If there’s anyone who is familiar with Cordova High School athletics, it is Ken Rudolph.

The 1985 CHS graduate played Lancer football and baseball. Rudolph, now co-host of Good Day Sacramento on KMAX, CW-31 and part of the weekday midday show on Sports 1140 AM, shared his stories of being a Lancer.

“I bought into the Cordova way,” Rudolph said.

On Sept. 10th at the Rancho Cordova City Hall, Rudolph served as emcee for the second annual Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame. Many former Cordova High School student-athletes, coaches and those who contributed to athletics in the city of Rancho Cordova were honored.

In front of a packed house, Rudolph recalled one particular story of a game in 1984 in which teammate and quarterback Troy Taylor, who went on to have a stellar career at Cal and a brief stint in the National Football League, threw a pass to Rudolph that was intercepted in a 1984 game. But no harm was done to Taylor, who was part of the Folsom High School football coaching staff that has produced many league, Sac-Joaquin Section, Nor-Cal and California Interscholastic Federation titles since 2010. Taylor was one of the inductees.

“We were down 20-6 at halftime, and we came back and won that game 24-20,” Rudolph told the crowd.

Speed up to the day before the Hall of Fame ceremonies. Rudolph told the crowd he and his son were playing MLB 2009 on their X-Box360. Playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, Rudolph batted against Geoff Jenkins, a former Lancer pitcher who was also inducted.

“I know that guy,” Rudolph told the audience, referring to the conversation he had with his son. “I’m going to induct him into the hall of fame (last Saturday).”

This year’s inductees were the following:

• The 1973 Cordova High School Mile Relay track and field team of Darrell Smith, Gerald Smith, Fred Dawkins and Rod Connors, all of whom the state championship.
• Former Lancer basketball star Zach Andrews (CHS graduate in 2003), who went on to play at Yuba College before an outstanding National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• A 1977 Cordova graduate, Brian Bailey was a four-sport athlete, shining in football, wrestling, swimming and track and field. He went on to play football at Cal, and earned the 1979 Brick Muller Award, which is bestowed upon Cal’s most valuable lineman.
• Jerry Bates served as the Cordova High School junior varsity football coach, where he produced a record of 25-1-1 in the mid-1970s.
• Joyce Bowles Brown, another 1979 CHS graduate who starred in volleyball and track and field. In the long jump, she set the school record at 19 feet, 3 inches. After serving in the United States Air Force Reserves, she played on the Sacramento Sirens, a woman’s professional women’s football team that won three straight championships from 2002 to 2004.
• Joe Brown, a decorated World War II veteran who flew 32 missions. After the war, he became a teacher at Mills Junior High School, and was the school’s football head coach. He posted a record of 46-6-2. He passed away in 2005.
• Chad George is a former three-time CHS wrestling champion who practiced mixed martial arts. He’s won in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, three-time MMA champion, plus three-time World Exchange Cage Fighter.
• Geoff Jenkins, a 1992 CHS graduate, had a standout baseball career as a Lancer and at University of Southern California (USC). He led the Trojans to the College World Series. He moved on to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, who he won a World Series crown in 2008.
• Eppie Johnson, founder and director of Eppie’s Great Race. Johnson passed away in 2013.
• Tracy Rinderneck Kitz, a 1976 Cordova graduate who was a volleyball standout, and was a three-sport athlete in basketball and softball. She went on to play volleyball at American River College and Sacramento State. At Cordova
• Karen Nickerson Masterson starred for Lancers’ track and field in the early 1980s. Competing in the discus, she won the 1981 Sac-Joaquin Section title in the event with a toss of 156’ 7” and took seventh place at the CIF state meet at 165’ 10”.
• Nyls Nyman was an early 1970s CHS graduate who also played professional baseball. He was named to the All-State Team and is listed among Sacramento’s top 100 High School Baseball Players from 1950-1999.
• Steve Petuskey booted his way into success as a former Lancer soccer player in the late 1970s. He went on to play at Cosumnes River College and Sacramento State, then turned pro and played for the Sacramento Knights, who won the Continental Indoor Soccer League crowns in 1993. In 1994, the Knights won the U.S. Open Cup.
• Steve Pilcher, a former Cordova wrestler who pinned opponents at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in the mid-1970s. He also wrestled Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.
• Dawn Puhr played three sports at Cordova toward the end of the 1970s into the early 1980s, but stood out in softball. She went on to play centerfield at Sacramento State, which won the Division II championship in 1981.
• Helen Russell was a heart of a champion, who volunteered her time as a medical trainer for CHS athletic teams.
• Laurie Salo played volleyball, field hockey, basketball and softball at CHS. She was recruited by UC Davis to play softball, and earned MVP honors in the mid to late 1980s.
• Mike Sedillo is a California Boxing Hall of Famer who was a multi-sport athlete at CHS and Mills Junior High School in the late 1970s. He played basketball at the University of Seattle, and invited to the Seattle Mariners’ baseball camp before opting to become a boxer, winning his first seven matches that included three by knockout. Most notable bout for Sedillo was beating Diamond Jim McDonald at, then, Arco Arena (now Sleep Train Arena), in 1988.
• Bill Shiflet, a 1972 CHS graduate, played football, wrestling and track and field for the Lancers. But after high school, he switched to rugby. He played for the USA Football Union Eagles from 1983 until 1987.
• Judy Shipman, a former CHS coach, battled and defeated cancer twice to compete in many well-known races. At age 50, she has competed in many races that included the Boston Marathon, and is a 10-time Eppie’s Great Race Ironwoman winner. She was recently honored, now at 75, as the Woman’s Ultra Veteran Athlete of the Year.
• Troy Taylor, after his playing days with Rudolph and the Lancer football program, shined as quarterback at Cal, then the pros with the New York Jets from 1990 to 1992. After working as an assistant coach in the Christian Brothers High School football program, he moved to Folsom High School that has won many titles. He’s now coaching at Eastern Washington University.
• Randy Veres played football, basketball and baseball at CHS until he graduated in 1984. He moved on to play baseball, which took him to Sacramento City College and the Brewers. He played for five more MLB teams toward the end of the 1980s.
• Ryan Yantis swam to success at CHS. He was a four-time All-American, and set national and section high school records in 1979. Those marks were broken in 2007.

The event was organized by the Rancho Cordova Athletic Association in partnership with the Cordova Community Council.

“Our Hall of Fame acknowledges and memorializes that incredible history and will inspire our current and future youth athletes as well,” said Rancho Cordova Mayor David Sander and president of the Rancho Cordova Athletic Association in a press statement.

To be elected to the Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame, inductees were judged to have attained significant achievements in or contributions to athletics, as well as exhibiting high standards of character and sportsmanship.