'Hal' of Fame material

Hal Athon went from developing the skills of young high school football players to evaluating talent for the NFL.

But the love for the game started on a peach farm in Yuba City.

"I always loved football. I couldn't wait to get to high school so I could play football," recalled Athon, 74, a 1952 Yuba City High graduate who went on to star as a two-way player for the 49ers. He will be inducted into the Yuba College Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 21.

"It think it's a great honor," said Athon, who was nominated by Frank Ferraiuolo, an Athon teammate and a member of the Hall of Fame.

Athon, who was an offensive and defensive lineman who played on the winning Little Orange Bowl championship team in 1953, will be joined by seven other individuals and the 1951 football team at a ceremony held at the Peach Tree Golf & Country Club in Linda.

"When I was growing up, there was no Little League or Pop Warner. I played flag football in junior high school, but that was not the same," said Athon, who admitted his motivation to get on the field — and play well on top of that — was not entirely about the game.

Athon said his father told him if he was not going to be playing, he could use him on the farm, instead.

So the choice between playing football or working on the farm was an easy one, Athon said, but a reality that is difficult to explain to his young grandson.

"My grandson just asked me, 'Papou,' that's Greek for papa, 'Papou, what did you do (growing up)?' And I said 'We worked.' I would come home from school and work and I would work on the weekends," Athon said.

"The whole situation is different now. The whole society is different. They (children) have so much free time on their hands."

Athon said that is not an incrimination, only an observation about the differences between his childhood and how today's children are raised.

The game also has changed dramatically, and like most former coaches, Athon points to the weight room and nutritional advances as the biggest differences.

Athon certainly witnessed that, not only in his 22 years as a coach, but also his 27 years scouting the West Coast for three NFL teams and the league combine.

Carrying a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State and a master's from Sacramento State, Athon started his coaching career in 1958 at El Camino High in Sacramento. Although he served in the U.S. Army from 1960-62, he would coach the Eagles through the 1970 season, winning four league titles and back-to-back Northern California championships (1969, 1970) on the way to a 73-11-3 record.

Most of those years, he kicked off the season playing Christian Brothers, which was coached by Dick Sperbeck, another member of the Hall of Fame, who also was a member of the 1951 team being inducted this year.

"My motto was play the best and forget the rest," said Athon, a self-described "tough coach" and "good motivator."

Athon was an assistant coach at Oregon State from 1971-76 and the defensive coordinator for the University of the Pacific from 1977-80.

If he could do it again, Athon said he would have never graduated to the collegiate level.

"I really enjoyed coaching football. In retrospect, I'm sorry I left high school football ... I think you can really help kids at the high school level more than any other level, but you always have that desire to go on to the next level and see what you can do."

After Pacific, Athon went to the NFL, for which he scouted for the league combine. He was hired as the West Coast scout for the Carolina Panthers in 1994, joined the Washington Redskins for two years in 2001 and retired to Corvallis, Ore., from the New Orleans Saints in 2007.

"That was interesting. I really enjoyed scouting," said Athon, who is delighted that Jim Hanifan, a legendary line coach in the NFL will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as well.

"I know Jim well, and he was a great coach," Athon said.

The best players he ever saw, Athon said, were John Elway and Marcus Allen. He personally scouted Steve Smith for the Panthers in the 2001 draft.

Athon admits it is a long journey from those days in the peach orchards, but he carried life's lessons from the farm with him throughout his career.

Athon said he looked for that character in the players.

"I really do believe the better kid you have, and what I mean is an all-around kid, a smart kid, then you were better off having those kinds of kids than a kid who could just play," Athon said.

2009 CLASS

YUBA COLLEGE ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Robert Aaberg

Harold "Hal" Athon

David Chiono

Jim Hanifan

Eugene "Gene" Hilliard

Jessie Brown-Ingram

Shirley Fingerlos Ramsay

Delbert Thornsberry

1951 Football Team