Inducted in 2024
Dennis fauke - class of 1963
Dennis Fauke will be remembered by many as a great Taft High athlete, having excelled in football, basketball, and baseball in high school. But many may not recall that he was starting pitcher and third baseman as a Taft College Cougar, helping the team win the CCJCA Championship in 1965. While at TC, Dennis was the Sports Editor and the Managing Editor of the College newspaper, The Echo, and he also wrote a column for the Daily Midway Driller.
After graduation from Taft College, Dennis married his high school sweetheart, Linda Thompson, and continued his education at Fresno State University where he concurrently held Recreation and Park positions with the City of Fresno, the City of Madera, and the Madera County Migrant Education Program. After graduation from Fresno State in 1970, Dennis accepted the position of Assistant Director for the Cypress Recreation and Park District and was immediately thrust into the middle of a $3.5 million bond issue which resulted in the planning, acquisition, and development of 19 community park sites and a 25,000 square foot community center. While there, he helped form after-school programs at all 19 parks, 2 junior high schools, 4 elementary schools, and a high school. Under Dennis’s leadership many children and adult sports programs were initiated.
Dennis became the Administrator of the West Side Recreation and Park District in 1978, after the passage of Proposition 13. The District, with a strong budgeting plan, was able to initiate the construction of the $1.8 million Taft Community Center and the adjoining park site. Other innovations to the Rec District included the planning and construction of a District vehicle and equipment maintenance yard, negotiations with the County of Kern to bring the Senior Nutrition and Meals on Wheels Programs to the District to serve the community’s senior citizens, and the formation of the Taft Recreation Foundation, a non-profit organization to assist the Recreation District in funding programs and facilities.
In 2001, Dennis became Manager of the West Side Cemetery District, initiating the renovation of the property, making it more accessible and available for use by the public. He directed the development of an additional 5 acres of District property, developed 100 in-ground niche sites outside and separate from the Mausoleum building, initiated the sales of Memorial Benches, and began the District’s move to computerized services.
Ever community-minded, Dennis has served many clubs (Taft Petroleum Club, Taft Rotary Club) and organizations (Taft District Chamber of Commerce, Taft Oildorado, Inc.) and received numerous awards for his service (California Park and Recreation Society, California Association of Public Cemeteries). Dennis was nominated for this recognition by Karen and John Trageser.
JOHN V. WEIGAND, M.d. - class of 1966
Dr. John V. Weigand was born ready to work hard, according to his brother, Albert Weigand (who nominated him to the Hall of Fame). His parents made sure he knew the value of hard, whether it was selling Christmas cards door-to-door, managing the Little League Concession stand, washing mixing vats at the Safeway Bakery, working the Little League Breakfasts, or pitching in at political headquarters uptown.
Although John had many friends in high school, it was clear that his focus was on his studies and his career ahead. He was on the Tennis Team for four years, and he was awarded the Bausch and Lomb Science Award. After his graduation from Taft High, John attended UCLA, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in Biology. From Los Angeles, John went to Washington, D.C., to attend Georgetown University Medical School, graduating in 1974. After med school, John returned to California, to San Francisco, for post graduate training. Then he and his wife, Patricia, moved to Akron, Ohio, where he pursued training in Emergency Medicine, and where he eventually joined the Medical School Faculty, teaching Emergency Medicine for 45 years. He served as Director of the program as a Professor of Emergency Medicine, Board-certified in Emergency Medicine.
For thirty years, John served his community as a volunteer fireman, also assisting in ambulance services. He volunteered at three free clinics in his surrounding area, and internationally, he served on multiple medical teams in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, assisting with refugee evacuation.
John’s contributions have not gone unnoticed. He has received the Volunteer Physician of the Year Award (2004), from the United Way of Summit County, multiple Teacher of the Year Awards, the Hero’s Award from the American Red Cross (for a spectacular team rescue while a member of the Fire and Rescue Service), and he and wife Patricia have been named Volunteer Couple of the year.
John is now retired and living in Akron, Ohio, with wife Patricia. He spends his time enjoying friends and family, spoiling his two grandchildren, and volunteering at local Medical Clinics. He also works as a Physician team leader for a company that has a drug rehabilitation program that is experimenting with a once-a-month shot to prevent drug usage.
gale (McNeal) shuck - class of 1968
Gale McNeal Shuck was born to George and Eldora McNeal and was raised in Taft. She attended Taft schools, graduating from Taft High in 1968. Soon after graduation, she married David Shuck and began a career as a corporate loan officer for the Taft Branch of the Bank of America. Encouraged by her community-minded parents, she soon joined the Soroptimist Club of Taft, and she served that organization as Treasurer and Secretary. In 1981, she joined the family business, McNeal and Shuck Petroleum Company, and by 1984, she had become the Owner and CEO of the company.
When George McNeal, Gale’s father, a Taft City Councilman, could no longer serve due to medical issues, the Council chose Gale to serve-out her father’s term. By April,1988, she was elected Mayor Pro Tem. The following November, the citizens of Taft elected Gale to the Council in her own right, and in December of 1990, she received the honor of being the first female to serve as Mayor of City Council in Taft.
Despite strong support by the electorate and City Council overall, several of Gale’s projects and visions were hard-won battles. The tenacity she developed while growing up in Taft enabled her to overcome these obstacles. During her time on the Council, she served as the visionary of the Rails to Trails project. After hearing about the railroad rehabilitation project in other communities, Gale began the hard, up-hill battle to gain the rights to the land and to transform the unused blight of a rail system. She remained steadfast in her commitment to the project, and, with the help of Councilmembers who came after her, the completed project stands as a gem of the community and a testament to her work on the Council. She also was instrumental in the creation of the Taft Industrial Park, a new Police Station, and the Taft Correctional Facility. She envisioned and created a Community Disaster Preparedness Committee and was a key member of the Council that won acceptance for Taft as the location of a Federal Prison.
Gale and her father remain the only parent-child combination ever to hold the position of Mayor of the City of Taft, and she is, to date, one of only four women ever elected to City Council. She was nominated for the Hall of Fame by her children, Christa Shuck Burton and Jeff Shuck.