MARIN ATHLETIC FOUNDATION HALL OF FAME
CLASS OF 2022
NOVATO COACH
TRAVIS BRACKETT
Travis Brackett had a dream while growing up in Novato. He wanted to become a teacher and coach at Novato High.
Walking into a downtown bagel shop the other day, Brackett realized something: Even in his dream, it was never this good. “I ran into my old tailback. He had his two boys with him,” Brackett noted. “I see the families. I've got two girls who are playing sports, too. It's a great feeling.
“Seeing some of my old players who are local firefighters — seeing their progression in this town and hopefully the small part I played in it — that tells me all the time I put in was well worth it.”
Brackett earned a spot in the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame on the strength of five MCAL and four North Coast Section titles in 13seasons as Novato's football coach. The Hornets made the playoffs 12times in those 13 years.
A football and baseball player at Novato, Brackett considers it a blessing that Chico State dropped football his freshman year. It allowed him to focus on getting a degree and getting back to his hometown in time to become a varsity football coach by the age of 24.
Among all the wins and championships, Brackett says the game that stands out most was the NCS title matchup with an unbeaten Las Lomas squad in 2007.
“We were down 21-7at halftime and we had to make some halftime adjustments, figure out how we were going to attack them differently in the second half,” he remembered. “The boys adapted. We came back and won the game. That got us into the state championship game.”
At the height of his powers in 2013, Brackett gave two reasons for retiring from coaching football. Their names are Abigail and Madeline.
“I had two little girls. I felt like I was missing out on a lot,” he says. “My vision was: If you're going to do it right, you do it all off-season. Football to me was April to December, five days a week. So I missed a lot with the girls. There were days when I got up to go to school and teach, then got home after football and they were already asleep.”
The girls — Abigail is a high school junior, Madeline an eighthgrader — play lacrosse and soccer, but Brackett takes a football mentality toward them.
“I kind of teach them the same principles I taught my boys, then see them kind of run with that,” he says. “I've always preached: Family-school-football. It's been the same things with my daughters. I've really enjoyed watching them grow as athletes.”
TERRA LINDA ATHLETE
FRED DANIELE
Fred Daniele doesn't remember every home run he hit in Little League, nor every homer his older brother Jerry hit in Pony League. But the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame inductee vividly recalls one of each almost 65years later.
“My older brother was a star baseball player,” he observed. “When we were young kids, I was 10years old and on the All-Star team for Gallinas Valley. My older brother was in Pony League.
“I'll never forget: We were playing at the same park. During our game, you could hear all the cheers from the Pony League park. He hit a walk-off homer. Later, I hit a walkoff homer on our diamond.”
If you ask Daniele, who was born and raised in San Rafael and was Terra Linda High class of 1966, there were two great athletes in his family: Older brother Jerry and younger brother Bobby. In between, there was a two-year varsity player for the Trojans in both football and basketball, which just kept him in shape for his best sport, baseball, where in 1966he earned MCAL Player of the Year honors after leading the league in home runs, batting average and stolen bases.
Remarkably, he struck out just four times in a four-year baseball career at Terra Linda.
Jerry Daniele signed with the St. Louis Cardinals at age 17, and Fred successfully followed in his footsteps when, after a twoyear stint as an all-conference shortstop at College of Marin, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 1969.
“They were an expansion team,” Daniele recalls. “I went down there for one year. Flew home at the end of the season and said I'm done.
“I don't know why. I regret it every day of my life. I had a girlfriend (in San Rafael); my car was (in San Rafael) … You can't unring that bell.”
Daniele had forgotten how good he was until the old girlfriend sent him a bunch of newspaper clippings about 15years ago. “She saved every article,” the current Reno resident says. “It was really cool. You start looking at these things … I guess what I remember is just the camaraderie of playing on the summer travel team. Guys from all over Marin. Talk about fun. Then you played against them in high school.”
REDWOOD, MC ATHLETE/ COACH
STEVE COMPAGNO
When Steve Compagno was hired to coach basketball at his alma mater, Redwood High, in 1992, athletic director Phil Roark had some advice for him.
“Phil said to me, `Your players are going to remember you in one of two ways: You're a good guy, or you're not a good guy. It's your choice,” Compagno recalled. “I always tried to tap into my player's heart. That Redwood gym was home to me. I was in that gym constantly.”
So in the end, was Compagno, an Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame inductee, a good guy or not a good guy? He thinks he knows the answer.
“My daughter (Anna) was at Redwood while I was coaching,” he said. “Many days, I would come home and a bunch of her friends — guys who I coached — they're here talking and watching television. They say, “Hi, Coach,” and it makes me feel good. We still have great relationships, and that's what it's all about.”
The Larkspur native was the MCAL's third-leading basketball scorer and a 13-2 pitcher as a senior in 1978 for Marin Catholic after having transferred from Redwood, where he had played on the 1977national-championship baseball team.
He went on to earn all-conference honors as a pitcher at both College of Marin and Cuesta College, before tying one of Mike Krukow's records at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. His playing career was capped by getting drafted by the New York Yankees in 1982.
Quality stuff, but nothing compared to his basketball coaching success at Redwood, where he won more than 200games and an NCS championship in 2010. The Giants were an annual participant in the MCAL playoffs. Compagno credits having played for and worked with coaches at Redwood, Marin Catholic and Branson as having created the foundation for his success.
“As a player, I had great coaches,” he gushed. “Rusty McManus, Al Endriss, Joe Burke, Dave Gonsalves … Those guys believed in me. When someone believes in you, you don't want to let them down.
“I appreciated being a member of the team. It was a privilege. I coached that way, too. It was a privilege to be a coach.”
SAN RAFAEL, SAN MARIN ATHLETE
ALICIA ROSSI GREEN
Alicia Rossi Green put up a bunch of impressive numbers during a stellar prep softball career, but it's the smallest that stands out to her.
One year after transferring from San Rafael High to San Marin, Rossi (as she was known then) began her junior season in 1995without allowing an earned run in 53 consecutive innings.
She finally served one up in her 54th inning, then not another through the end of MCAL regular-season play, during which the Mustangs won a second consecutive championship.
Her ERA entering postseason play that season: 0.01.
That's right: 0.01.
“That year all the stars aligned. We went 14-0in MCAL,” the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Famer recalled. “The team was great. Everybody got along. Our defense was phenomenal, which helped my stats. Everybody was playing for each other. I felt like I was almost untouchable.”
Rossi finished the season with 11shutouts and three nohitters.
The Mustangs won three consecutive MCAL titles with Rossi as their pitcher, culminating a youth career that was well directed by her mother and father.
“My mom ran the San Rafael Girls Softball League,” she said. “My parents were very active in all my teams. When I played for the Blue Angels travel team, my dad was head coach. One game I struck out 20of 21batters at a tournament in Napa. I think I was 12.”
Rossi went on to become the starting pitcher at San Rafael as a freshman before the family moved to Novato.
She, husband Lincoln Green and daughters Natalia (14) and Brittanya (13) have remained in Novato, combining to leave their mark on youth softball about 10miles north of where Rossi was a standout in the 1990's.
“There have been years when my daughters were divisions apart. It made for long days,” she admits. “It's so fulfilling that you can help kids. It makes me feel happy myself, too.”
DRAKE, SD SPECIAL RECOGNITION
MIKE DALY
When Mike Daly retired from a lifetime of basketball in 2020, he did the obvious thing.
He got right back into basketball.
Daly was a part of Marin County basketball for the better part of 45years, starting as a third-grader at St. Rita's in Fairfax, where he became Chris Fulton's teammate.
Nine years later, they were still together as part of arguably Marin's best-ever team — the Pete Hayward-coached 1982state championship club at Sir Francis Drake.
“I was very fortunate to have been around some real great coaches,” Daly said on the eve of his induction into the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame. “Larry Fulton and Mike Saia and Pete Hayward … they really inspired me. They were foundational. The things they taught and stood for are still making a difference with players and teams today.”
Daly also played baseball and, briefly, football at Drake, then jumped right into coaching at the CYO level.
He has fond memories of his days at St. Rita's, St. Anthony's, St. Sebastian's and St. Isabella's, especially his stint at St. Sebastian's, when upon taking the job, he warned assistant Rob Guidi, “We're going to get our butts kicked.”
“But we took everything I stole from Pete Hayward and Mike Saia at Drake and won the 8A championship,” he proudly boasted. “It was St. Sebastian's first championship. It was probably my most prideful moment.”
Daly joined up with Mike Fulton at San Domenico, always pulling from things he either was taught by a coach or witnessed while watching many of Marin's all-time greats.
“The quality of coaching in Marin speaks for itself,” he insists. “For such a small community, we've won a lot of championships.”
Daly “retired” from coaching in 2020 and moved to Templeton, a town near Paso Robles. One of the first things he did was type “basketball camps” into his computer's search engine.
“I got introduced to Mike Wozniak. He's the man down there in AAU,” Daly reports. “Now I'm at practice four nights a week with him.”
SAN RAFAEL ATHLETE
TIM HARR
Tim Harr was the star of a San Rafael High championship football team and the Most Valuable Player of the inaugural Ross Valley Kiwanis Club North-South All-Star Game. He was an all-state performer at College of Marin and set a San Francisco State record with a 79-yard punt. Dick Nolan told him he had better hands than Gene Washington, and Tex Schramm invited him to Dallas for a tryout.
No wonder Harr, who died two years ago, has been selected to the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.
But according to those who knew Harr best, those weren't even his best accomplishments.
“Marin County had a flag football league,” longtime friend Evan MacIlraith recalled of a league in which the San Rafael Class of 1965standout participated from 1974-82. “Tim was older. Most of those guys he was competing against, still at a high level, had 8-10years on him. But the guy was tough as nails. “He had the size; he had the speed. I don't think we've ever seen anybody quite like him in Marin County.”
Harr was the do-it-all type of the 1960s. Mostly he played quarterback. But he also punted, kicked off and returned kicks. Until he got to junior college, that is.
“We lived right across the street from Dick Reed, the College of Marin coach,” MacIlraith said. “Dick comes outside one day and my dad says, `How's the team looking this year?' He says, `I think we're going to be pretty good. I just need to talk one of my quarterbacks into becoming a running back.' Tim always wanted to play quarterback, but for that team, he made the switch.”
He returned to quarterback at San Francisco State, then got a tryout from the San Francisco 49ers … as a receiver.
That's where Nolan gushed over his hands, and from where Schramm, the longtime Cowboys executive, received a report that he needed to take a look at this guy. However, Harr never made the trip to Texas.
“Tim was unique,” Leon Delisle observed. “I remember watching him in touch football games they used to have in Marin in August. Some of the top high school players from all over Marin County would show up. He would just run over guys. I'd never seen anybody do that like he could. Usually guys like that go Division I and then get drafted to the pros.”