San Bernardino Valley College inducted five new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame at a Nov. 3 ceremony at the school.

The event, co-hosted by the San Bernardino Valley College Foundation, also saw the induction of five new members of the Alumni Hall of Fame. About 200 people filled the Auxiliary Gym in the Athletics and Kinesiology Complex for the ceremony. It was the first time SBVC had inducted new members into the Hall of Fame since 2012.

First on the program was the induction of the five new members of the Alumni Hall of Fame – Dr. Tom Rivera, Dr. Will Roberts, Roger Schmidt, Marta Macias Brown and Dr. Julius Zelman.  – Athletic Director David Rubio took the stage to introduce the night’s athletic honorees.

First, he introduced David Olbright, who helped San Bernardino Valley College to a state championship in men’s volleyball. After SBVC, Olbright was an All-American at UCLA, and was selected captain of the United States National Volleyball Team. In 1980, he was selected to represent the United States at the Olympics, but he was unable to play as the U.S. boycotted the Games in Russia. Olbright was grateful for the opportunities he had at San Bernardino Valley, enrolling at the school after serving in the United States Air Force at Norton Air Force Base. He later became a successful owner and operator of a Jostens franchise and high school and college volleyball coach.

The next honoree was Dane Selznick. Another part of the men’s volleyball state championship team in the mid-1970s. Selznick’s career path took him outdoors, becoming one of the great beach volleyball players of his era, including winning the Beach World Championship in 1980. He later became the gold-medal winning coach of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings. Selznick recalled being familiar with all the courthouses between West Los Angeles and San Bernardino, as he was often caught speeding in his efforts to make it to class on time.

Former San Bernardino Valley College coach (and future Hall of Famer) Ken Blumenthal presented the next two honorees. He brought the room to tears with his introduction of David Lang, who was inducted posthumously. Lang had already been drafted by the Los Angeles Rams when he enrolled at SBVC after an incident derailed his rise to the NFL. Blumenthal recalled a hard worker, who came to SBVC looking to redeem himself. He did on the track, helping set records in the 4x100 meter relay and other events. His drive to be the best, and help others, were the traits that made him great, Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal remained on the stage to bring up Tyree Washington. The two told stories about how he was convinced to come to SBVC by coach Blackman Ihem. The choice turned out to be a good one. He won state in the 200 and 400 meters while at SBVC, setting a national record in the 400 meters with a time of 44.52 seconds. He parlayed his success into championships in track at the international level, including being ranked No. 1 in the world at 400 meters in 2003.

The last inductee of the evening was Coach Gene Mazzei. Mazzei was the head coach for four different sports at SBVC, winning conference championships in all four, and state championships in two. The coach drew loud cheers during his speech, saying that the award wasn’t about him, it was about all the student-athletes he coached, the ones who made their way off to successful lives thanks to the education they received from San Bernardino Valley College.

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