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Legendary San Gorgonio baseball player Tim Miner, who pitched all but one inning in San Gorgonio's run to a CIF championship in 1977, will be honored in a special ceremony Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Sportswatch Bar and Grill by the Hampton Inn in Highland. The Spartans' championship run, which ended with a victory over Lakewood in the CIF title game, has been dubbed "The Miner Miracle", as the pitcher guided the Spartans, who finished third in the San Andreas League, to glory, pitching every inning but the first inning of San G's second-round win.

Miner is being celebrated separately from the other inductees in the San G Hall of Fame, who will be honored in October, because he currently lives in The Netherlands and is currently making a rare trip back to the United States. Several notable former teammates - including Ted Rozzi, Tim Mead, Don Parnell, Tony Curtis and Tim Burroughs - will be in attendance along with Dennis Rogers, the manager of the 1977 championship team.

Chino first baseman Jacob Anderson, San Gorgonio pitcher/outfielder Andy Crowley, Oak Hills pitcher Adolfo Espinoza and Aquinas first baseman Jonathan Ruiz were honored by MaxPreps.com last week, making the website's all-state teams.

Anderson, a first-round sandwich pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in June and a first-team all-Sun selection, was a first-team all-state and a first-team all-Medium Schools selection. Crowley, the Sun Player of the Year, was a second-team all-state as an all-purpose player and a first-team all-Medium Schools.

Espinoza, a first-team all-Sun player and the ace of the CIF-SS Division 5 champion Bulldogs, was a first-team all-Medium Schools selection while Ruiz, another first-team all-Sun pick, was first-team all-Small Schools.

Redlands East Valley volleyball player Krista Vansant is up for one more award before starting her career at the University of Washington and it's a biggie, as Vansant is one of six female athletes from across the country vying for the Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year Award. Along with being nominated for the award, Vansant will also walk the red carpet for Wednesday's ESPY Awards at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

The winner will be announced at a black-tie banquet at the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel Tuesday. The banquet, which runs from 5:30-7:30 p.m., will be hosted by Sparks basketball player Lisa Leslie, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love and Olympic softball player Jessica Mendoza.

The other female athletes vying for the award are basketball player Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Mater Dei), track and field athlete Amy Weissenbach (Harvard-Westlake), softball player Paige McDuffee (The Woodlands, Texas), soccer player Morgan Brian (St. Simons, Ga) and cross country runner Aisling Cuffe (New Windsor, N.Y.). The six male athletes up for the Male Athlete of the Year Award are football player Justin Worley (Rock Hill, S.C.), cross country runner Lukas Verzbicas (Orland Park, Ill.), basketball player Brad Beal (St. Louis), soccer player Luis Rendon (Midlothian, Va.), baseball player Dylan Bundy (Owasso, Okla.) and track and field athlete Gunnar Nixon (Edmond, Okla.).

The Colton football CIF celebration will continue tomorrow at Colton High School, as the team and coaches will be presented their rings as part of a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. at the Colton High School auditorium. Should be quite the affair.

Cajon girls basketball coach Mark Lehman was honored with a Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Longevity Award at Friday night's CIF-SS Division 1AA championship game at Anaheim Arena. Lehman has led the Cowgirls to nine straight San Andreas League titles and CIF titles in 2008 and 2009 during his storied career at Cajon High School. The Cowgirls compiled a 29-2 record and shared the SAL title with Rialto this season before falling to Moreno Valley Canyon Springs in the D1AA quarterfinals.

Redlands East Valley boys basketball coach Bill Berich will be honored at halftime of tomorrow's CIF-SS Division 1A boys championship game between Los Angeles Loyola and Capistrano Valley. Berich will be honored by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association for his longevity in coaching.

Berich had one of his best years of a stellar career at REV this past season, leading the Wildcats to a 25-6 record and a berth in the D1A semifinals, where they fell to top-seeded Loyola.

Yucaipa High School has announced the inductees for its third Athletic Hall of Fame class, which will be honored at a banquet April 30 at Yucaipa High School. The athletes that will be honored are 1965 graduate Charles Chiappone, 1970 grad Rick Waller, 1982 grad Mike Baker, 1986 grad Lisa Rogers and 1998 grad Rich Hofman.

Baker and Hofman both specialized in baseball, with Baker playing professionally in the Boston Red Sox organization after two all-CIF appearances while Hofman played at UCLA after being named the County Baseball Player of the Year as as senior. Waller, an all-CIF basketball player holds the school record for rebounds in a game with 32 while Chiappone was an all-league football and basketball player for the Thunderbirds before playing at the University of Redlands. Rogers was a three-sport athlete in track, volleyball and baseball, notching all-league honors in four different track and field events.

Colton athletic director Harold Strauss, who won 229 games in a storied high school career at Colton, Bloomington Christian and in Oregon, will be inducted into the Southern California High School Coaches Hall of Fame this weekend and honored at a banquet on Sunday.

Strauss is the second Inland Empire coaching legend to receive this honor in as many years, as former Fontana and Kaiser coach Dick Bruich received the honor last year. Bruich will be one of the keynote speakers at Sunday's banquet.

Here's my story from the proceedings at REV today.

With one announcement in the Redlands East Valley principal's office Wednesday morning, REV senior volleyball Krista Vansant was given a lifelong connection to athletes such as Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning, Kerri Walsh and LeBron James.

Vansant joined that echleon of elite athlete Wednesday, as she was named the 2010-11 Gatorade National High School Volleyball Player of the Year.

"My brain turns to mush when thinking about things like this," Vansant said. "It is such an honor and I don't even know what to say. I never expected anything like this to happen."

It was an honor that was kept from Vansant for almost a week, as her mother Tricia -- who also served as her coach at REV before retiring after this past season concluded -- was contacted by Gatorade this past Thursday letting her know about the honor with explicit instructions not to tell her daughter.

"They told me both honors at once," Tricia said. "They called up and told me that she won the state player of the year and then right after told me about the national player of the year. I started yelling in the garage and they told me to keep it quiet.

"All the while Krista is trying to find me to have me take her to practice. Luckily she never asked and I was able to tell family and friends and make sure they would keep it a secret."

Krista found out about winning the California Player of the Year honor from backchannels. But when she went to REV on Wednesday, she wasn't anticipating what was about to happen.

"I seriously thought I was on Punk'd," said Vansant, referencing the practical-joke television show that used to run on MTV. "I was looking around thinking "Ashton (Kutcher), Ashton? I was completely shocked.

"I saw April Ross and I knew who she was right away. I remember watching her play at USC and was so excited, though I basically just sat there smiling because I didn't know what else to do."

Ross, the 1999-2000 winner, was among a crowd of family, friends, teammates and REV students that honored Vansant during an assembly. The current pro beach volleyball champion recalled when she was awarded the honor when she was a senior at Newport Harbor High School and shared in Vansant's joy.

"It's one of the best honors I've ever received," Ross said. "It really showed me that I had the ability to really be good at this sport and I think it will be the same for Krista. Being alonside people such as Kobe Bryant is a real honor."

Vansant became the second county athlete to become a Gatorade Player of the Year, joining Chino track and field athlete Angela Williams, who was honored in 1997-98. And Wednesday might not be the last honor bestowed on Vansant by Gatorade.

After being chosen as the premier volleyball player from a field of approximately 403,000 high school players in the United States, Vansant has a chance to be chosen as the overall Gatorade National Female Athlete of the Year in July.

Vansant will be honored at a luncheon in Hollywood in July where the National Player of Year will be named. Then she'll be whisked off to the ESPYs, where she'll get to walk the red carpet and rub elbows with some of the athletes whose company she joined Wednesday.

"Oh yeah, I can go right up to Kobe now," Vansant said. "Well, I don't know about that. He has five NBA titles -- I'm not quite in that class."

San Gorgonio high school inducted four former athletic icons into its Hall of Fame Saturday, with swimmer Kelly Goddard-Sautel, runner Richard Adams, soccer player Lindsi Parnell-Wake and former equipment manager Keith Porterfield all being honored.

The foursome join nearly 70 Spartan athletic legends in the Hall of Fame, which was founded during the 1993-94 season. Goddard-Sautel, who graduated in 1997, was a four-year all-CIF swimmer and holds the school record in the 50-meter freestyle. She also saw at UNLV, where she qualified for the NCAA meet during her career.

Both Adams and Parnell-Wake graduated in 1999. Adams was an all-SAL runner for three years and qualified for the CIF finals in the 300 hurdles as a senior before going on to run at Cal State Fullerton and Purdue. Parnell-Wake was an all-CIF player as a junior and senior, set the single-season goals record with 46 as a freshman and the career goals record with 113.

Porterfield recently retired as San G's equipment man after 28-plus seasons on the job. Starting in 1981, Porterfield was a very important person behind the scenes at San G before retiring this past spring to spend more time with his family.

San Bernardino High School sophomore quarterback/safety Khleem Perkins was named to MaxPreps' Fresh Faces 2013 Top 100 watch list last week and was presented a certificate at practice yesterday according to Cardinals coach Nick Monica.

"It was a really cool thing," Monica said. "They came by practice and let everybody know. It's a big deal for Khleem because I really think he has a lot of potential and something like this could really put his name out there."

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Perkins, who also plays basketball and was a key player for the Cardinals as a freshman in that sport, will play quarterback and safety for San Bernardino this season. You can read the write up on him and the rest of the Fresh Faces here.

Cal Hi-Sports, through ESPN Rise, has been releasing their all-state teams this week, with several local players being honored. Here are some of the players recognized by the website.

All-California First Team
Griffin Murphy, Redlands East Valley, All-Purpose, Sr.
Aaron Sanchez, Barstow, All-Purpose, Sr.
Taijuan Walker, Yucaipa, All-Purpose, Sr.

All-California Second Team
Scott Frazier, Upland, P, Sr.

All-California Third Team
Aaron Beckley, Redlands East Valley, OF, Sr.
Julio Espinoza, Rialto, INF, Sr.

All-California Medium Schools
Cody Lavalli, Granite Hills, OF, Sr.
Adam Quintana, San Gorgonio, All-Purpose, Sr.
Aaron Sanchez, Barstow, All-Purpose, Sr.

All-California Underclass
Andy Crowley, San Gorgonio, OF, Jr.

Inland Empire Basketball is having a banquet to honor the Eisenhower boys basketball team's back-to-back CIF-SS Division 2-A championships on Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Sierra Lakes Golf Club in Fontana. The black-tie-optional event will feature UC Riverside athletic director Stan Morrison will be the keynote speaker at the event, which will celebrate the Eagles' achievements from the last two years, including their Division II state championship of 2009 and the awarding of the Wooden Award to senior guard Alex Varner.
Entry fee to the event is $30, with checks payable to Inland Empire Basketball.

Colton football player Derrick Malone just won the Ken Hubbs Athlete of the Year award, becoming the fourth Yellowjacket to do so. The story is below.

The countdown to the awarding of the 46th annual Ken Hubbs Award will start Monday, as the selection committee will pick the overall winner of the award from a group of nominees that have already been submitted by the eligible schools.

The individual school winners will be announced Friday, May 14 at Arrowhead Credit Union Park during the 66ers' game with the Quakes while the overall winner will be honored Monday, May 17 at 6 p.m. at the Elks Club in San Bernardino.

Recent winners of the award include Redlands East Valley football player Ronnie Fouch (2007), Big Bear football player Kriss Proctor (2008) and Yucaipa swimmer Trevor Hoyt last year. Cajon basketball player Layshia Clarendon was honored last year with an award for outstanding female athlete as well.

Several county schools will be honored at Dodger Stadium next Thursday, as the CIF-Southern Section announced the winners of 28th Annual Kenny Fagans Toyota Shake for Sportsmanship Awards Monday.

Boys Republic (Arrowhead League), Arrowhead Christian (Christian), Apple Valley (Mojave River), Ontario (Mt. Baldy), Cajon (San Andreas) and Bloomington (Sunkist) will be honored for their sportsmanship at the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cajon athletic director Rich Imbriani was awarded the California State Athletic Directors Association athletic director of the year last week and will be honored at a ceremony in Reno, Nevada Saturday.

Imbriani follows Summit athletic director Ed Kearby, who won the honor a year ago. The CSADA will also honor Arroyo Valley athletic director Matt Howell and Chino athletic director Matt McCain with the Norm MacKenzie "Rookie" Directors of the Year award, which goes to exemplary young ADs.

The honors for presumably-retired Colton football coach Harold Strauss continue to pile up, as the legendary coach will be one of six to be honored by San Bernardino County Superintendent's Office with an Education Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service Award at a ceremony on April 26 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Victorville.

"Considering that there are 20,000 people who are probably worthy of this honor, it's humbling to hear my name called," Strauss said. "I was humbled when (the Colton Unified School District) nominated me and I'm humbled right now."

Strauss is being honored for his postgraduate contributions in education and coaching at a banquet that starts at 6 p.m. The entry fee to the black-tie event - which includes a meal - is $45 and you can call (909) 386-2947 for information.

Eisenhower boys basketball player Alex Varner and former Colony boys basketball player Tyler Lamb will be honored Friday by the John R. Wooden Award Comittee, as they won the Wooden Awards for Division 2 and Division I respectively.

Varner, the D2 winner, and Lamb, the D1 winner, will be honored at a banquet at the Los Angeles Athletic Club alongside the men's and women's college basketball players of the year. They will also receive a plaque and $300 to go to their school's athletic fund.

Janae Sharpe didn't provide much drama in breaking the Rialto High School scoring record Friday, rolling to 32 points in a 78-34 victory over Carter. Sharpe only needed to score 16 points to beat Okeme Oziwo's record, but doubled that to finish the game with 1,562 points for her career. Sharpe also has seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals as Rialto remained undefeated in the Citrus Belt League.

Oregon State offensive lineman Michael Philipp, an Arroyo Valley graduate, has been named to the College Football News and Phil Steele's Freshmen All-American team per a text message by AVHS head coach Marcus Soward. Philipp started every game for the Beavers this year at left tackle as a true freshman.

Former Victor Valley High School boys basketball coach Ollie Butler will be honored by the school next Thursday, as VVHS will dedicate the floor in Keith Gunn Gymnasium in his honor as part of a game against Granite Hills.

The dedication will come before the 7 p.m. start and will be accompanied by a reception after the game. Butler, 79, coached at Victor Valley for 29 years from 1962-1990 after spending time in the Air Force and graduating from the University of Oklahoma. In that time, he accumulated 605 wins to 251 losses and led the Jackrabbits to 13 league titles during that span -- including 10 in a row from 1974-83.

The U.S. Army All-American Game selection tour is stopping locally a next Monday, as they'll be swinging by Kaiser High School according to a press release sent earlier today. They will hold a ceremony at 11:43 a.m. with a pep rally to announce the selection of a player to the game, which will be held January 9 in San Antonio, Texas. A jersey will be presented to the player.

The release didn't indicate who the player would be, but the easy money is on Kaiser LB Josh Shirley - a four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com. Shirley, who had 17 sacks a year ago and is the anchor of a ferocious Cats defense, has scholarship offers from around the country and is down to a final 8 of USC, UCLA, California, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Miami (Fla.), Arizona and Washington.

This will be the second stop in the IE for the tour, as it stopped at Rancho Verde High School last week to present 5-star DE Ronald Powell with an invitation. Arroyo Valley's Michael Philipp, now a freshman at Oregon State, played in the game last year.

Cajon softball coach Jerry Tivey was named the California Coaches Association's softball Coach of the Year late last week. Tivey will be honored at a banquet set to be held on June 13 in Irvine and will be in the running for the National Coach of the Year.

The Tivey-led Cowgirls have already clinched the San Andreas League title and are 20-4 overall and a perfect 12-0 in the SAL going into the final week of the season. They are No. 2 in the most recent Division III poll behind Westlake Village Oaks Christian and have been led by senior second baseman Brehanna Rodrigues (.569 batting average) and freshman pitcher Monique Wesley, who has thrown seven straight shutouts.

Michael Philipp, a standout 6-foot-3, 320-pound offensive lineman at Arroyo Valley High School, was selected to take part in the U.S. Army All-American game Jan. 3 in San Antonio, Texas and will receive his jersey in a special ceremony at AVHS today at 3 p.m.

Philipp, a four-star recruit and the top guard in the country according to Rivals.com, was selected for his loyalty, duty and respect, along with his considerable skill. The U.S. Army All-American game has starred players such as Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Adrian Peterson in recent years. He's being recruited by almost the entire Pac-10 and Colorado at this time.