Induction Year: 2026

Becoming the only Ventura County golfer to ever win the Southern California Golf Association’s girls championship wasn’t the only goal for Stephanie Martin Barker in her 1989 senior year at Rio Mesa High.

The No. 1 player – for the second year in a row – for the school’s boys golf team had other milestones to achieve. Yes, the boys golf team. There weren’t high school girls golf teams during Barker’s four-years at Rio Mesa. And wouldn’t be for another decade. So to play high school golf, girls had to qualify to play on boys teams. Barker did just that all four years.

By her junior year, Barker was the program’s No. 1 player. She was so successful that the CIF-Southern Section changed its rules twice. First they ruled that girls should play from the women’s tees. Barker’s scores only got better. But after Stephanie’s success in the next seven matches the rules were reversed, all golfers – male or female – were required to use the same tees.

Barker had high goals for her senior season. The first was to lead Rio Mesa to its first Channel League golf title. A win over defending champion Santa Barbara accomplished that goal.

The next achievement would have to be earned on her own. To make the Channel League first team, Barker needed to place fifth at the individual finals. By the end of the 36-hole tournament, she was a top five finisher indeed.

Barker was second at the 1988 California State Junior Tournament and tied for 13th at the 21st Optimist Junior World Golf Championship.

At Oklahoma State, Barker was a four-time NCAA qualifier and two-time All-American. In 1992 she received the Edith Cummings Munson Award, given to the first-team All-American with the highest grade point average (3.65).

As a pro, Barker had three wins, numerous top five finishes on numerous tours and played in seven USGA championships. Currently she is in her 19th season as the Head Women’s Golf Coach at Morehead State University.

She and husband James are the parents of Zack, Bailee and Alec.

World champion team member. National youth championships player of the year. Leader of the No. 1 high school girls soccer team in the nation. Three tiers of success at the highest levels. Indeed, 2007 was a one-of-a-kind year for Emily Cressy.

And as she was to prove over-and-over, Emily Cressy was a one-of-a-kind athlete. Called up to the U.S. National Deaflympic team at the age of 15, Cressy started every match for the program’s gold-medal run at the 2005 Summer Deaflympics in Australia.

More world championships would follow in 2016, 2021 and 2023. At the 2023 World Deaf Football Championships in Malaysia, Cressy had 13 goals in six games. She was awarded the Golden Boot and Golden Ball and named as the first recipient of Female Deaf Player of the Year by U.S. Soccer. Cressy owns team records for most goals in a game (six) and career goals (44).

For the Eagles club team based in Camarillo, Cressy helped her teams win two national age group titles. She was awarded the Golden Boot as the most outstanding player at the 2007 U.S. Youth Soccer national championships.

Back-to-back titles at the U.S. Adult Soccer national tournaments would come in 2010 and 2011.

Cressy was the Ventura County Star’s Player of the Year for the 2007 Buena High team that would be recognized as the No. 1 team in the country by Student Sports Soccer.

She was one of the top freshman collegiate players in the nation in 2008, scoring in her first three games and finishing with 19 points (eight goals and three assists). Cressy was named to the 2008 Freshman All-America team by Soccer America. Cressy was the 2008 Deaf Sports Federation Sportswoman of the Year.

She was even better in her sophomore season.  Cressy scored 27 points, fifth highest in program history, including five game-winning shots. In her final game for Kansas, Cressy scored in the Jayhawks loss to Missouri in the Big 12 championship game.

The season was mythical. So much so that many of the school and county boys basketball records that 1987-88 Simi Valley Pioneers set remain at or near the top of the all-time lists. Averaging 87.4 points per game, Simi Valley scored 2,765 points, and incredibly had 24.6 assists per game. Coach Bob Hawking was the program’s maestro.

It would be Hawking’s final season at Simi Valley. And he made the most of it. After losing in the 1986 CIF-Southern Section Division 4A championship game and the 1987 quarterfinals in overtime, Simi Valley broke out the offense in spectacular form.

Seven times the Pioneers scored 100 or more points. Don MacLean set the still-existing Ventura County season scoring record with 1,008 points, which led the state. He would own the career record of 2,343 points for 31 years. Hawking’s son, Butch, set the county season assists record with 271. Simi Valley raced to the 4A section title, closing it out with a 70-64 overtime win over Capistrano Valley in the final. In the state playoffs, Simi Valley was eliminated in the second round. In the season ending ranking, Simi Valley was ranked No. 3 on the state list.

Beginning with the 1981-82 season, Simi Valley won five Marmonte League titles in a seven-year stretch. Over Hawking’s last three seasons, Simi Valley was 81-9 and ranked in the top 10 teams by CalHiSports.com. All six of Simi Valley’s losses over the last two seasons were to state champions.Thirty-five former players and assistant coaches became head coaches on different levels. In 2007, Hawking was elected to the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball coaches Hall of Fame.

Hawking left Simi Valley after the 1988 season to become an assistant at Pepperdine. He also coached at UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton before accepting a job as head coach at Fullerton. He also coached at Anaheim High from 2000-04.
Hawking was a former president of the Ventura County Basketball Association, and coached the South team in several Ventura County All-Star games. In 2013, the KWNK Tip Off Classic tornament was changed to the Bob Hawkins Tip Off Classic.

Bob and his wife Jeannie reside in South Lake Tahoe, California. Their children were winners as well. Air Force Academy grad Butch was a basketball captain, Kristin was a two-time CIF champion and Arizona State grad. Quinn was a high scoring high school player and graduated from UCLA.

Mack McDermott was a Moorpark High legend. The school’s boys basketball record holder for most points in a season for nearly three decades. The first Moorpark grad to be selected in the Major League baseball draft. The 6-foot-6, 255-pound three-sport athlete was a leader for programs that became league and postseason contenders. People noticed. And for a magical 1967-68 school year, McDermott made history.

He was one of the first Ventura County athlete to land the rare triple crown of CIF-Southern Section postseason honors: selected to the first teams for football, basketball and baseball. In McDermott’s junior and senior years, the Moorpark football program won a combined 12 games – its best two-year record over a nearly four-decade stretch. It included a second-place Tri-Valley League finish in 1966.

McDermott was named to the 1967 CIF-Southern Section Division A first team as a tackle. When the football season closed, McDermott switched to basketball. With McDermott occupying the lane,
Moorpark placed one game out of first place in the Tri-Valley League standings, posted the program’s first 20-win season and qualified for the postseason. Moorpark made the most of the opportunity, advancing to the 1A quarterfinals. Facing Tri-Valley League rival Santa Ynez, Moorpark lost 60-56 in overtime. McDermott averaged 20.8 points per game. His 555 points would be a school record for 30 years. At the time, it was the sixth highest total in county history. He was named to the section’s Division A first team.

Baseball, however, may have been his best sport. The first baseman made the CIF-SS Division A first team. Moving on to Cal State Los Angeles, McDermott was an all-conference pick in 1972.

McDermott and his wife Barbara reside in Modesto. His children are Jillian Harvey and Nicholas
McDermott.

Tara McLean-Emery had been there before. At the time, the senior was the rebound leader and second-leading scorer for the No. 4 nationally ranked Buena High girls basketball program. Pressure games. White knuckle moments.

McLean-Emery had been on the court for Buena’s 1983 Division state title win Sacramento U.S. Grant. For her role in the Bulldogs’; run to the 1984 CIF-Southern Section Division 4A championship, McLean would receive first-team all-CIF honors.

Weeks later Buena’s chance for a repeat Division I state championship was teetering. Unbeaten Buena trailed once-beaten Los Gatos in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Time for a McLean-Emery moment. Assists by Lee Brock set McLean-Emery to hit field goals with 6:28 and 3:12 remaining as Buena scored 12 unanswered points. The perfect end to a perfect season for Buena (31-0).

In McLean-Emery’s three seasons, Buena would finish 78-7.

She would play two seasons with the Ventura College, earning player of the year and first-team All- Western State Conference honors and all-state. As a sophomore, McLean-Emery was the Ventura College Female Athlete of the Year. She then went on to attend Oregon State on a basketball scholarship.

She returned to Ventura College in 1995 as a kinesiology instructor and assistant with the women’s basketball program, helping the Pirates to four state championships – two teams were undefeated and one back-to-back title runs – during her six-year tenure.

Taking up tennis in 1996, McLean-Emery won three straight county open singles titles. She joined the Ventura College women’s tennis team. As the No. 1 singles player, McLean-Emery helped Ventura College win the Western State Conference team title. McLean-Emery was inducted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

McLean-Emery and husband Nelson Emery are the parents of daughters Caisey Lee and Colbey Shae plus son Cody Ray.

It was the Class of 1983.Only two losses in 40 league games for the four-time Frontier League boys basketball champion Santa Clara Saints. Only two losses in 22 postseason games. Three section titles as well as state and section runner-up finishes. Quite a team legacy. More championships would follow. Joe Wallace. One of the team leaders. Wallace left his own footprint.

Ventura County’s scoring leader in 1983 (averaging 20 points per game), Wallace was selected as the CIF-Southern Section Division IA Player of the Year. After Santa Clara’s 66-62 loss to Banning in the 1982 1A semifinals, Wallace made the third team. Wallace had averaged 15 points that season.

Another tough setback ended Santa Clara’s season in the 1983 Division II state final. Santa Clara’s run to the 1983 state final included wins over Moorpark, 77-65; 1982 champion Banning, 62-58; and Blair, 52-49, in the section final. In the championship game, opponent Menlo made two free throws with 14 seconds left to win 53-51. It was the only state title in Menlo’s boys basketball history. Wallace was named to the all-state second team by CalHiSports.com.

After graduation, Wallace began a four-year career with Washington State. He made the all-PAC 10 freshman team, and as a sophomore, he averaged 18.1 points per game. Wallace had a personal-best 36 points in a road game against Nebraska on Dec 22, 1985.

In 110 games with the Cougars, Wallace scored 1,367 points for a 12.4 average, and he ranks as one of the program’s all-time best free throw shooters. Wallace made 79.5 percent of his career attempts. In the 1985-86 season, and he had an .859 percentage from the line.

His basketball career would continue for the next 11 seasons as he played for various professional teams in Spain and France.

From leader on the court to the front office of one of the most successful professional women’s basketball franchises, Alisha Valavanis has seen her share of championship seasons.

Along with twin sister Alana, Valavanis helped Oak Park win the girls basketball program’s first league title during the 1993-94 season. It was the groundwork for what became one of Ventura County’s most successful programs over the next three decades.

Valavanis averaged 16.4 points the following season, earning second-team All-CIF Southern Section Division IV honors. She graduated No. 2 on Oak Park’s career scoring list and No. 1 career 3-point scorer. If that wasn’t enough, Valavanis maintained a 4.0 grade point average and was the student body president as a senior. But she was just getting started.

Over the next four years Valavanis would set the Cal State Chico women’s basketball career 3-point field goal record. After the 1998-99 season, Valavanis was a NCAA Women of the Year nominee.

While working on her Masters degree at Chico, Valavanis became an assistant coach.

In her four years with the program, Chico advanced to the NCAA tournament each season. Hired by the University of Pacific in 2006, Valavanis quickly moved up the ladder. She became an associate head coach in 2008, a job that included leading the program’s marketing strategies and community relations. It would serve her well.

Valavanis fine-tuned her sports business skills in the Golden State Warriors front office and as an assistant athletic director at UC Berkeley.

In 2014, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm named as its CEO and General Manager. During the first six years of her tenure, the Storm won WNBA titles in 2018 and 2020. She was promoted to President and CEO as the Storm increased revenues by 350 percent. Valavanis has been named to the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Power 100 list for seven straight years.