Warriors honor football Hall of Famers, award championship rings

By Wayne Harrison wharrison@theacorn.com

OMRI WAISMAN/The Acorn HONOREES-Westlake High School inductees are named to the school's football Hall of Fame.

The Westlake football program recently hosted a banquet to award championship rings to the 2003 Warrior football team, which won a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship, and to honor the first class of Warrior football Hall of Fame inductees.

"It’s a tribute to the program that things are going so well," said Jim Benkert, the Westlake head coach for the past 15 years, "and a tribute to past and present kids. We’re all here to celebrate Warrior football from 1979 on. It’s great to see all these faces."

Benkert said 300 people were invited but estimated that about 400 showed up.

In 1999, the Westlake football team won its first CIF championship but didn’t have a ring ceremony. This year, Benkert wanted a joint effort to honor past and present Westlake football players.

"In 1999 we didn’t have a ceremony like this," Benkert said. "It’s something I wanted to have this year. We didn’t have a lot of time to really celebrate our CIF championship this season."

Regarding the Hall of Fame ceremony, Benkert said, "It was a vision that I had a year ago."

Among those honored in the first class of Westlake football Hall of Famers was 1999 graduate Mike Seidman, who went on to play for UCLA and is now a member of the Carolina Panthers, who won an NFL championship this season.

"This is where it all started," Seidman said. "This is where I started playing football, pretty much, so I wanted to come back."

Seidman, a tight end, saw his first year of pro football cut short due to a knee injury but he said he’s healthy following surgery.

"It was a jump going from high school to college, then another jump going from college to the NFL," said Seidman. "I’m living my dream right now."

Also among those honored was Charlie Wegher, a quarterback who graduated in 1982. Wegher was later a Warrior assistant coach for six years. He is and was the head coach of Agoura High School football teams that reached the CIF semifinals in 2001 and 2003.

"There’s so many big time players in the history of the program and it’s nice to be considered among those guys," said Wegher, who led the Warriors to their first Marmonte League championship.

Other players inducted to the Westlake football Hall of Fame were: Steve Ayslworth (1996), a wide receiver, quarterback and defensive back; Vince Bruno (’92), a linebacker; Jonathan Contos (’02) a running back; Joey Cuppari (’98) a wide receiver; Bobby DeMars (’97), a linebacker.

John Fasano (’80), a wide receiver/running back; Eric Guenther (’95), a linebacker; Julian Lambert (’00), a running back; Billy Miller (’95) a wide receiver; Merrill Mullaly (’02), a running back; Casey Preston (’97), a quarterback; Todd Preston (’91), a quarterback.

Craig Slavin (’83), a linebacker; Carl Stack (’81), a defensive end; Craig Walendy (’95), a fullback; Zac Wasserman (’00), a quarterback; Gary Wellman (’85), a running back; and Glenn Wellman (’82), a running back.

Westlake assistant Mike Leibin put together film of as many inductees as possible.

"It was fun for me to go back over 24 years of game tapes," Leibin said. "The list of guys that were inducted is big time."

Leibin said it was also nice for this year’s team to be honored during the joint ceremony.

"When you get the rings everybody now has something tangible," Leibin said.

This year’s starting quarterback Rudy Carpenter agreed.

"There was no better feeling than beating St. Bonaventure in the championship game and walking off the field knowing that we were going to get rings on our fingers," said Carpenter.

Westlake Principal Ron Lipari credited Benkert.

"Coach Benkert instills character and sportsmanship in kids and the proof is in this kind of event, the athletes that come back," said Lipari. "These athletes are successful in life because they learned here about character, values and virtue and doing the right thing.

"I think that’s why he (Benkert) is successful," added Lipari, "because he puts the time, effort and energy into every athlete to get the best out of them—not only as an athlete—but as a human being."