Recently in Ronnie Lott Category

Meant to write about this before, but I headed out to Eisenhower High School Saturday afternoon for their 50th anniversary celebration. It was quite an event, with a car show, all the food you could possibly want, live music, student performance and, oh yeah, the naming of the football stadium after Ronnie Lott.

It's the last part which I went out to cover. Knowing that the ceremony would be pretty chaotic, I went early, schmoozing Rialto Unified School District Public Information Office Syeda Jafri well enough to get an invitation into the VIP area, where I schmoozed with Congressman Joe Baca, among others, waiting to get my time with Lott.

Ronnie Lott will be honored at Eisenhower High School as part of their 50th anniversary celebration Saturday, as the Ike football field will be named after the former graduate, who was a Hall of Fame safety for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders and New York Jets.

Lott will be honored at a ceremony Saturday night and will be one of eight former Ike graduates inducted into the Eisenhower Hall of Fame during a 6:30 p.m. ceremony according to Rialto Unified School District Public Information Office Syeda Jafri. Five of those are athletes, as joining Lott will be current Denver Broncos offensive lineman Ryan Clady, former Green Bay Packers cornerback Craig Newsome, the late David Lang -- a former running back for the St. Louis Rams -- and former Major League Soccer player Ted Chronopoulous.

Eisenhower High School is recognizing one of its most distinguished athletic graduates on October 17 -- the Eagles will be naming their football field after Ronnie Lott according to Ike athletic director Steve Johnson.

The ceremony, which will happen the weekend of Ike's game with Redlands, is part of the school's 50th anniversary celebration. Lott -- a 1977 Ike graduate, All-American at USC, and NFL Hall of Fame safety for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders and New York Jets from 1981-94 -- is expected to attend the ceremony.

"It's exciting for the school," Johnson said. "To have a Hall of Famer like Ronnie come from this school and be willing to come back and celebrate the anniversary for us is something we are pretty happy to be a part of."

The naming of the stadium will be part of the 50th anniversary extravaganza on Saturday the 17th, the day after the game with Redlands.