Haywood Robinson '74, Donald Stocking '58, Bill Swanson '91, Larry Watkins '71, Grace Yang '98, and Pioneer Award winner Francine Finney (nee Wetter) '76 make up this highly accomplished group of athletes.  The team selected to join the Hall of Honor in this class is the 1960-61 Swim and Dive team.  

 

Due to the cancellation of gathered activities over the past two years, this year's celebration will see members of the seventh and eighth classes of the Hall of Honor inducted together.  A 4 p.m. reception will precede the Induction Ceremony that will start at 5 p.m. in Scott Brown Gymnasium.  Registration will be managed by the Alumni Association, with details coming closer to Homecoming. 

 

Haywood Robinson '74

 

Named a Caltech co-Outstanding Athlete in 1974 along with Hall of Honor Class of 2015 inductee Alan Kleinsasser, Robinson set school records in both the 100- and 220-yard dashes in times of 9.7 seconds and 21.4 seconds, respectively both records that still stand.  He is a two-time Goldsworthy Trophy winner, awarded to the athlete that best exemplifies sportsmanship, team spirit and proficiency.  The 1974 team MVP,  Robinson finished in second place at the NAIA District 3 Championships running both the 100-and-220 yard dash, finished second two times running 220 yards and finished third in the 100-yard race on one other occasion.  He also added a fifth-place finish as part of the 440 relay at the SCIAC championships in 1974.  After Caltech, Robinson earned his Doctor of Medicine from UC Irvine in 1978, and along with his wife, Dr. Noreen Johnson opened a family medicine practice in College Station, Texas that he still runs today.  Having run over 50 marathons in his life, Johnson continues to compete as a master's sprinter in international competitions.  

 

 

Scoring three touchdowns in Caltech's historic and last ever conference victory in football over Occidental in 1957, Stocking's place in Caltech athletics lore would almost be guaranteed by this feat alone. But there's much more to his story than being a member of that year's squad that won 3 games, the most by any Caltech team since 1931.  He was All-Conference the three years he played on Varsity, named a SCIAC First Team member as a running back once and was twice named to the conference's Second Team squad. On the baseball diamond, Stocking was a member of the 1956 co-Championship winning baseball team and was named All SCIAC Second Team as a second baseman. 

 

Bill Swanson '91

 

As Caltech only played JV Basketball from 1985-1989, Swanson was part of the re-birth of the Varsity program, playing two of his four years at the Varsity level.  Swanson was named to the All-SCIAC Second Team once as a center and was the first Beaver hoopster to be awarded by the conference since 1970, a span of 20 years.  Named Caltech's first Male Athlete of the Year in 1991, Swanson also won the program's first Ted Ducey Award, given annually to the SCIAC men's basketball player who makes the most of his athletic ability and demonstrates the personal characteristics of leadership, self-discipline, determination, sportsmanship and a commitment to academics.  He held the record for second best field goal percentage in a season, fifth in all-time points in a season and seventh in blocks for a season.  As a member of the Track & Field program, Swanson was a high jumper, frequently clearing 6 feet and finishing on the podium at meets.  He also contributed to the water polo program, especially in his junior year.  Swanson served on the Student Body Board of Directors, was the Senior Class President,  was Fleming House president all while attending Caltech on a Navy ROTC scholarship.  His ROTC participation required him to travel to USC as there was no physical program held on the Caltech campus.  Upon graduation, Swanson was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and served in a variety of roles over 20 years, culminating in his service as Director of the Navy's Nuclear Power School.  He transitioned to civilian life professionally by joining Honeywell Aerospace and currently serves as an Engineering Manager at Duke Energy.    

 

The setter of the volleyball team all four years, Yang frequently led practices and demonstrated a fun, yet disciplined approach, that others followed.  She set six team records in '97, and seven in '96.  She was second in both career and season aces and digs, second in season assists and third in career assists.  She is the only volleyball team member to be selected as a four-time team MVP and was a two-time team captain.  Selected All-Tourney First Team at California Maritime as a freshman, she was talented yet humble, as demonstrated by her splitting time with a second setter on the team in Yang's senior season.   She was acknowledged as the Most Improved Player on the Women's Tennis Team in '98.  After Caltech, Yang earned her law degree from Fordham University, and practices intellectual property law at Troutman Sanders LLP.  She is a member of the Caltech Fund and serves as a mentor for Fordham Law School's minority mentorship program.

 

 

Earning the Pioneer Award, Finney (née Wetter) joined the Men's Swim & Dive team in 1972-1973 along with fellow female swimmer Patty Perigo.  While neither earned enough points to letter that year, Finney did win a Varsity letter in 1973-74, the first for a woman participating on a men's team at Caltech.  She was also honored with the Most Improved honors her senior year in 1976, finishing in seventh place in the 200 Fly at the 1976 SCIAC Championships while also competing in the 100 Fly.  Due to her leadership and efforts, four women participated on the men's team in 1976, making up over 25% of the roster of 15 swimmers.  Finney has continued to break barriers.  As a physical therapist specializing in treating clients with Neurodegenerative diseases (ALS, etc.) she cared for her late husband Hal Finney from 2009-2014 as he battled ALS.  Hal developed coding for Bitcoin during its inception and was one of the earliest miners on the network.  Francine continues to serve others in Santa Barbara county looking to improving their life experience and works with the Golden West Chapter of ALS, dedicating her life's work to the memory of her late husband.   

 

 

Team Members included Roger Bland, Bruce Chesebro (inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2015), J. Lawrence Daubek, William Howard, Alan Huber, James Lindsey,  J. Patrick Manning, Stephen Mastin, Peter Mayer, James McCoy, Arthur McGarr, Gary Mitchell,  Michael Newton, James Shaw, Gary Tibbetts - Team Captain, and Gary Turner.  The team was coached by Warren Emery, Hall of Honor Inductee in 2019 as a coach and former athletic director.