Jim Riggio
At 7 feet tall, Richard Mandeville is the tallest basketball player
ever from La Canada High.
Mandeville is also one of the greatest basketball players to ever don
a Spartan jersey.
Because of that he was one of five people elected into the school's
athletic Hall of Fame Friday, at halftime of the varsity boys' basketball
game against South Pasadena High.
Mandeville, who graduated from La Canada in 1993 and later played at
Indiana University, was grateful to be put in an elite class.
"La Canada has always been good to me and I'll always remember my
teammates and friends and coach Hofman," said Mandeville, who played
professionally in Australia last year.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame were Cindy Ford Perkin, Jeannie
Jennison Tierney, Erin Weaver and Melissa Lord.
Ford Perkin graduated from La Canada in 1966, was one of the top
American swimmers in the mid-1960s. She once swam the breaststroke leg on
the American-record setting 400-meter relay team. She was ranked as high
as eighth in the world in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Jennison Tierney graduated from La Canada in 1976, and earned first-team All-CIF honors in both volleyball and basketball. She later
went on to play volleyball in college at the University of Idaho.
Weaver, who graduated from La Canada in 1990, was a three-time
all-league selection in volleyball, and a second-team All-CIF selection
in her senior year. She earned a scholarship to the University of Iowa
and is now an assistant at Indiana State University.
Lord is recognized as the school's greatest female basketball player.
A 1993 graduate, she holds the school record for most points in a career
with 1,625. A three-time Rio Hondo League most valuable player, she also
holds the top three spots in school history for most points in a season.
