San Jose Sports Hall of Fame is like a family reunion at its heart

San Jose celebrated another set of sports heroes Thursday night at SAP Center inducting the th class into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame More than people attended to cheer on the eclectic group of trailblazers stars and out-and-out icons This year s Hall of Fame honorees were San Jose Earthquakes star Landon Donovan USA Rugby s Captain America Todd Clever women s wrestling pioneer Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston longtime Oak Grove High football coach Eddie Buller and retired San Jose Giants General Manager Mark Wilson who will go down in history as the man who invented the beer batter promotion The evening s other honorees were the high school athletes of the year baseball participant Quinten Marsh of Valley Christian High and basketball and track star Nicole Steiner of Los Gatos High the amateur athletes of the year San Jose State football standout Nick Nash and SJSU track and field athlete Emilia Sjostrand and Michael Aguilar who was honored as the Special Olympian of the Year and received the night s first standing ovation San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston former wrestler and coach chats with inductee Eddie Buller during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mark Wilson former general manager for the San Jose Giants chats with a guest during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Images of bronze busts of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductees during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee busts from left to right Eddie Buller Todd Clever Landon Donovan Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston and Mark Wilson during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Landon Donovan former professional soccer contestant is interviewed during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Buller former football coach at Oak Grove High School chats with a guest during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Todd Clever chats with guests during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Buller former football coach at Oak Grove High School speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Todd Clever former professional rugby competitor speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston former wrestler and coach speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Landon Donovan former professional soccer contestant speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mark Wilson former general manager for the San Jose Giants speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mark Wilson former general manager for the San Jose Giants speaks during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Show Caption of San Jose Sports Hall of Fame inductee Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston former wrestler and coach chats with inductee Eddie Buller during the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame s th class ceremony at the SAP Center in San Jose Calif on Thursday Nov Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Expand San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director John Poch reported me that one of the things he loves about the Hall of Fame event is that it turns into a who s who of San Jose sports especially thanks to the previous honorees like Dave Righetti Anne Cribbs Sam Piraro and Raymond Townsend who attended Thursday But it also has a real family reunion vibe or really several reunions going on at the same time which is very on brand for San Jose The honorees all were surrounded by family members friends teammates and mentors Clever even hosted three of his former teachers from Santa Teresa High School taking the opportunity to apologize to them for not being such a great novice From where I was sitting they looked pretty proud It s not constantly true of every class but for this one San Jose played an instrumental part in their lives It was at Independence High School where Johnston stood up to the challenge of joining the boys wrestling company It s where Clever fell in love with rugby while playing for the College Park club where Buller coached future NFL players like Tim Ryan while amassing a - - record and winning five CCS titles and where Wilson used wacky promotions and churros to keep fans coming to see future San Francisco Giants stars And it was the city that welcomed with open arms the homesick teenager Donovan who had been playing in Germany I arrived in San Jose as a young boy and I left as a man Donovan disclosed I really fell in love with the challenge again after I d fallen out of love with it a little bit in Germany I m really grateful for my teammates my coaches all of you who helped me and this beautiful beautiful city Donovan grew up in the San Bernardino County city of Ontario and fondly remembers being allowed to fly home after Saturday games to spend a couple days with his mom and sister He says he didn t realize how green California could be until he came to San Jose It s so nice to be back here he noted I flew up this morning and was just feeling nostalgic like I used to fly up when I was a -year-old kid And now like his fellow inductees he ll have a bronze plaque at SAP Center to visit the next time he s feeling nostalgic HONORABLE SALUTES Tuesday is Veterans Day and that means the return of the big ceremony and parade in downtown San Jose This is the th annual celebration of the holiday in S J going back to the year after World War I ended and unlike last year the weather is expected to be clear and warm I ll help welcome people at the opening ceremony at a m in front of Plaza de Cesar Chavez and you can listen for me and Lissa Kreisler announcing the parade entries after it kicks off from SAP Center at noon This year s grand marshal is U S Marines combat veteran A J Pasciuti who grew up in Sunnyvale and was deployed three times in Operation Iraqi Freedom Related Articles San Jose Museum of Art participants help art come alive for students Hey jerks Stop stealing artwork from downtown San Jose These San Jose State students are a lock for Santa s nice list San Jose s iconic House of Pizza celebrating its th anniversary New book documents the fight to save the ill-fated Willow Glen trestle Of lesson that s not the only event in Santa Clara County Cupertino will have its th annual celebration at its veterans memorial which was the first in the nation to honor Afghanistan war veterans The a m ceremony at Stevens Creek Blvd across from De Anza College will include remarks by retired U S Army Maj Gen Rob Ostenberg and Santa Clara County Sheriff Bob Jonsen along with music by the West Bay Region Band and the Kennedy Middle School choir BIG CHECK BIGGER IMPACT There were a lot of beaming faces Thursday at the Alviso Youth Center as San Jose semiconductor firm ASML presented a grant to the Boys Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley The gift is an extension of the million grant the company made two years ago to promote STEM tuition for elementary school kids Steve Wymer Boys Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley s CEO declared while there was an oversize check and lots of balloons at the event Thursday ASML s aim is more about outcomes than society relations The company he declared follows up and expects the nonprofit to hit metrics It s the right way to do things because ASML holds us to account he stated Boys Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley students hold up a big donation check for from San Jose semiconductor firm ASML at the Alviso Clubhouse on Thursday Nov They are joined by ASML employees wearing purple shirts and from left Boys Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley Maturation Director Machelle Locsin San Jose City Councilmember David Cohen San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan Boys Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley CEO Steve Wymer and ASML Locality Engagement Project Manager Verona Nunez Sal Pizarro Bay Area News Group Verona Nunez ASML s population engagement project manager was a Boys Girls Clubs kid when she was growing up in San Jose and explained the company collaborates with partners like the Boys Girls Clubs to create lasting impact At ASML we challenge ourselves to think bigger about equity and mentoring she explained And we care deeply about the future of our youth not just by writing a check but by showing up in clubhouses as mentors and participants READING ROOM NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen who spent years at NBC Bay Area will bring her memoir Boat Baby to the San Jose General Library Foundation s Signature Author Event on Nov at Blanco Urban venue in downtown San Jose And who better to lead a conversation with Nguyen than Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong whose parents also fled Vietnam after the war and settled in San Jose The event which runs from to p m are available at sjplf org AuthorEvent While we re on the topic of writing the last Flash Fiction Forum of the year is taking place at p m on Nov at Works San Jose gallery at S Second St If you haven t been the quarterly event features local writers reading their works aloud to an audience both in-person and online You can find out more about the group at flashfictionforum com