Jim Riggio
Over the course of a century, the city of Glendale has produced a
tremendous amount of quality athletes in many sports.
Although the selection process was long, hard and difficult, the
News-Press has narrowed its list down to its 50 greatest of all-time.
In forming this list several criteria were taken into account. First
and foremost, the athlete has to have either played sports at a local
school or lived in the city for a significant amount of time in their
life.
Another criteria taken into account was how dominant one was amongst
their peers in the era he or she competed in.
So without further adieu, here are the selections from 41-50.
50 -- Mike Baele: The 1983 Hoover High graduate earned All-America
honors and won five CIF Southern Section titles in swimming, taking the
50 freestyle in the 3-A in 1981 and 1982. He also won the 100-yard
freestyle in 1981, 1982 and 1983. He later competed at the Tulane
University, where he also earned All-America honors.
49 -- Darrell Sutherland: A 1959 graduate of Glendale High, Sutherland
was named the CIF Southern Section major division most valuable player.
Also an excellent baseball player, he played four years in the major
leagues, compiling a record of 5-4, all of which came when he played for
the New York Mets.
48 -- Margarito Casillas: The 1993 Hoover High graduate won two CIF
Southern Section and one state Division I title in cross-country. He also
won one CIF title in track and field. But Casillas' biggest
accomplishments were winning the Kinney West Regional cross-country title
in 1991 and following that with a first-team All-America finish the
following week in the Kinney Nationals. Casillas, who is one of only
three runners to break the 15-minute barrier on the Crescenta Valley Park
course, competed at the University of Arizona and earned academic
All-America honors. He was a key member of the Wildcats' 1994 Pac-10
Conference championship team.
47 -- Kenny Carpenter: The 1999 Crescenta Valley graduate won five CIF
titles in events and was a member of two CIF championship teams. Also a
water polo player, he earned All-America honors 20 times in his career,
which include swimming, water polo and academic achievement awards.
Carpenter is currently attending Brigham Young University.
46 -- George Musacco: Hailed as the one of the greatest football
players in Glendale High, history the 1947 graduate earned All-CIF
honors. He later went on to star at Loyola University (now Loyola
