During an outstanding 30-year career as head coach of the Santa Ynez High School varsity girls basketball program, Jo Ann led her team to 19 league titles, 23 consecutive CIF playoff appearances and three CIF championships. A true pioneer in girls’ high school athletics, she retired from coaching in 2007 with an all-time record of 575-176, making her one of the winningest girls’ basket coaches in the state.

Among other honors, she was named her sport’s 2006 Coach of the Year and was inducted into the California High School Sports Hall of Fame.
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Jim Fassel from Anaheim High Class of ’67 is a Colonist who literally grew up on Colonist athletic fields since his father, Bud, also an Anaheim grad from Class of ‘39, was the equipment manager for the Athletic Department for more than 25 years.

Much more can be said about Bud Fassel’s positive influence on the lives of the athletes he interacted with on a daily basis. Most importantly was the impact Bud made on his son who went on to play quarterback for the Chicago Bears and the San Diego Chargers, going on to become head coach of the New York Giants.

Jim was named NFL Coach of the Year in 1997, and he took the New York Giants to Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001. Most recently, he served as head coach, manager and president of the Las Vegas Locomotives in the United Football League, winning several UFL title during the league’s existence. He has also worked as an ESPN sports announcer.

Jim writes that “everything that has happened to me in my life can be traced back to Anaheim High,” in the foreword of Anaheim Colonists Football – A Century of Tradition by Dennis Batement from AHS Class of ’89. “Being a ball boy for the football team, riding the team bus with so many great athletes and on the back of the equipment truck are still some of the greatest thrills of my life.”

Jim devotion to his alma mater has never stopped since graduating in 1967. He established the Bud Fassel Memorial Scholarship, which annually awards outstanding Colonist athletes. He also sponsors the annual AHS Alumni Association Golf Classic as a golfer, donor and auctioneer for the event’s silent auction.

Jim is also involved in raising fund for the 911 first responders. The Jim Fassel Foundation, set up in 2002 to support first responders and the families affected by the World Trade Center attacks, has raised more than $1.1 million. Click the following link to read an in depth article on Jim and his devotion to Anaheim High: Jim Fassel

More on his athletic career is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fasselhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fassel

Eugene “Gene” L. Donnelly – Faculty 1958-1984 – A beloved faculty member who served Anaheim High students for 26 years as a pioneering athletic team trainer, P.E. teacher, and Track and Field Head Coach. Gene was the youngest of 10 brothers and sisters from a tiny town in the northeastern corner of Colorado.

An all-state honoree in football and track, Donnelly has served in the Navy during the Korean War, then used the GI Bill to put himself through college. While a knee injury ended his football playing career, he stayed involved with the Rams football program working as an assistant trainer. Sports and medicine became his dual passions as he put in long hours studying for both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Visiting Fort Collins on a district recruiting trip, Coach Van Hoorebeke asked to meet Donnelly to ask him if he would be interested in participating in a pilot program that would put his concepts of athletic training into practice. Gene eagerly accepted the offer and upon join Anaheim High faculty, he became the first certified high school athletic trainer in California.

In his new workspace next to the equipment room, Donnelly soon became a vital part of Van Hoorebeke’s athletic program and crafted a year-round program that kept Colonist athletes in top condition.

With Van’s blessing, he also started a rigorous conditioning regimen that took place in last August. A feature of the workouts, which became known as the “Donnelly’s” was when players sprinted up the 18 large concrete steps of Clayes Field stadium. Called a “stadium” it was an exercise no one found easy.

The results of the training, mentoring of athletes, and excellent coaching was a football program that was the envy of other high school teams and a few colleges, and Donnelly turned down job offers from the professional and college ranks to remain at Anaheim High, where all five of his children graduated.