Inductee Class of 2018: Individual Videos

1990 Baseball Team
Angela Davidson
Bill Peck
David Lucas
Girls Basketball
Leonard Ortiz
Nacho Martinez
Tony Padilla

View Inductee Class of 2018 PHOTO GALLERY

1990 Varsity Baseball Team

The 1990 varsity baseball team under head coach Leonard Ortiz became the first team from Wasco High to win a Valley Championship, capturing the Sequoia Division title.  The playoffs started with a 4-3 win over Tranquility in the first round, upset #1 seed Selma 4-0 in the semifinals, before capturing the Sequoia Division championship in an exciting 4-3 walk-off win on single by Jimmy Martinez in the final, 7th inning over league rival Taft.  The Tigers finished the season with a 22-7 overall record, captured the South Sequoia League title with a 13-2 record, and remarkably finished the season winning 18 of their last 19 games, saving the best for last. The senior class of 1990 had been very successful in their early years, winning two JV league titles, placing second during their varsity junior year, before winning the 1990 Division title in their senior season.  Awards were plenty for Ortiz’ Tigers as Eric Garcia, Jimmy Martinez, Steve Paul, Victor Sanchez, and Gerardo Vargas were selected to the SSL All-League Team. Garcia was also voted Most Valuable Player in the SSL, the 1990 Bakersfield Californian All-Area pitcher, as well as 1990 All-Central Section Baseball Team pitcher.  Martinez, Paul, Sanchez, and Vargas got All-Area Honorable Mention selections, and Vargas finished being selected to his third All-SSL team.  Team members included Brian Boyett, Mark Evaro, Eric Garcia, Juan Lopez, Jimmy Martinez, Steve Paul, Mitch Priest, Victor Sanchez, Daniel Serda, Chris Shaw, James Tatlow, Darren Tatum, and Gerardo Vargas. Stats girls Christi Johnson and Yolanda Scott, Head Coach Leonard Ortiz, and assistant coach Danny Espitia.

Angela Davidson – Athlete (1989)

Angela Davidson, a 1989 graduate of Wasco High, left her mark as probably the best dual sport female athlete to wear the orange and black.  Angie was one of the top girl sprinters in the Central Valley during her four years, winning the Valley 100 meters during her freshman year, while being chosen to the All-Area Track team during her freshman and sophomore years.  In her junior year, she placed 3rd in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Central Valley Championships, and before her senior year, Angie was selected to participate with elite track athletes for the Women’s Track and Field USA Developmental Junior Elite Training Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, designed for future Olympic hopefuls.  During her four years as a Lady Tiger, she was selected as the Most Valuable Player during her freshman, sophomore, and junior years.  Besides her outstanding accomplishments on the track, Angie also excelled on the basketball court.  As a four-year starter, she was instrumental in leading the Lady Tigers to four straight South Sequoia League titles and back-to-back Valley Division IV titles during her junior and senior years.  It was also during her senior year that Angie’s leadership led the Lady Tigers to the Southern California Championship, putting her team into the State Division IV title game, scoring sixteen points, during a challenging and exciting game with Anderson High School. Angie finished the senior season leading the Tigers with a 20.8 average, while averaging 11.5 rebounds.  Among her accomplishments during her senior year, Angie was one of five players selected to the Central Section All-Area team, as well as the Kern County All-Area squad.  Other awards included All-League selections sections during her junior and senior seasons.  Her accomplishments on both track and court could only be described as what all athletes should aspire.

Bill Peck– Coach (1967 – 2001)

Bill Peck coached at Wasco High from 1967-2001.  He coached Cross Country for 20 years, winning numerous South Sequoia League titles.  His 1984 Varsity Cross Country team finished 3rd in League, 4th in Area and 7th in Valley which was the best showing for an SSL team that year. His Tiger teams won the Valley Championships in 1985 and 1989.  The 1985 championship year was with all schools in the Valley as divisions had not been established yet.  In 1989, they won the 2nd Division Championship.  Both Valley Championship seasons he was Coach of the Year. Cross Country runner Lori (Bryan) DelaRosa explained his training methods and work ethic.  “We worked hard.  He would load us all in the back of his truck and take us up in the mountains and hills to train.  I remember thinking why are we doing this.  Then we were at a big meet and it had a bunch of hills and we were prepared for it! He was a great coach.” Coach Peck was the first ever Girls Track Coach at Wasco High. He also coached wrestling for one year.  He said “I got into coaching because I enjoyed competing in high school and college athletics and this interest carried over into wanting to coach and teach young people.”

David Lucas – Athlete (Class of 1974)

David Lucas began his storied involvement with Tiger basketball as a high school student. He played on basketball League Championship teams coached by Hall of Fame Inductee Jim Parker in 1973 and 1974.  The 1974 team placed 3rd in the Valley before divisions were established based on school size. David graduated from Wasco High in 1974 and returned to his alma mater to teach. He coached Tiger teams from 1984-2011, starting with Boys Basketball and Track and then Varsity Girls Basketball from 1988-2003. During his tenure, he compiled a 264-133 win-loss record. He won 5 Central Section Valley Championships, in 1989 and 1998-2001. The 1989 team went on to win the Southern California Championship and compete in the Division IV State Finals, losing to Anderson 43-40.  He led his teams to the South Sequoia League Championship 8 times, including 5 straight years (1989-1993) and in 1998, 1999 and 2001.  They played in 2 other Division IV Central Section Championship games in 1990 and 1992, losing to Sierra and Lemoore respectively.  Coach Lucas was Kern County Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 1998. In 2011 he was named a Central Section Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree. David Lucas is a founding member and past President of the Wasco High School Athletic Hall of Fame.  He carried the passion he exhibited as a player and imbued in his teams as a coach into honoring the great history of Wasco High athletics. 

Varsity Girls’ Basketball Teams: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001

From 1998 through the 2001 season, the Wasco High Lady Tigers’ Basketball teams won four straight Central Valley Basketball Division III Championships, and collectively have been selected to be inducted together as many players played on more than one, and as many as three of the championship teams.  The 1998 squad finished the season with a 24-6 record, went undefeated in the South Sequoia League with a 10-0 record, and defeated rival Shafter 54-49 for the Valley Championship. They then went on to the State Playoffs to defeat La Puente from the Los Angeles area before losing to private school Alemany in the Southern California State semi-final playoff game. With only one senior starter, the Lady Tigers were ready for more.  The 1999 team finished with a 23-5 record, another undefeated SSL season, crushed Dinuba 77-49 for the Valley Championship, and in the State Playoffs, beat Genesha of Los Angeles, before losing again 65-54 in the Southern California semifinals to another private school, Harvard Westlake.  In 2000, the Lady Tigers went 21-8, finished 2nd in the SSL at 8-2 to a Taft team that won the Division IV Valley title, but the Lady Tigers then went on to capture the Division III Championship easily versus Selma, 64-41, and again face Alemany in a tough 67-56 loss in the State playoffs.  The 2001 team, which tied Liberty of Bakersfield for the SSL Championship at 9-1, both found themselves facing each other for the Division III title game in Wasco, and the Lady Tigers came away with their fourth straight Central Valley Section title in a closely contested contest, 42-37.  The opening State Playoff game saw them defeated by a strong Morningside squad, 68-47, ending another outstanding season.  Coach David Lucas got the best seat for all these game as he was fortunate to be able to be on the sidelines to help guide the Lady Tigers’ through their 4-Peat Championship years.

1998 team: Elsa Aguirre (Co-Captain), Maria Barbosa, Robin Blount, Davette Henderson, Shelby Hood, Kristi McDaniel, Vandy Noldon (All-League), Traneia Patterson, Priscilla Vento, Anthonia Washington (Co-Captain), Christal Williams (MVP, All-League).

1999 team: Robin Blount, Latoya Demery (All-League), Ana Espinel, Erin Hicks, Shelby Hood, Lydia Irby, Kristy McDaniel (Co-Captain), Vandy Noldon (Co-Captain, All-League, All-Area), Traneia Patterson, Priscilla Vento, Lindsey West, Christal Williams (MVP, All-League).

2000 team: Shontae Armstrong, Robin Blount, Tyneisha Crockett, Jennifer Dent, Myteka Harrison, Erin Hicks, Lydia Irby, Sarah Irby, Lena Mende, Nely Montoya, Vandy Noldon (MVP, All-League, All-Area), Lindsey West.

2001 team: Shannon Beach, Beth Holterman, Lydia Irby (Co-Captain), Sarah Irby, Melissa Meyers, Nely Montoya (Co-Captain), Sarah Ortiz, Crystal Ramirez, Jami Sanford, Lindsey West (MVP, All-League).  

Leonard Ortiz – Coach (1984-2015)

Leonard Ortiz, a 1973 graduate of Wasco High, taught thirty-one years at Wasco High and three years previous before that at Palm Avenue School.  Leonard started coaching JV baseball for the Tigers and won three league championships at that level before taking over the Varsity Baseball program where his teams won two league championships, one in 1990 and another in 1993.  The 1990 team went on to capture Wasco High’s first Sequoia Valley baseball title with a win against league rival Taft, and because of those accomplishments, Ortiz was selected as the Bakersfield Californian’s 1990 Baseball Coach of the Year.  As well as baseball, Leonard kept busy by coaching in the Tiger football program for twenty-five years, as head coach for two years in 2005 and 2006, at the JV level winning one league championship, and at the freshman level where his teams took three league titles.  Ortiz also found time to coach in the basketball program for ten years, seven at the JV level and three coaching the varsity girls’ team from 1996-1998, guiding the Lady Tigers to three straight South Sequoia League titles and one Central Section Division IV Championship in 1998.  That accomplish led to the Bakersfield Californian award Ortiz the 1998 Basketball Coach of the Year award, all outstanding accomplishments during his thirty-one year tenure at Wasco High.

Nacho Martinez – Athlete (Class of 1991)

Even after nearly two decades after he last competed as a multi-sport star at Wasco High School, Nacho Martinez remains a hometown hero and legendary figure at the school.  Martinez, who was born and raised in Wasco and still lives here today, did it all and all of it well during his 4-year prep career.  Nacho played 5 different sports (baseball, basketball, football, track and wrestling) for the Tigers, earning a total of 11 varsity letters.  As a sophomore in 1989, he carried the Tiger football team to the Central Section Sequoia Division Championship game where they lost 13-6 to Corcoran.  The 5 foot, 7 inch, 175-pound tailback was the section’s second leading rusher that year with 1,787 yards, a Wasco High record at that time.  Built low to the ground and known for his determined running style that almost always required a cadre of tacklers to bring him down.  Martinez averaged nearly 10 yards per carry during a 3-year Varsity career that ended with him as the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards (3,193) and touchdowns (36).  The same determination that made Martinez a 2-way football star (running back and linebacker), helped him do equally as well when it came to wrestling.  “I loved playing football,” Martinez said.  “I played with a passion. I absolutely loved it. But wrestling was the sport that was going to take me to the next level and taught me the discipline that I have today.” He made the state wrestling tournament 3 times, only missing his sophomore year due to an injury.  His best finish at the state meet came his junior year when he placed 8th.  Martinez considers that his biggest athletic thrill.  Today he shares his knowledge and love of Wasco Sports through his work on the Wasco Recreation and Parks Division Board and as an Assistant Coach for Tiger Football.

Tony Padilla – Athlete (Class of 1977)

Tony Padilla was a track athlete and wrestler at Wasco High throughout high school, graduating in 1977.  He was South Sequoia League wrestling champion twice, Sequoia Divisional Champion twice and 3-time Morro Bay Tournament Champion.  Tony placed third in the Valley tournament in 1977.  That year he was the only South Sequoia League representative to qualify for the California State CIF Wrestling Championship Tournament.  He advanced to the semi-finals but would lose to the returning State Champion Dan Questas who would go on to repeat and become 2-time State Champion.  Tony placed 5th and became Wasco’s first State Medalist.  His overall high school career record was 93 wins and 10 losses.  He continued his career wrestling at Bakersfield College until he sustained a back injury in a car accident.  Tony was part of the 1976 and 1977 Wasco Tigers South Sequoia League Championship Track teams.  He was South Sequoia League Champion in the Pole Vault in 1977.  His 3rd in the Valley vault of 14’ qualified him for the California CIF State Track Meet at UCLA.  Tony was Hall of Fame Coach Andy Darby’s lone representative at the meet.  Coach Darby was honored as the Small School’s Coach of the Year.  Tony was the only Wasco athlete to accomplish participating in state Championships in both track and wrestling.