Sports Hall of Famers Share Keys to Success in Life With Fresno Youth

Not everyone is born with the athletic potential to become a sports Hall-of-Famer.

But Fresno County youth have the opportunity to hear how local sports legends developed the habits that helped them on and off the field.

Students from Granite Ridge Intermediate School and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County recently toured the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame inside the Save Mart Center at Fresno State.

Yvette Roberts: “Struggle Is Real, but You Can Succeed’

During one of the tours, former Fresno State and European basketball star Yvette Roberts, a 2016 inductee, told the youth that growing up in southwest Fresno she faced barriers and hardships.

Roberts told the students, “I know the struggle is real, but I also know that determination and working hard can get you a good job, can get you avenues for success.”

“I am very excited to bring these students out to see our Hall of Fame and really learn through the stories of all our Hall-of-Famers,” says Gena Strang-Behrens, the organization’s board president and a 2005 inductee following an All-American softball career at Fresno State.

“We really have an opportunity to use the stories of these great Hall-of-Famers to make a difference with kids,” says past board president Walt Byrd Jr. of the interactive Hall of Fame and the curriculum being developed by the Fresno County Superintendent of Education. “This is the whole culmination of what we’re trying to do.”

$1.5 Million Facility Opened in 2022

The FAHOF opened the doors of its $1.5 million permanent home in September of last year by inducting Marian Battles (volleyball), the late Mac Foster (boxing), Connie Gooch (basketball), Kathleen McCarthy (golf), Ron Scott (baseball) and the 1974-76 Hoover High girls basketball team and the 1955 Fresno Cardinals minor-league baseball team before an audience of 500.

School and youth groups that would like to tour the Hall of Fame can contact Byrd: walt@fresnoahof.org

Check out the full list of FAHOF inductees at this link.

Rod Perry, a Fresno native and Pro Bowl cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams, talks with students from Granite Ridge Intermediate School at the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. (YouTube/FAHOF)