Five former Wolverine athletes and coaches will be inducted into the Harvard-Westlake Athletic Hall of Fame during halftime of the Homecoming football game Oct. 27.
Bridget Ballard ’06, Meredith Butte ’06, Brian Flacks ’06 and the late volleyball coach Jesse Quiroz will be inducted this year, along with basketball player Ed White ’05, a holdover from last year. Soccer player Ali Riley ’06 and basketball player Alex Stepheson ’06 were also both elected as members of this year’s class but will not be in attendance at the ceremony, so they will not be inducted this year.
Flacks, the head coach for both the boys’ and girls’ water polo teams, was a four-year varsity water polo player and swimmer. Flacks also earned first team all-CIF honors in his sophomore, junior and senior years for his performance on the polo team. His sophomore and senior season he was named a third-team All-American and went on to play collegiately for the UCLA Bruins.
“This school and the water polo program have done so much for me that it’s a great honor,” Flacks said.
Ballard, a four-sport athlete who was a member of the swim, cross country, track and soccer teams, went on to play soccer and swim for Brown University.
A senior captain for the Wolverine soccer team, Ballard won a CIF championship in one of her four varsity sports all four years of high school.
Another multi-sport athlete as a Wolverine, Butte was a two-time all-CIF and all-league selection as a water polo player. Butte was also a varsity swimmer and water polo player at UC Berkeley.
White won four straight CIF Southern Section championships with the Wolverines’ basketball team and was also a three-time all-league selection during his career. In his last season as a Wolverine, White won the John R. Wooden Award for CIF Division III player of the year. White continued his basketball career at Yale University.
Quiroz, who died in March 2011, won three state titles as a Wolverine volleyball coach. He added seven Southern Section championships and founded the Santa Monica Beach Club for boys and girls club volleyball. Quiroz spent almost 20 years as a Wolverine coach before moving to Campbell Hall. His daughter, Kimberly Quiroz ’00, will accept the honor for her father.
Riley, who competed at the London Olympics for New Zealand, was a two-sport athlete for the Wolverines. Riley went on to play soccer for Stanford after leading the Wolverine soccer team to the 2006 Southern Section Division I final. In 2006, Riley was awarded a spot on the all-CIF Southern Section Division I first team and lettered in track and field for her second season.
Stepheson, who played college basketball for the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and for USC, now plays professionally in Athens. The 6-foot-10 former Wolverine joins Riley as an elected member who won’t be inducted this year. Stepheson set the school records for rebounds in a game and for a season and was a fourth team Parade All-American.
“It’s a great list,” Head of Athletics Terry Barnum said. “I know we’re excited about it.”
