ED ARNOLD – The voice of the Sportswalk, Ed Arnold received a special Sportswalk Humanitarian Award for his achievements both inside and outside of sports. Arnold began his broadcasting career at the age of 14 in his hometown of Texarkana, Arkansas. He has won many awards, including an Emmy, the prestigious Golden Mike, and in 2007 Arnold was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California. In addition, Arnold has contributed to numerous charitable causes and volunteered extensively for organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, March of Dimes, the Southern California Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and California Special Olympics.
DAN GUERRERO – The current Director of Athletics for UCLA (2002), Dan Guerrero is also the current president of the Division I Athletic Directors Association. He also played baseball for UCLA in the early 1970s. In Guerrero’s eight years as athletic director, UCLA teams have won 20 NCAA team titles (the highest total in the nation in that span) in 11 different sports, finished second 16 times and have had an additional 28 Top Five finishes (64 total). UCLA stands as the No. 1 University in the nation for NCAA team championships (106) won, a number that continues to grow under his direction. A staggering 152 teams (of 184 possible) have qualified for NCAA post-season competition and the football team has appeared in seven bowl games.
RAFER JOHNSON – Winner of the gold medal in the Decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Rafer Johnson scored a record-breaking 8,392 points. He graduated with honors from UCLA in 1959, where he starred in basketball and track and field. Johnson has won virtually every major U.S. sports award, including the 1958 Sports Illustrated Athlete of the Year and the 1960 Associated Press Athlete of the Year. In 1984, he again received international attention as the torchbearer to light the torch for the Los Angeles Olympics at the LA Coliseum. Johnson is an avid supporter of the California Special Olympics.
DOUG KRIKORIAN – Doug Krikorian has a strong place among the legends of Southern California sports media. He was a sportswriter for forty-four years – twenty- two at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and twenty-two at the Long Beach Press-Telegram. In addition, Krikorian and the late Joe McDonnell started the McDonnell-Douglas Show, an L.A. sports talk radio show, which appeared on and off the airways from 1992 to 2005. Krikorian, covered twenty-six Super Bowls, twenty- five World Series, seventeen NBA Finals, three Olympic Games, and countless championship boxing matches. He has written two books, “Between the Bylines (The Life, Love and Loss of Los Angeles’s Most Colorful Sports Journalist)’’ and “Los Angeles Sports Memories.”
GREG NOLL – World renowned surfer, Greg Noll grew up riding the waves of Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes and later became a surfing legend by conquering the huge 25 to 30 foot surf in Hawaii. Known as “Da Bull” for his fearless style of charging down the face of waves, Noll is considered by many to be the greatest big wave surfer ever and was featured in the seminal surf documentary film, Riding Giants. Noll is also well known in the surfer community for his surfboard designs and his boards are some of the most sought after in the world.
THE SAN PEDRO BOYS & GIRLS CLUB is the first organization to be honored with induction into the Sportswalk. The Sportswalk and the Boys & Girls Club have much in common. Numerous local athletes that have been inducted into the walk are also alumni of the club. In addition, Nick Trani, a local legend that served as executive director of the club for thirty years, was the first recipient of Sportswalk’s Trani Award, which bears his family’s name, for his contribution to local youth
athletics.
BILL SHOEMAKER – The most successful rider in the history of thoroughbred racing, Bill Shoemaker recorded more than 8,800 wins. He led all riders in purse earnings 10 times. He was the second leading money-earning jockey of all time and the first to earn more than $100 million in a career. He surpassed Johnny Longden as thoroughbred racing’s all-time winningest jockey in 1970, with his 6,033rd career victory. He retired in 1990.
GERALD ZAR has the unique distinction of winning the first L.A. Open Junior Mascot Tournament at the Riviera Country Club, when he was eleven years old. After graduating from San Pedro High, Zar parlayed his successful junior golf record into a scholarship to play for USC. At USC, Zar earned 2nd Team All- American honors in 1960 and the Trojans won three straight Pac-8 championships during his tenure. In his last season with USC, the team placed 3rd at the NCAA national championships. After completing his college career, Zar joined the PGA tour.