Inducted in 2021

BOB BOGLE - class of 1947

Bob Bogle, who came to be known as “Mr. Softball” on the Westside, lettered in basketball, track, football, and baseball during his years at Taft High. He concluded his tenure at Taft High being named TUHS Athlete of the Year for 1946-47.

Baseball was considered to be his best sport, and he was named to the California All-Stars while a high school outfielder. During his baseball season, he was recruited by the track coach (for one week) to run in the Kern County High School Meet. He placed third in the 100. When he was not playing sports in school, he was a Golden Gloves boxer, finishing second in the heavyweight division of a local tournament in his senior year.

Although offered a scholarship to St. Mary’s, Bogle chose to attend Taft College, and after one year he was recruited by the Cleveland Indians organization to play in the California League with the Bakersfield Indians. After retiring from baseball, Bogle turned to softball where he found his greatest notoriety. As part of two International Softball Congress (ISC) World Championship teams in 1949, (HOF inductee Les Haney was the pitcher) and 1959 (Taft Shamrocks), Bogle was an outfielder, one of the best hitters, and a threat on the bases. When he turned to pitching on the Westside, he pitched for the Toppers, the perennial Open League Champions.

Still a young man, Bogle turned to car sales as a profession, first in Taft and then in Bakersfield. He brought the same spirit to his life career that he brought to his sports career, being named many times as Salesman of the Year.

VL Holland, PhD - class of 1960

The son of hard-working Taftians seeking opportunity in the oilfields, Professor Holland was the first in his family to graduate from high school. As gifted on the baseball diamond as he was in the classroom, Holland received his AA degree from Taft College and went on to Fresno State (now CSU, Fresno) to complete his BA, then his MA. After acceptance into and completion of the PhD program in botany at UC, Berkeley, several teaching appointments at Berkeley and Fresno led to his appointment to the faculty at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, in 1972. He gained tenue in 1977 and a full professorship in 1981—somewhat of a record. His teaching calendar is rivaled only by his extensive field research and consulting services.

Any description of Holland’s life would be incomplete without reference to the organizations he has helped to charter (the Environmental Biotechnology Institute at Cal Poly), the groups he has been asked to represent (The Institute of Ecosystems Studies National Science Foundation Grant Schoolyard Ecology for Elementary Teachers), the book he has written with colleague Dr. David Keil (California Vegetation—that has become the textbook on plant communities and biological habitats in several colleges and universities, including CSU, Fresno and UC Berkeley), and professional societies (the Carrizo Plain Advisory Committee, for example) for which he plays an active role. These examples of Holland’s contributions are only representative of his vast and varied accomplishments, and in all his endeavors, he has excelled.

Kate crane - class of 1996

The outstanding athletic abilities of “Kate the Great” Crane were noted as early as the sixth grade when she was allowed to play on the seventh grade girls’ basketball team, an unprecedented and unrepeated occurrence at Lincoln School. She was MVP of nearly every game she played (including the California Women’s Basketball All-Star Game), was first-team All-SSL pick every year, earned three straight first-team All-Area selections by averaging 25 points per game, 12 rebounds, and four assists, racked up 1,817 career points (making her the fifth-largest player in All-Area section history) and scored a record 63 points in one game. Crane was the top five for state central section scoring, and qualified multiple years as a leader in rebounding and assists. She was selected for All-Area team each year and was MVP. As a testimony to her prowess on the courts, her jersey #15 was retired from TUHS when she graduated in 1996.

Recruited in basketball, volleyball, and swimming by many prestigious basketball schools (women’s basketball powerhouse University of Tennessee and all PAC 10, WAC, and WCC schools at the time), Crane chose to play NCAA Division I basketball at the University of Arizona for one season before transferring to Pepperdine, another NCAA Division I school, to stay on the West Coast. She excelled at both schools. Crane holds a BA in Special Education and a MA in Education, and she is a manager for United Parcel Service. She will tell you, however, that her greatest achievement is being mom to two sons, Ryder and Jaxon.