San Jose Sports Hall of Fame announces Class of 2024
John Arrillaga, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Mike Holmgren and Kerri Walsh Jennings headline San Jose Sports Hall of Fame's 29th class
John Arrillaga, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Mike Holmgren and Kerri Walsh Jennings will be the newest members of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, it was announced Tuesday.
The fours 2024 inductees will make up the South Bay organization’s 29th Hall of Fame class.
“San Jose’s incredibly rich and diverse sports history makes the Hall of Fame selection process very difficult each year,” said Charlie Faas, Chairman of the San Jose Sports Authority Board of Directors in a statement. “The Class of 2024 is a wonderful representation of the deep and meaningful impact athletes and coaches with South Bay connections have made in their respective sports, locally, nationally and internationally. We are excited to welcome these four remarkable individuals into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.”
Arrillaga was an all-conference basketball player at Stanford in the 1950s, but is most known for his work in helping the college build its athletic program. As a developer in Silicon Valley, Arrillaga used his reach to help build sports facilities around Stanford’s campus, including helping renovate Stanford Stadium in 2005. He died in 2022.
Guerrero, a Gilroy native, was a Junior Olympics gold medalist at the age of 15 before turning pro. He won the IBF Featherweight title in 2006 and the IBF Super Featherweight championship three years later. Known for not ducking any fighter, Guerrero fought the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto. He finished his career 38-6-1.
Holmgren was most known for winning two Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers as an assistant coach and one with the Green Bay Packers as head coach, but his coaching career started as an offensive coordinator at Oak Grove High School from 195 to 1980. Holmgren ended his coaching career with a 174-122 record, which included 13 postseason wins.
Jennings is a legend in the sport of beach volleyball. Jennings and her partner Misty May-Treanor won Olympic gold medals at Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. A graduate of Archbishop Mitty High School, she helped win three state volleyball titles for the Monarchs along with a state basketball championship. She then went on to become a four-time volleyball All American and won two NCAA titles at Stanford.
The four South Bay sports figures will be honored on Nov. 13 at the SAP Center in San Jose.