Clark College adds athletes, teams to Hall

Clark College will induct six individuals and four teams into its Penguin Hall of Fame during a 5 p.m. ceremony Saturday.

The second group to be inducted into the hall of fame that was established in 2012 includes Dracy Church, Roger Daniels, Ten Farnsworth, Jim Johnson, Erin (Tharp) Malunat and Darryl White. Teams being added to the hall of fame are the 1947 men’s basketball team, and three 1956 squads: men’s basketball, baseball and men’s track and field.

1946-47 Clark men’s basketball team: Jim Johnson, Don Edwards, John Edwards, Clarence Friedrich, John Horning, Bob Johnson, Vern Kindsfather, Merle Landerholm, Pat Sutherland, Al Vernon and Tom Warren.

1956 Clark men’s basketball team: Bill Chronis, Hiram Crane, Jack Day, Joe Johnson, Ralph Little, Eric Peterson, Larry Smedley, Dick Smith, John Webster and Don Wendt. The assistant coach was Larry Smith and the manager was Jack Powell.

1956 Clark baseball team: John Aldridge, Ted Atlee, Jim Babcock, Del Bausch, Jack Berry, Terry Burke, Kenny Davis, Leroy Frasier, Frank Gallas, Tom Garrow, Dale Giles, Harley Hall, Joe Johnson (captain), Dick LaManna, Eric Peterson, Joe Quinn, Ron Rasmor, Sam Smith, Ken Warren and Don Wendt. The assistant coach was Herman Jones and the student manager was Art Pugsley.

1956 Clark track and field team: Jack Hogue, LaVere Amundson, Jim Berry, Arlie Brown, Bud Crane, Bennie Dacus, Dick Dynes, Harry Friberg, Ryan Fish, John Gormann, Ralph Lillie, Al Martin, Ross Ortega, Dale Peterson, Doug Ramlow, Don Renfro, Shannon Smith and Jim Storie.

The ceremony will take place in the Gaiser Student Center, following Clark’s basketball games against Green River at the O’Connell Center. The women’s game is at 1 p.m. The men play at 3 p.m., and the Hall of Fame inductees will be introduced at halftime.

Church was a three-sport athlete from 1991-93. She was the point guard for the unbeaten 1993 women’s basketball team and was the 1992 South Region cross country champion. On the track, she owns the school records for the 3,000 meters. She went on to be a three-sport athlete at Eastern Oregon.

Daniels was the Clark athletic director from 1982-96, during which Penguins teams won six Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges titles and 28 division championships.

Farnsworth is being recognized for meritorious service. For more than 50 years, the 1955 Clark graduate was one of the Penguins’ biggest fans. He assisted in launching the Penguin Athletic Club and spent years photographing Clark sports.

Johnson, nicknamed “Chub,” led the 1947 men’s basketball team to Clark’s first conference title. He led the league with a scoring average of 17.2.

The 1946-47 Penguins, coached by Claude “Skeet” O’Connell, won the first Washington State Junior College Athletic Association championship and represented Washington in the Western States College Tournament, going 3-1 to place fourth. The team, a 2008 inductee to the NWAACC Hall of Fame, finished 26-5.

Malunat, as Erin Tharp, was a scoring machine for Clark women’s basketball teams that finished second in the conference tournament in 1991 and 1992, once scoring 79 points in a game. She went on to play at Portland State and was a 2005 inductee into the NWAACC Hall of Fame.

White was a West Division men’s basketball all-star in 1989 and 1990, and the top rebounder in the NWAACC in 1990.

The winter and spring of 1956 were true glory days for Clark athletics. The men’s basketball team won the school’s fourth Washington junior college championship. The baseball team and the track and field team followed suit. O’Connell coached both basketball and baseball, and Bob Stair coached the men’s track and field team.

Jack Hogue won the 220-yard low hurdles, the 220-yard dash and the 100-yard dash to lead the Penguins to a second consecutive conference track and field meet title.