By Mauricio LaPlante
It’s a long list of names for the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, and three San Jose State alumni made their mark on it.
Taking the stage at the San Jose Sharks’ SAP Center, former Spartans Harry Edwards, Pat Hurst and Mark Langston were inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, alongside former Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov.
For Edwards, a longtime activist, it was another moment to honor his involvement with John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s iconic raising of their fists during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. But at the podium, Edwards looked to the future.
“We’ve come into some difficult times, those are the type of things I’ve been worried about for fifty years,” Edwards said at the podium.
Optimism was the focus of Edwards’ speech.
“We are going to be just fine, because that’s what we the people do,” Edwards said. “We’ve been through worse, but we come out better.”
For the three athletes, San Jose was a starting point for their careers.
“When you’re like a Pat Hurst you don’t celebrate like a rock star,” Golfer Pat Hurst said before accepting her award. “I know how to celebrate quietly.”
Hurst won the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tournament six times, according to San Jose State University’s website, and was the first athlete from the NCAA Division I Women’s golf Championship. She is now an assistant coach for the women’s golf team of SJSU.
Mark Langston, who played on multiple major league baseball teams and was known for a wicked curveball on the pitching mound, got his start on SJSU’s team.
“You can’t stand up here, without looking backwards,” said Langston, expressing his gratitude toward his roots with the Spartans.
Charlie Faas, vice president of administration and finance and member of the San Jose Sports Authority board, said that the SJSU athletes honored at the ceremony are more than just icons for the school.
“San Jose has a long legacy of sports, and then you come into San Jose State and you find some of the athletes that we have – coaches that we have – really cross over and become not just San Jose State sports icons, but icons in the community,” Faas said.
