We’re in Hollister, right?
Just this week I spoke with world champion boxer Kelsey
Jeffries, who was preparing to defend her International Female
Boxers Association featherweight title for a record sixth time. A
week earlier she made a guest appearance on Fox’s Best Damn Sports
Show Period.
We’re in Hollister, right?
Just this week I spoke with world champion boxer Kelsey Jeffries, who was preparing to defend her International Female Boxers Association featherweight title for a record sixth time. A week earlier she made a guest appearance on Fox’s Best Damn Sports Show Period.
Not long after that, I got a phone call from Daniel Barone, a Major League prospect in the Florida Marlins organization, who was recently called up to play for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the organization’s AAA team.
It’s expected that with a few more good outings he could be pitching for the Marlins by September. During the off-season, the kid who spent his whole life dreaming about playing in the Majors teaches pitching mechanics in a small warehouse that is located in the building behind The Running Rooster. A few years from now he could be making a seven-figure salary.
Then I think about A.J. Allmendinger the NASCAR driver, who tore up the Champ Car circuit a year ago. Allmendinger is one of the top drivers in the world. He is from Hollister just like Jeffries and Barone, or at least Allmendinger’s parents still live here.
On top of that, another accomplished athlete from Hollister is 13-year-old Olympic hopeful Amanda Dobbs, who is a nationally ranked figure skater. Before long, don’t be surprised if she is draped with a gold medal.
And as I’m writing this the other sports writer on the staff is cranking out a follow-up story on a local boxer Antonio Corrales, who recently attempted to make the junior Olympic team.
Just three weeks ago, I wrote a story on Danny Kelly, a former U.S. National kickboxing champion who now runs a studio here in town.
Remember local bicyclist Haze Thompson – a 60-plus year-old woman who has set a number of national records in the sport? Today she is considered the top female cyclist in her age bracket in the world. Again, another resident of Hollister.
Mitch Thomas, the former head professional at Ridgemark, has been competing in mini tour events in Texas since turning 50 a few years ago in an attempt to earn a spot on the Champions Golf Tour.
There’s more. In fact, Hollister has so many top athletes that I can’t even mention them all. The point really is not in naming them. The point is how does a little city such as Hollister generate such top athletes?
It’s amazing. In a small town like this I should be writing stories – especially this time of year – about Little League and Fourth-of-July parades. Instead, I’m interviewing a woman this week who just got finished taping a nationally televised event and another person who is on the verge of playing in the Major Leagues.
Heck, guys working at larger papers don’t always have the opportunity to rub elbows with athletes that are this accomplished – and I’m getting to do this at a small paper in Hollister, go figure.
