2010 Inductees

Bob Wynkoop

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Educator / Coach

For 32 years he was a teacher, coach, and educational leader at Holtville High School from 1972 to 2004. During his tenure he served as an instructor of English and Science, as the Department Head of both, as an Athletic Director, as Dean of Discipline, and as a Principal. He was recognized as a site leader with remarkable knowledge of the educational process and often sought-out for his mentorship by both beginning teachers and veteran instructors. He was perhaps best known for his organizational and analytical abilities while maintaining high expectations for his student-athletes. He often spent his summers upgrading his classrooms with shelving, furniture, and interior decorations; and personally designed, built and stocked both a state of the art geology lab for high school students with his own lapidary equipment and supplies for the students to use, and a fully equipped reading lab with over 800 reading books that he personally selected and evaluated for reading levels and teenage interests. Over the years he initiated and helped implement many improvements for the high school including: a standardized test for placing middle school students into high school English classes, a Board-approved cheating policy and discipline program, and the school’s Academic Round Table that was designed to annually resolve academic issues. As a coach he was recognized by the Imperial Valley Football Coaches Association as a member of its Coaches Hall of Fame for a distinguished career from 1987 to 1997, which was almost certainly the best years of Viking football in its school history. He was the size of players and the kind of talent that Holtville typically had to put on the field. This philosophy produced 88 wins in 11 years, won 5 league championships, 4 CIF Championships, averaged more than 30 points a game, and was one of the most prolific offenses in the Valley, if not all of Southern California. Bob graduated from Downey High School in 1957 where he was a team member of the Downey “Vikings” that won two consecutive CIF Championships and participated in the most highly publicized CIF Championship game in California history in 1956, which was played in the L.A. Coliseum with over 60,000 people in attendance. He served as a medic in a MASH unit in the Viet-Nam war and returned to graduate from CS Long Beach in 1968 with his teaching credential.

 

Alex Wells

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Alumnus/Student Athlete

An outstanding student/athlete for Holtville High School, 1986-1989, who was one of Holtville’s all-time great athletes in two sports, baseball and football. Football in particular was where he was the recipient of numerous honors being named All Deseret League and All-Valley for 2 years, Desert League and Imperial Valley Most Valuable Player, All-CIF in 1988, and All-State in 1989. As a quarterback he is still one of the best ever to have played for Holtville and the statistics certainly bear that out. He passed for 4,778 yards in his 3-years of varsity football which was the 4th highest in San Diego CIF history at the time, and still ranks as the 14th highest total of passing yards. In 1988, his junior year, he completed 198 passes (8th highest in San Diego CIF) and threw for 27 touchdowns (5th highest in SDCIF). However, he was much more than just a passing quarterback; for he was a team leader whose competitive spirit drove his teammates to winning streak that started a Viking dynasty of 5 straight years of getting to the CIF Championship’s final game and winning the CIF Championship four times. This included his final 2 years when his team won 20 of 21 games, and won 12 games in a row to finish his Viking career in 1989, as undefeated CIF Champions. At the end of 1989, he was inducted into the San Diego High School Hall of Fame. He was recognized by the Imperial Valley Football Coaches Association as a member of its Coaches Hall of Fame. In his senior he was selected as the team’s MVP and named to the All-SCIAC (all-league) team. After college Alex worked for 4 years with Deloitte & Touche, LLP in the Auditing and Consulting Division. In 1998 he returned to the valley and took a job as the Controller and Director of Finance for the El Centro Regional Medical Center.

 

John McCoy

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Alumnus

A 1965 graduate of Holtville High School where he was a member of AFS, Future Teachers Club, a life member of CSF and active in student government, debate, school newspaper, and editor of the school annual (Mirage). In 1963 he won a scholarship to attend the Junior Engineers and Scientist Summer Institute at New Mexico University and in 1964 as an exchange student with the American Field Service he went to Lima, Peru, becoming the 1st Holtville student to be sent abroad. In 1965, his senior year, he was featured in the San Diego Union’s “Student Highlights of 1965”. He went on to graduate from UC Irvine where he was a member of the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity and a member of the Crew Team for 3 years. He began his professional career working at Disneyland, moving from the Jungle Cruise to Tomorrow-land Supervisor, and eventually to manage the Safety Department and guest safety at Disneyland. From there he became part of the management team that directed the development and operation of Tokyo Disneyland and Euro Disney; and ended his career with Disney Company as well as the safety operations at all Disney Resorts. After 30 years with Disney he formed a consulting firm that was responsible for the planning and operational development of such projects as the Parque de la Costa in Buenos Aires, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, The Seattle Space-Needle rehabilitation, the Mala Bay Water Park in Taiwan, the Sea Life Park in Hawaii, and many others. In the past 10 years he has been in the construction industry where his safety background and Spanish language enable him to develop a safety culture among Hispanic workers and partner with Cal-OSHA. Among his many talents, John speaks 3 languages, plays the accordion and bagpipes, coaches youth sports, and is a qualified instructor of both scaffolding and heat illness.

 

Andara MacDonald

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Educator

Andy as she was called taught for 40 years at Holtville High School until she retired in 2010 and was the key speaker at graduation where she was given a standing ovation by the graduating seniors. She was born in 1948 in Seattle, Washington and graduated from Bainbridge High School on Bainbridge Island. After graduating from the University of Washington, she took a teaching position at Holtville in 1970, where her teaching career included English and writing skills, speech and debate, helping students with college scholarships, and helping them get into college. As a speech coach, she was the S.D./I.V. Speech League President 1982-1984, and then President 1985-1987, the California H.S. Speech Association Representative for Southern California 1988-2008, President of that association 1994-2002, and was inducted as a member of the California High School Speech Association Hall of Fame in 1995. During her 37-year tenure she coached the Vikings to 14 team sweepstakes champions, 300 1st place state competition she had 1 state champion in Expository Speaking, 11 state finalists, 21 state semi-finalists, and it can be said that she put Holtville High School on the map for producing good speakers. As a mock trial team coach, she had 3 Imperial County Championships, and two 2nd place finishes. Probably her best team was in 1995 when the Vikings had the Valley’s Best Defense Attorney, Best Defendant, and Best Bailiff. As an AVID teacher she helped over 500 students with their college admissions and scholarships representing about $2,000,000 in aid. Andy continued her personal education for more than 40 years taking courses from 21 private universities, 23 California state universities, and 8 universities from out of state. It was easy to see that “Mac’s” true passion was teaching and education.

 

Fredrick L. Allen

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Alumnus

A 1957 graduate of Holtville High School with honors where he was Student Body President and a student-athlete on the football, basketball, and baseball teams. He went on to graduate from Stanford University in 1961 and then served as a naval officer aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Ranger. When he returned from the navy he earned his J.D. from the University of California Hastings. Since then, Fred has become one of the premier real estate and finance attorneys in America with numerous professional publications and periodicals including every edition of The Best Lawyers in America, recognizing his leadership in real estate and finance. In practice he represents real estate owners, developer, institutional investors, lenders, pension fund advisors, contractors, and asset management companies in their financial management of office buildings, industrial parks, shopping centers, residential developments, hotels, resorts, and golf courses. He also directs U.S. subsidiaries of American investors with their projects in Asia, the Pacific Rim and Mexico. In addition he is a founder and the senior-partner of Allen Matkins, a highly regarded finance advising company. In his more than 40-year career, Fred has received numerous honors in addition to being a member of the American California, and Los Angeles County Bar Associations. He also served as Chair of the Commercial and Industrial Development Subsection of the State Bar of California, vice chair of both the Urban Land Institute and Real Estate Roundtable in Washington D.C. He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and is currently active in numerous professional, civic, and charitable organizations, as well as a frequent writer and speaker on real estate and finance issues.

 

Vernon F. Highley

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Alumnus

He was a Holtville High School student-athlete from 1948 to 1952 and was the Class President as both a junior and senior. He was co-Captain and starting guard on the Viking football team where he was named to the All-Valley Football Team, and was also a singer and actor in the school’s Drama Club presentations. After high school he graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1956, with a BS in Liberal Arts Journalism and served in the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1959 as a surface-to-air missiles officer. He began his career in agricultural marketing by serving on the executive staff of Calcot, a cotton corporation in Bakersfield, California. Ten years later he joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he became a special assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture and eventually Deputy Chief of the Staff. He later headed the department’s operations in the Western States and Pacific Trust Territories from 1970 to 1975. In ’75 he returned to the private sector, joining Plains Cotton Corporative in Lubbock, Texas; but was persuaded by Secretary of Agriculture, Jack Block, to return to Washington and serve as Administrator of Agriculture Marketing Service. In 1985 he formed his own government relations consulting firm, Highley Associates, catering to agricultural interests nationwide. His efforts for Imperial Valley included working on issues of: plant and animal pests, economic development, the New River, the Salton Sea, and the U.S./Mexico border problems. He was instrumental in securing federal funding for the Agricultural Field Station at Brawley, and he played a significant role in obtaining approximately $100 million for whitefly research from 1992 to 2000. Vernon passed away on January 17, 2006; but had a life a great achievements and awards. He was the Cal Poly Alumnus of the Year in 1974, and received numerous awards for his service to the federal government and to the agricultural industry. To help Imperial Valley agricultural students the Imperial County Farm Bureau administers the Vernon Highly Memorial Scholarship Fund, in his honor.

 

Rick Hilfiker

Holtville High School

Hall of Fame

Inducted – November 2010

Alumnus / Community Member

Rick is a 1972 graduate of Holtville High School and owner of his own farming business located here in Imperial Valley; he became a dependable volunteer go-to-guy for the high school regarding athletic equipment, facilities, and projects from the 1990’s to the late 2000’s. He was a founding member of the Holtville Touchdown Club which continues to support Holtville athletics and all of the athletic programs. When the old high school weight room was condemned, he was at the forefront of the fundraising efforts and the construction of a secure, safe, and shaded outdoor weight room which was used until the building of the new John Kirchenbauer Complex. He volunteered his expertise and personal equipment to fully laser-level the high school baseball field’s outfield poles to resemble a professional baseball fence. In addition, he assisted in the 2-year construction of the baseball batting cages and install the fencing material, which continue to be in place and get great use by all the Viking baseball players. During his involvementin the Holtville Touchdown Club, he helped fundraise well over $150,000 for various school projects which included support for music, cheerleading, and other club activities at the high school. A true list of all the projects that Rick was a part of and many times stepped up to take the lead, is impossible; but he could always be seen at the school whenever there was a need for equipment, work to be done, or support for the high school coaching staff.

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