The Santa Barbara City College Athletics Department has announced its 2020 class of the SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, which was established last year, will again induct a mix of seven former athletes and coaches as well as one athletic team.
The SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will induct former players Jesse Orosco (baseball), Don Ford (basketball), Tim Tremblay (football), Cindy Banks (track & field), Kieran (O'Leary) Roblee (volleyball) and coaches Ed DeLacy and Kathy O'Connor along with the 1983 State Champion Men's Volleyball Team.
"We're very happy to announce the Class of 2020 to the SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Fame," said Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino. "This class is special because this group not only did very well as Vaqueros, but they also all went on to incredible accomplishments once they left SBCC. It's a very worthy class indeed, full of highly successful athletes and pioneers at SBCC."
The group will join last year's inaugural class of Bob Dinaberg, Bud Revis, Gary Woods, Booker Brown, Marina Gomez, Pat Moorhouse, Debbie Ekola and the 1977 Women's Track & Field team.
The event is scheduled once again to be held on the SBCC Campus in the student center on Saturday, May 23, 2020. Tickets for the event cost $50 and can be purchased by contacting SBCC Athletics Administrator Ashley Farias at amfarias1@sbcc.edu or (805) 965-0581 x2276.
Hall of Fame Bios
Jesse Orosco
A graduate of Santa Barbara High School, Jesse Orosco played just one season for the Vaqueros before embarking on a historic professional baseball career. As the ace of the Vaqueros pitching staff in 1978, Orosco led SBCC to a 24-9 record under the leadership of Head Coach Rusty Fairly. The team's 24 wins would not be surpassed until the 2007 Vaqueros went 34-10. After his freshman year at SBCC, Orosco was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the second round of the Major League Draft. Orosco would only spend on season in the Twins organization, logging a 1.13 ERA in the Rookie League over 20 appearances. In February of 1979, Orosco was sent to the New York Mets to complete a trade for Jerry Koosman. The Mets specifically wanted Orosco in any deal and said there would be no trade without the promising lefty. It was with the Mets where Orosco would have his greatest impact.
After just 20 minor league games in 1978, Orosco surprisingly made the Mets Opening Day roster in 1979 as a 20-year-old lefty. Joe Torre, the Mets manager at the time said, "What the kid has shown me so far is enough for me to keep him. He is awfully mature for his age, but he has been the biggest surprise of the spring for me." Orosco made his Major League debut on Opening Day when he retired Bill Buckner for the last out in a 10-6 win over the Cubs.
Orosco pitched eight of his 24 Major League seasons for the Mets and is best remembered for being on the mound to close out the 1986 National League Championship Series and World Series, two of the great postseason series in Major League history. He ended both series with a strikeout and remains the only relief pitcher in Major League history to win three games in a single postseason series. The image of Orosco hurling his glove in the air, dropping to his knees and being mobbed by his Mets teammates is one of the enduring scenes in Major League history. He also won a World Series with the 1988 Dodgers. Orosco pitched into his age 46 season, retiring after appearing in eight games for the Twins team that drafted him. He still holds the Major League record for games pitched with 1,252 and no active pitcher is within 300 games of catching him. Orosco was also one of just nine pitchers to pitch in four different decades since 1900.
Don Ford
After starring at Santa Barbara High School, Don Ford brought his talents to SBCC where he played one remarkable season under fellow SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Famer Ed DeLacy. In his sole season as a Vaquero, Ford led SBCC to a 26-6 record, a Western State Conference Championship and a fifth-place finish in the state. Ford, a 6'8" forward, averaged 22 points and ten rebounds a game for SBCC during the 1971-1972 season. He had three games of 29 points in leading the Vaqs to 26 wins, a total that has yet to be matched. After the season, Ford was named First Team All-American by the California Junior College Association.
After his freshman year, Ford signed with the University of New Mexico where he would spend one season. After helping the Lobos to a 21-6 record, Ford returned home to Santa Barbara where he played one season for the Gauchos. Ford led UCSB with 19.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game and was second on the team with 2.5 assists per game. His outstanding season for UCSB drew the attention of NBA scouts and he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1975 NBA Draft.
Ford made his NBA debut on October 23, 1975, playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Lakers took on Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Ford played four and a half seasons for the Lakers, averaging 6.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. In February of 1980, Ford was traded to the Cavaliers in a package that returned a first-round draft pick to the Lakers, who eventually used that pick to draft Hall of Famer James Worthy. At the time of the trade, Cavaliers Head Coach Stan Albeck called Ford "one of the top defenders in the NBA at his position."
Tim Tremblay
Tim Tremblay attended SBCC from September of 1971 through December of 1972, and those three semesters helped shape SBCC athletics and Tim's personal life as well. Tremblay was a key member of Bob Dinaberg's powerful football teams of the early 1970's and served as team captain in his final year as a Vaquero. SBCC compiled a record of 18-3 in Tremblay's two seasons for the Vaqueros and was named an All-Conference lineman during his time at SBCC. After starring for the Vaqueros, Tremblay received a full athletics scholarship to continue his career at Wake Forest. He chose the Demon Deacons over 13 other major colleges who were in competition for his services. At Wake Forest, Tremblay started as an offensive guard for two seasons in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. Tremblay even received Offensive Player of the Week honors for Wake Forest, a rarity for offensive linemen, after a Demon Deacons win over South Carolina.
While his athletic success at SBCC is formidable, Tremblay counts an off-field moment as his most memorable at SBCC. It was while he was an athlete here that he met his wife Marcia, who was a cheerleader for the Vaqueros. He and Marcia have been married for 45 years and have three children, Troy, Vanessa and Gisele. The son of Max and Dorothy Tremblay, Tim is also a proud alum of Bishop Diego High School in Santa Barbara where he was also a standout athlete. Tim is known to many as the founder and President of Tremblay Financial Services in Santa Barbara. Since leaving SBCC, Tremblay has remained an ardent supporter of Vaquero athletics and can still be seen attending and supporting many SBCC events.
Cindy Banks
A pioneering athlete at SBCC, Cindy Banks' impact on Vaqueros women's sports is still evident today. One of the first great female athletes to play intercollegiate sports at SBCC, Banks had immediate success in her first season as a track and field star for the Vaqueros. After starring in track and field and basketball at San Marcos High School, Banks joined Santa Barbara City College where she teamed with fellow SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Famer Marina Gomez to lead the Vaqueros to the 1977 State Championship, the first year a women's team state champion was crowned. In the event, Banks was the individual discus state champion with a throw of 133-5. As impressive as that throw was, Banks topped it the following year by 11 feet, hurling the discus an incredible 144.75 feet, which was a school record. No other athlete had topped that mark and it would be 33 years before another Vaquero female athlete topped the 140' mark in the discus. Banks throw from 1978 still stands as the SBCC school record.
Banks didn't only specialize in the discus though. One glimpse of the SBCC Women's Track & Field record books shows Banks' name dotted across many categories. She still stands ninth all-time in the 200 (25.54), second in the 100 hurdles (15.34), third in the javelin (133-4), third in the shot put (38-7) and she was also a member of four separate relay teams which all still rank among the top ten in SBCC history.
After SBCC, Banks excelled at UC Berkeley where she continued to set records. In 1980, she set the UC Berkeley school record in the pentathlon, shotput and javelin and was a member of the record-setting 400-meter relay team. During her time at UC Berkeley, she was known as "the one-woman wrecking crew" for her overall dominance. She then moved on to the Olympic trials, where she ranked sixth in the nation in the heptathlon.
Kieran (O'Leary) Roblee
A graduate of Dos Pueblos High School in 1986, Roblee was destined to be a successful athlete and coach from the start. Growing up in the storied O'Leary athletic family of Santa Barbara, Roblee counts her time as a youngster in Santa Barbara as being largely influential on her development as an athlete. She lists going to Frank Carbajal's basketball camps, youth track meets at La Playa Stadium, watching baseball at Pershing Park and going to basketball games at a packed Sports Pavilion of shaping her love of sports. Although Roblee only attended SBCC for one year, she made the most of her short time at SBCC. As a star for Rick Olmstead's women's volleyball team, Roblee led the Vaqueros to a 20-5 record and received many high honors for her play. Roblee was named the Western State Conference MVP and was also an All-State selection and SBART Women's Volleyball Athlete of the Year after her impressive season. Previously, she was named the SBART Girl's Volleyball Player of the Year in 1986 for her success at Dos Pueblos. She was inducted into the SBART Hall of Fame in 2010.
After SBCC, Roblee attended Fresno State on a women's volleyball scholarship where she continued to excel. In her first season, she set a Fresno State record for assists in a season and became the career leader in assists in just two seasons of play for Fresno State. After her playing career was over, Roblee became an influential volleyball coach. Currently the Head Women's Indoor and Beach Volleyball coach at Fresno City College, O'Leary led the Rams to their first CCCAA State Championship in 2016 when she guided the team to a 29-1 record. In her four seasons as head coach, Roblee has compiled a record of 114-14 and added a state runner-up and another Final Four appearance in her short time at Fresno City. She also started the Women's Beach Volleyball program at Fresno City. The daughter of legendary Dos Pueblos coach and Athletic Director Scott O'Leary, Kieran currently lives in Fresno and has been married to her husband Mike for 25 years.
Ed DeLacy
Ed DeLacy was the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Santa Barbara City College for eight years, from 1970-1978 and helmed some of the best teams in program history. Over the course of his career, DeLacy led the Vaqueros to a record of 190-54 while creating a frenzied and enjoyable atmosphere in the Sports Pavilion that is still talked about to this day. Over DeLacy's final two seasons, he compiled a record of 62-6 and rode his success at SBCC to become just the third Men's Basketball Head Coach in UC Santa Barbara's history. DeLacy was named the Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable Collegiate Coach of the Year three times in his eight-year tenure at SBCC. During the 1977-1978 season, DeLacy led the Vaqueros to a 29-1 regular season record, capturing his fourth Western State Conference championship in the process. DeLacy's Vaqueros finished third in the state that season. His first WSC championship came in his first season when he and fellow Class of 2020 SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Famer Don Ford led the Vaqs to a 13-1 conference record. In addition to Ford, DeLacy also coached Ben Howland, the current Head Coach at Mississippi State University.
Kathy O'Connor
The first two classes of the SBCC Vaqueros Hall of Fame have included four Vaquero pioneers of women's intercollegiate athletics, and O'Connor fits right in with those who helped lay the groundwork for the successful women's sports prorgams at SBCC. It was O'Connor who started the women's sports programs in the mid-1970's when she founded and coached the school's women's volleyball team. The current SBCC women's sports programs are among the most successful in the state and none of that would have been possible without O'Connor's leadership and vision. A former SBCC student, O'Connor began working at SBCC as an adjunct professor in 1973 and remains a physical education instructor and head of the Physical Education for the department. O'Connor is active on many committees on campus and is very visible in the community. Most notably, O'Connor co-founded the Santa Barbara Equine Assistance and Evacuation Team in 1990, a special unit that assists in evacuating and caring for large animals during fires and other disasters.
1983 Men's Volleyball Team
The 1983 SBCC Men's Volleyball team was the first Vaquero men's program to win a State Championship. Under the guidance of Rick Olmstead, the Vaqueros went 21-2 in just his second season to capture the State Championship.
