Sweatfield set to be honored in Vallejo
Vallejo High grad was also a multi-sport athlete
For nearly four decades Mike Sweatfield coached some of Vallejo's greatest athletes. Now the community is giving something back to him.
The longtime coach and standout athlete at Vallejo High School will be inducted into the 18th annual Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Dan Foley Cultural Center. A sold-out crowd will be on hand to give thanks to Sweatfield.
“I want to give him a big hug. I don't want to say how long it's been because then that will let everyone know how old I am,” Hogan High and Florida State softball standout Kelly Miller said on Thursday. Miller is also going into the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Sweatfield came to Vallejo in 1950, and soon attended Highland Elementary, Vallejo Junior High and Vallejo High.
At Vallejo High, Sweatfield was a multi-sport athlete, shining in football, baseball and basketball. He lettered in baseball and football, where he was a star running back for the Apaches.
Sweatfield graduated Vallejo High in 1959 and then attended Vallejo Junior College, playing football alongside Frank Milo and award-winning broadcaster Martin Wyatt.
From there Sweatfield went to Sacramento State and soon took his first teaching position at Mira Loma High, coaching the freshman football team.
Sweatfield couldn't stay away from Vallejo, returning to teach at Hogan High and then Vallejo High. At Vallejo High, he worked with legendary coaches Norm Tanner and Jack Renfro. At one point they guided the Vallejo High football team to 47 straight wins.
Sweatfield also had success in wrestling, coaching star wrestlers such as Bog Garcia, Robert Young
and Martin Young to name a few. He also guided the badminton team at Vallejo to section championships.
After 39 years of teaching,
Sweatfield retired in 2001.
Calls to Sweatfield went unanswered as of the Times-Herald presstime on Friday.
This year's Hall of Fame event is being organized for the first time by the Coach Sarna Football
League, along with Vallejo PAL. All proceeds for the event will go toward creating scholarships for each organization.
The other inductees for 2024 are Richie Anderson, Emil Bautista, Cheri Coover, Gary Carabato,
John Garioto, Bobby Guillory Jr., Tony Longmire, Kelly Miller, DeMarcus Nelson, Joe Norlin, Stan Rogers and the 1982 Vallejo High boys basketball team. Norlin's son, Joe Norlin Jr. will be accepting the award on behalf of his late father.