PHS adds 8 to Hall of Fame
Six players, one coach and a team are honored
Six Porteville High School players, a coach and a girls basketball team saw their status go from legendary to immortal Saturday night.
Six Porteville High School players, a coach and a girls basketball team saw their status go from legendary to immortal Saturday night.
The eight — players Eddie Ramos, Rich Rankin, Todd Pixler, Shane Snow, Jennifer Borror and Julie Botts, coach Diane Francone and the 2003 PHS girls basketball team — inductees took their place alongside other Panther greats as they were enshrined into the PHS Athletics Hall of Fame in front of family and friends at the Porterville Veterans Building. This was the fifth class to go into the PHS Hall of Fame.
Throughout the ceremony, all of the recipients thanked the many people that helped them become champions on and off the field. A few tears were shed as well as a lot of laughs, but the most memorable speaker of the night was Eddie’s younger sister, Amelia Ramos.
“Little” Ramos gave the room a glimpse of what it was like growing up in the shadow of “Rocket Ramos.”
“I looked up to them as star-struck kids look up to celebrities,” she said. “My brothers were larger than life in my eyes.”
She talked of attending every wrestling and football practice and game of her brother, learning how to keep score and of saving the newspaper clipping from when he was Athlete of the Week. And of the impact he had on her life.
“You helped me realize my full potential, I could not be the woman I am today, I would not be the kind of teacher I am today if it were not for all of those moments I had growing up with you,” Amelia Ramos said. “Thank you for letting me tag along on your journey. Congratulations on your achievement, Eddie. I love you brother.”
Her brother, a 1993 graduate of PHS, starred in football and wrestling. He still holds the record for the longest run for a touchdown, 93 yards against crosstown rival Monache. He was a Valley wrestling champ as a junior and won state as a senior. He placed sixth at nationals in 1993.
Eddie Ramos, in the shortest acceptance speech of the night, less than a minute, simply thanked his family and coaches.
Mike Haskins emceed the evening and introduced the remainder of the class, including a teammate of Ramos on the gridiron, Shane Snow.
Snow started at tight end and free safety and helped lead the Panthers to three straight East Yosemite League varsity football titles
and then did the same in basketball.
He was first team ALLEYL in football as a junior and senior and was Offensive Player of the Year in the EYL and Allvalley as a senior.
In basketball, he led the EYL in rebounding as a sophomore and was league MVP the following season. He was ALLEYL three straight years and first team all-area as a senior.
Snow honored several people, including his father and teammates.
“I walked in at a great time,” he said. “I stood on the shoulders of some great people.”
Pixler and Botts were the oldest of the inductees, graduating in 1966 and 1967, respectively.
Pixler was a member of the 1966 PHS Valley champion track team and ran on the Valley champion 440 relay team. Pixler set records in the 200 and the 400 and as a freshman he ran the 100-yard dash in 9.6 seconds — all are still records today. In all he set 11 individual records and four relay records in four years at PHS.
Pixler remains involved with PHS and is the president of the school’s alumni association.
“It’s been an honor,” he said. “I am really proud to be a part of the Porterville High School Hall of Fame.”
Botts, whose married name is Bennett, was the Female Athlete of the Year at PHS in 1967 and was a Valley champion swimmer at a time when there were only two girls sports offered — swimming and tennis — and both were played during the spring.
Back then PHS did not have a swimming pool on campus. The team practiced and competed at the Sunnyside Pool on the corner of Henderson Avenue and Main Street.
Botts was a self-admitted Tomboy growing up and enjoyed playing many sports, but was limited in high school because Title IX had not been instituted.
She went on to have an accomplished career in sports information at the collegiate level and in 2016 was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America — Hall of Fame.
Botts was one of several female PHS inductees Saturday night.
“I am thrilled so many female students are being honored tonight,” she said, referring to coach Francone, Borror and the 2003 PHS girls basketball team.
Seven players from the 2003 PHS girls basketball team and their coach Brian Hill were in attendance Saturday.
The 2003 Lady Panthers are arguably the greatest girls team in school history and accomplished what no other girls team in any sport there had ever done — win a Valley title. They amassed a 26-4 mark that season en route to trouncing Granite Hills by 39 points in the CIF Central Section Division III championship game. The team won the EYL crown and featured three 1,000 point career scorers — Borror, Jennifer Nacianceno and Summer Mathews.
Six players for the 2003 squad also went on to play at the collegiate level.
Hill inherited a loaded team that had gone deep in the Valley playoffs the previous two seasons.
“My main job with these kids was to not let them get bored,” Hill said. “I think I did a pretty good job. This was a special group. We probably won’t have as talented a group ever at Porterville High School.”
A member of that team, Borror also was inducted as a player, but she was unable to attend Saturday. During her PHS career, she was a part of seven teams that won league titles — three in water polo, three in basketball and one in soccer.
Borror was the league Most Valuable Player in water polo and basketball her senior season as well as Tulare County Player of the Year in basketball and made the All-valley team. She scored over 1,000 points for her career.
After leaving PHS, she attended Porterville College and led PC to its only league title in women’s basketball in school history while being named the California Junior College Player of the Year. After leaving PC, she attended Chico State where she played for a Division 2 national title.
Capping of what was dubbed “girls night” was the induction of PHS girls volleyball coach Diane Franconerankin, who is now married to fellow inductee Rich Rankin.
She is the first female coach to be added to the PHS Athletic Hall of Fame. After earning 10 varsity letters in sports while attending PHS and being chosen Female of the Year in 1995, she went off to college and returned to teach and coach at her alma matter.
She coached several sports, but volleyball is where she had the greatest impact during her four years on the sidelines. From 2002-2006, her volleyball teams went 59-13 overall and were 42-2 in EYL play, winning league titles all four years and advancing to the state playoffs for the first and only time. It’s the only time PHS has ever won league titles in volleyball. In 2003, the Panthers finished second in the Valley tournament, losing to powerhouse Exeter in the final.
She graciously thanked her players.
“You wanted to put Porterville High School volleyball on the map as much as I did, together we made that happen four times over,” she said. “Congratulations.”
Diane and Rich Rankin are the first husband and wife to be inducted.
Rich Rankin officially went in based on his playing days, but could have garnered an invite based on his accomplishments as a coach at PHS and as its athletic director.
Rich Rankin, who graduated in 1978, was a one-sport athlete — basketball. He didn’t make the varsity team until his junior year following a growth spurt, but in two years left his mark on the record books. He set the school record for assists in a season in 1978, the same year he was MVP of the EYL. He went on to do the same at Porterville College and then at Fresno Pacific University. He was inducted into the PC Hall of Fame in 2011.
While boys basketball coach at PHS his teams won consecutive EYL titles from 1990 to 1994. He coached several sports and won a total of nine EYL titles.
As an administrator, he was named Central Section Athletic Director of the Year in 2016.
“I have a lot of strong connections to Porterville High School,” he said. “And really the thing that touches me the most about this tonight is it’s one more connection to a place that is very special to me.”