Column: Ferragamo brothers from Banning High become City Section Hall of Famers
The Ferragamo name in the working-class city of Wilmington is as recognizable as Kennedy in Hyannis Port, Mass.
Chris and Vince Ferragamo, brothers born 15 years apart, put Banning High on the map in City Section football. Chris was the coach and Vince the quarterback. It began in 1969, when Vince showed up as a sophomore at Banning. He’d go on to play for Nebraska and spend nine years in the NFL, quarterbacking the Rams in Super Bowl XIV in 1980.
Chris coached varsity football at Banning from 1969 to 1986. The Pilots won six consecutive City championships from 1976 to 1981 and eight overall.
On April 28, both will be inducted into the Los Angeles City Section Sports Hall of Fame.
“It’s amazing, it’s great,” Chris said.
Said Vince of his brother: “They should have put him in a long time ago.”
Chris, 79, trained under Gene Vollnogle and Paul Huebner at Banning. He’d go on to face off many times against Vollnogle, who won eight of his 10 City titles at rival Carson. Those were the glory days of City Section football, when the likes of Freeman McNeil, Bob Whitfield and Michael Alo were earning rave reviews at Banning.
Vince, 64, still remembers the challenge of playing for his demanding brother.
“He was always tough, very stern,” he said. “I learned that was the way it had to be. That’s how I grew up. It taught me at an early age to be accountable. He conditioned us hard. I look back thinking it was a great thing. It made me a better player at the end.”
Chris has never really retired. He’s still a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. teaching biology at Banning, San Pedro and Carson. If only the students knew they were hanging out with a Hall of Fame football coach.
“He’s never given up football,” Vince said. “He’s drawing plays at family gatherings. He can’t get it out of his mind. Guys from his teams go into the hospital and he visits. He still remembers everyone. He kept people out of jail. He kept people working. What he meant to that city and town is amazing.”
Sign up for our daily sports newsletter »
Chris said it has been difficult in recent years seeing former players pass away.
“It’s terrible. I’m outliving all these young kids,” he said.
Chris promises to never forget anyone. “I’ll make time for all the kids,” he said.
It’s going to be quite a night at the Odyssey Restaurant in Mission Hills, with the fifth class of inductees since the Hall of Fame was created in 2011.
Former Dorsey football coach Paul Knox will be inducted. So will Banning’s McNeil, San Fernando football player Anthony Davis, baseball standouts Don Buford (Dorsey) and Willie Crawford (Fremont), basketball standouts Toya Holiday (Kennedy) and Lucious Harris (Cleveland) and track star John Smith (Fremont).
Former City Section commissioner Hal Harkness, volleyball coach Marv Dunphy (Taft), referee Jim Tunney (Hollywood), sportscaster Randy Rosenbloom (North Hollywood), adminstrator Sue Kamiyama (Dorsey) and former San Pedro softball coach Tony Dobra are also being inducted in the 20-member class.
The most unlikely inductee comes from Sun Valley Poly High. He was cut from his seventh-grade basketball team and ended up the basketball manager at Poly, joined the school newspaper and since hasn’t stopped writing.
Yes, I don’t know why they’re putting me into the Hall of Fame. All I do is tell stories and try to be a passionate advocate for teenagers and their parents to make a difference on and off the field.
It’s a great honor to be inducted with the Ferragamos and all the others. Go Parrots.
Twitter: @latsondheimer
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
