West Hills championship football team celebrates 50th

The reunion is organized by the West Hills Community College Foundation. Activities will begin Friday, Oct. 17 with a reception and no-host bar poolside at the Harris Ranch Inn from 5:30-7 p.m., followed by a no-host dinner at the Jockey Club.

On Saturday, the team will attend the college homecoming game against Reedley College at 1 p.m. in the Memorial Bowl. They are invited to attend the Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony in the WHCC gymnasium. The social hour begins at 6 p.m.

The team, along with Coach Walt Johnson, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998. Several individual players were inducted over the years, including Dan Goich and Chico Lopes. George Yamamoto will be inducted posthumously this year.

“Over its more than 80-year history, West Hills College Coalinga has produced outstanding athletes and athletic teams,” said Frances Squire, executive director of the Foundation. “Coming from all over the nation and the world, these students forged bonds that have lasted for decades — and in the case of the 1964 Falcon football team, for half a century.” 

Expected to attend the reunion are Johnson, Lopes, Goich, Sadler, Ed Wilson, Jack Minnite, Jim Davis, Bob Bowers and Ron Clark. Lopes was named All-American in 1964 and is a retired teacher in Hawaii. Goich played professional football for the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants and Denver Broncos. He is now a retired math teacher and living in Las Vegas.

Sadler will travel to Coalinga from Tennessee and Davis from Oregon. Minnite is a member of the West Hills Community College District Board of Trustees. Bowers is a retired PG&E employee, and Clark is retired from his career with the California Department of Fish and Game.

To conclude the reunion, a brunch will be held poolside at the Harris Ranch Inn on Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon. Community members are invited to attend and can reserve a spot by calling the Foundation at 559-934-2134.