five times and the NCAA Coach of the
Year in 1989. Snow coached 102 players who
went on to play Major League Baseball including
Jason Giambi and Steve Trachsel.
•
Ratelle was the head coach of men's volleyball
from 1982-2000. His team won the national
championship 1991, the same year he was
named Coach of the Year by both Volleyball
Magazine and the American Volleyball Coaches
Association.
•
Birch was a men's water polo player and
member of the swim team between 1963-65.
He was twice named an All-American and was
assistant coach for the 49er water polo
team in 1965 and member of the US National
Water Polo team for four years.
•
Head rugby coach Toohey has won 87 percent
of his games since becoming coach of the
first ever rugby team in 1974. His teams
have never had a losing season including
finishing top-five in the nation four times.
•
Van Essen helped The Beach's softball teams
make it to three College World Series from
1991-93. She was named to the All-Big West
team four times and is still third all time
in home runs and second in RBI.
•
Mitchell was a linebacker for the 49er football
team in 1979-80 and led a defense that won
the conference championship in 1980. Mitchell
went on to play in the Canadian Football
League.
•
Hernandez was a member of the 1989 women's
volleyball National Champion team and was
named an All-American in 1992.
•
Little graduated from CSULB in 1960 and
was a member of Associated Students and
sports editor and managing editor of the
On-line Forty-Niner. Little has been a committee
member of the Hall of Fame since 1986 and
held various positions at CSULB before his
retirement in spring 2002.
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