A Look at Palisades High’s City Section Athletic Hall of Fame Recipients
Since 2011 the CIF Los Angeles City Section has honored former coaches, players and officials at its Hall of Fame induction ceremony every two years. Palisades High, which has won more City titles than any other school, is well represented. Here is a look at all of the Dolphins who have received the City’s highest honor:
2011
Amy Alcott
It comes as no surprise that one of the most influentual women in golf history was a member of the City’s inaugural class.
Alcott began playing the sport at an early age and became the U.S. Girls Amateur champion in 1973. She joined the pro ranks of the LPGA in 1975 and was voted Rookie of the Year. In all she won 29 LPGA tournaments, including five major championships. She was the winner of the 1980 U.S. Open and finished first at the Nabisco Dinah Shore in 1983, 1988 and 1991. It was at that event that she began a golf tradition with her leap into the lake to celebrate her victory. Alcott was the winner of four LPGA events in 1979, 1980 and 1984. She was the winner of the 1980 Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest yearly scoring average. She has written instructional books on golf and coached at Harvard-Westlake.
Alcott is also a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the National Jewish Museum Sports Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The 1974 Pali High graduate joined the LPGA Tour at the age of 18 and won the Orange Blossom Classic in just her third pro event.
Gayle Van Meter
The Dolphins’ other inductee into the City’s inaugural class was the girls volleyball coach who built a dynasty at Palisades, piloting the Dolphins to an astounding 17 section titles and the school’s only state championship in 1979.
In her sparkling 22-year stint from 1970-91, Van Meter coached a number of elite players, including Vicki Lippincott, Toody Maher, Nancy Cohen, Rhonda Stoklos, Pia Svenson and Susan, Louise and Karen Schwartz.
2013
Kiki Vandeweghe
When you talk about athletic bloodlines, he is a great example. The only Palisades representative in the City’s second Hall of Fame class, he scored 15,980 points in a 13-year NBA career.
His father Ernie, was a basketball star at Colgate and in the NBA and his uncle, Mel Hutchins, was a basketball All American at BYU and also an NBA star. His sister, Tauna, was an Olympian in two sports, swimming and volleyball. His mom was a former Miss America and his niece CoCo is a pro tennis player.
Vandeweghe has done it all on the hardwood, beginning with his All-City selection as a senior in 1975-76 when he averaged 24.1 points per game under Dolphins coach Jerry Marvin.
At UCLA he continued his great shooting skills, earning Pac-10 honors in 1980 when he led the Bruins all the way to the NCAA championship game. He was also a Rhodes Scholar finalist.
At the NBA level Vandeweghe succeeded in every capacity, first as a player, then as a general manager, head coach and television analyst. He played for Denver, Portland, the New York Knicks and the LA Clippers and was an All-Star in 1983 and 1984. He served as GM of the Denver Nuggets and was head coach of the New Jersey Nets in 2009-10. He was drafted 11th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1980 but demanded a trade and was dealt to the Nuggets that same year.
2015
Randy Stoklos
The son of a concentration camp survivor, Stoklos began playing volleyball at Muscle Beach. A lifelong Palisadian, he grew up in Castellammare and played at Palisades High under Coach Howard Enstedt, graduating in 1978. He went on to play indoor volleyball at UCLA and was a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team in 1979 and 1980 before turning his attention to beach volleyball. He partnered with fellow Palisadian Sinjin Smith and they became the fiercest tandem on the pro beach volleyball tour, winning 113 open tournaments in an 11-year span to become the winningest duo ever. Overall, he won 123 beach titles (third-most all-time), including five World Championships and four Manhattan Beach Opens, and he became the first beach player to earn $1 million. He is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame and was named the Association of Volleyball Professionals Most Valuable Player in 1988, 1989 and 1991 and Best Setter in 1989. He even coached the Pali High boys volleyball team for one season, piloting the Dolphins to the City finals in 2012 when his son Shane was a sophomore.
Kent Steffes
An All-City selection and U.S. National High School Player of the Year as a senior at Palisades in 1986, Steffes enrolled at Stanford and played one season before transferring to UCLA, where he earned his degree in economics.
Considered by many to be the finest beach volleyball player of the 1990s, he was credited with 122 wins and became the youngest player on the AVP Tour to win $1 million. When beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996, Steffes paired with Karch Kiraly to win the gold medal. He, too, is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame.
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