Perez, Alsop among new Highland Hall of Fame inductees
Kern County government leaders Leticia Perez and Ryan Alsop are among a group of seven that will be inducted along with the 1977 championship wrestling team into the Highland Hall of Fame this spring.
This year’s inductees include those who achieved success in health care and humanitarian efforts. Included in the class are Willa Crosby-Thorson, Liz Stinson Haley, Eugenia Eyherabide, Pete Gonzales and wrestling coach Joe Barton, posthumously. Barton guided the 1977 Highland wrestling team to a valley championship.
Perez, raised alongside a dozen foster children, is Kern County’s 5th District supervisor.
As an attorney, she represented indigent clients and served on the boards of Big Brothers-Big Sisters, Community Service Organization and New Life Recovery Training Center.
Perez was selected by her peers as the first woman to preside over the Kern County Bar’s Criminal Defense Section. She was also elected as the first Latina president of the California State Association of Counties.
Perez also served as chair of the Kern County Planning Commission and a consultant for the California State Senate Committee on Economic Development and Permitting.
As chief administrative officer for Kern County, Alsop is responsible for implementing the policy directives of the Board of Supervisors and overseeing general operations and functions of Kern County. He also serves on the board of the California State Association of Counties as well as the Board of Governors for Kern Medical. Alsop previously served as director of external affairs for then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Crosby-Thorson is the program director for the Medical Genetics Residency Program at the University of Miami, where she had been a clinical assistant professor.
Eyherabide currently serves as a judge for San Diego County Superior Court.
Prior to being appointed to the bench by Schwarzenegger in 2006, Eyherabide served as an assistant U.S. attorney with the Office of the United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., before becoming a deputy district attorney in San Diego County.
Haley was a member of Highland’s first graduating class and helped select the mascot and school colors.
She began a 41-year teaching career in 1976. She can now be found volunteering as a court-appointed special advocate for children. She also tutors students at Kern Literacy Council, teaches art at Quailwood School and serves food at the Guild House. She serves on the boards of Junior League and the Assistance League.
Barton, who was all-city in football and valley champion in wrestling as a student at South High, began his teaching and coaching career at Highland.
He was able to keep an eye on his wrestlers while teaching at the school. After his teaching career, he started a construction company and built homes in Bakersfield and Bear Valley. Later, he moved to Paso Robles and opened Grey Wolf Vineyards & Cellars in 1996, which he continues to operate under the management of his son.
Gonzalez was a champion wrestler at Highland. His love for wrestling continued through his adult life as he has mentored and coached young wrestlers at the high school and junior levels.
At the junior college level, he placed third in the state. At Cal State Bakersfield, Gonzales wrestled on the 1979 and 1980 wrestling team winning Division II Nationals and placing in the Division I Nationals as a team.
Highland’s 1977 wrestling team included Mike Gonzales, Fred Gonzales, Joe Calvillo, Dale Dow, Aaron Duckworth, Flint Pulskamp, John Hopkins, Rob Romine, Mike McKeehan, Mike Osthimer, Donny Monsibais, David Kincaid, Richie Phillips and Freddie Torres.
The team struggled to fill all wrestling weight classes but still won the valley championship thanks to five finalists: Dow, Duckworth, Osthimer, Mike Gonzales and Fred Gonzales.
All inductees will be honored at a special dinner set for April 15 at Bakersfield Country Club.
Email David Monsibais at hhsapshof@gmail.com for more information.