More than a banquet — it's (still) about community

The following is largely a reprint of a column I wrote a year ago on the Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Awards Banquet. It has been updated with the correct dates and such for 2024.

The dictionary defines community as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common; a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”

At its core, Chico and its surrounding area, from Orland to Paradise and Durham to Gridley, lives up to the definition. While our disagreements and oft-toxic chambers (literal and otherwise) can grab too much of the attention, there is still a lot more that unites us than divides us — if we'd simply pause long enough to look.

As one fantastic example, I give you the Enterprise-Record's 49th annual Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Awards Banquet, which will be held at Manzanita Place (Chico Elks Lodge) on Tuesday, May 21.

To a certain degree, yes, it's a sports affair. A few big names from the past will be inducted into our Hall of Fame, dozens of local high school and collegiate athletes will be honored as the best of the best at their schools, and somebody will be named our annual Sportsperson of the Year.

But this is a gathering of community that goes far beyond that. It is generations of people, uniting for one very special evening — and the ages of the participants, from 17 to 87 and beyond, could not be less important.

We all remember the part in “Field of Dreams” when James Earl Jones says, “Baseball has marked the time.” Locally, few things have marked the time better than our annual sports banquet — and if you want proof, let's just roll out a few of the names.

From the first Hall of Fame class (1973): Art Acker, Tommy Costar, Larry Gillick, George Maderos, Ray Orrick and Jane Shurmer. If there's ever a Mount Rushmore of Chico Sports History, pick any four.

From there, names like Frank Mertz, Clayton Dalrymple, Betty Lou Raker, Ted Blofsky, Nelson Briles, Om Wraith, Mike Liddell, Kathy Neal, Jeff Stover, Dale Edson, Mike Sherrard, Pat Clements, Chuck Sheley, Pete Riehlman, Craig Rigsbee, Sam Simmons, Haley (Cope) Clark, Gerald Circo, Steve Nettleton and Eileen Mason — to pick just 20 out of the dozens — read like a history book of not just the local sports scene of the past 100 years, but of so much that is great about our area, period.

Throw in those who have been named top athletes by their schools, and our Sportsman of the Year — remember the year

Aaron Rodgers won the award, and showed up to accept it? — and you begin to grasp the enormity of the evening.

But that's not my favorite part. It's the way all of these people, from so many different generations, come together — sitting next to each other, going through the buffet line side by side, and applauding one another as the night goes along.

For one glorious evening, we get an event that not only celebrates so much that is good about our community, it even creates a bit of a “community” all unto itself — with shared memories from across the generations that'll last a lifetime.

That's very much in line with the vision the founders of the banquet had more than a half-century ago. Blofsky, then the sports editor of the E-R, came up with the idea along with Tony Bord (sports information director at Chico State) and Frank Mertz from KPAY. Another longtime E-R editor (and Hall of Famer himself), Eddie Booth, played a big role and also got the Chamber of Commerce involved. As Blofsky recalled last year, “This was to take care of people, coaches and people from the community that have done so much. … It is a great thing to have the `Hall' going strong.”

Of course, to keep the Hall “going strong,” we'll need the community's continued support. Tickets go on sale Tuesday and will be available at our office through Thursday, May 16. Honored athletes and their presenters eat for free; for all others, the tickets are $60.

This year's banquet promises to be another memorable affair. Hall of Fame inductees include Tom Aldridge (you can read about him in our sports section today), Gary Burton (you'll read his story next week), Alexa Benson-Valavanis and Alisha Valavanis (May 5). If you've never been — or even if you have — please check it out and celebrate an evening that's all about celebrating the very best of our rich athletic history.

And, of course, our community.