Inducted in 2013

William "Bill" Black - Class of 1943

Those whose lives fill the gaps between what is and what might be, can find no better representation than that of Bill Black. A 1943 graduate of TUHS, Bill joined the Navy and served on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington during W.W. II. At war’s end, Bill married Dorothy McPherson, began his family and with his brother purchased Taft Plumbing Company. Over many decades it came to play an essential role in giving Taft many of its landmark locations, transferring empty space into sites for business and havens of personal living.

The Caprice Motel, West Kern Junction, a mobile home park and hundreds of homes throughout Taft are part of the legacy of Bill Black.
Having served on the City Planning Commission, Bill continues to “patrol” Taft on his daily morning walks. It’s not uncommon for him to carry a trash bag and a "trash grabber" and pick up some refuse while getting his morning exercise. He also has it in for puncture vines (goat heads), and was once seen hoeing away a patch of them in front of Miller’s Insurance on Kern Street. City Councilmen hear from him, and appreciate it, when he points out graffiti that appears on buildings and walls, and Bill is a frequent attendee for the Taft Chamber's "Sit and Sip" meetings so he can keep up with what is going on around town.

Living in an intimate community lets everyone know your strengths and interests. Bill Black has maintained his commitment to the community, in his professional life and in his personal activities. He has been doing it for a long, long time, and Taft is a better place for it.

Dr. Ben Dykes, D.D.S. - Class of 1940

Ben Dykes, Student Body President at Taft High, completed his B.S. degree at USC while serving in the U.S. Army. Responding to wartime medical needs, he attended and graduated from Northwestern University School of Dentistry in 1947. He then began his dental practice in Taft. Called back into service during the Korean War, he commuted home on weekends from Camp Stoneman to serve his private patients. During his near half century of professional work in Taft, he was deeply involved in community education serving as President of both the Taft High Board of Trustees and the Taft College Board of Trustees. He provided special need families, migrant worker’s families, injured athletes, and all Taft clergy with complimentary dental care throughout his years of practice.

Additionally, Dr. Ben Dykes invested his expertise and persuasive skills to write curriculum for and to create two year schools of dental hygiene in seven different community colleges throughout California (Taft College, 1993), and encouraged young men and women in Taft to pursue careers in dentistry and dental hygiene. He and his wife, Evelyne, spent a year in Cambodia pursuing their missionary calling. There, they met and “adopted” a local family, the Lim’s. Caught up as Cambodian refugees, the family benefited from Dr. Dykes desire to help them find a better life. He eventually brought the family to the United States and helped them gain U.S. citizenship. Each of the Lim’s children completed college. Ben Dykes concluded his professional years serving the Miwuk Indians in Jackson, California.

Dr. Ben Dykes was a man of great integrity and character who embraced science and faith, public leadership and service. He was held in highest esteem by family, friends, and community.

John Tadlock Howe - Class of 1953

John Howe has spent much of his life investing his time and considerable energy into two community services which have benefitted literally thousands of adults (Kiwanians) and children (Skylake Yosemite Camp). A graduate of Menlo College, John became involved in Kiwanian community service in Palo Alto in 1967 and for 43 years he has attended and invested his time and efforts into its various community activities. He never missed a meeting. Today, he is a member of its “Wall of Fame” located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Professionally, John created, owned and directed Skylake Yosemite Camp, a summer hiatus location for children (ages 7-16) set on Bass Lake. For 38 years, this was the summer beacon that set young people into motion, motivating them to return again and again as they grew up. The return rate for Skylake was 70%, a figure that is nearly one third higher than the national average for summer camps and one that endorses the skills and acumen, both personal and business, that John brought to this venture.

Anyone familiar with the Westside’s Camp Condor recognizes the challenge any summer camping organization faces in attracting young people, much less persuading them to return again and again. The American Camping Association (7,000 members), annually tracks 2500 camps which serve 12 million youth and represents the nation’s highest level of professional oversight and review of the camping experience. John served as President, ACA, for three years bringing his leadership qualities into play and giving him opportunities to enhance the camping experience for youth throughout the United States. John retired from his work in 1995, his life and his work intimately entwined and extraordinarily productive, and he continues serving Kiwanis at every level.

lee Roy Kelley - Class of 1960

Lee Roy Kelley turned his love affair with fast cars into an impressive career in the publishing business. In 1967, with a nudge from his wife, Judy, he sought and gained an associate editor position with Popular Hot Rodding Magazine. His writing talent led to editorial positions and later, the responsibility for developing and acquiring new acquisition opportunities for Petersen Publishing, a billion-dollar publishing conglomerate.

Petersen Publishing was sold in 1996, and Lee Roy remained with the new owners to help take the company public before it was sold again. He retired in 1999, then took up other publishing challenges until he retired again, for good, in 2005.
During his career, Lee Roy was editor of Hot Rod Magazine, and later vice-president of Motor Trend and Sport Magazines. Throughout his career, names familiar to racing fans…Don Garlits, Andy Granatelli, Richard Petty, Jackie Stewart…were part of Lee Roy’s personal and working circle of relationships. He traveled around the world covering and sometimes participating in automotive races and new car introduction. “It was quite a heady experience…driving the tires off almost every high performance car in the world-from Cobras to Corvettes, Porsches to Vipers, Mini Coopers to Ferraris” he wrote in the mini-yearbook for his 50th high school reunion.

“I thanked my lucky stars for the education I had received from my teachers, first in Texas and later at TUHS and Taft College. One person who shall always stand at the head of that class is Miss Bartell’s. Her encouragement carried me through many a rough spot, and I’ll forever cherish her kindness, wisdom, and, yes, her kick-ass attitude when needed.”

Larry Peahl - Class of 1953

It is a challenge for every Taft observer of the community to find an event, a moment, a monument or a committee that has not benefited from the expertise and energies of Larry Peahl. A member of the Class of 1953, those who were around the high school scene remember his combo including member Tom Stevens that closed many a Saturday night dance evening. He served Taft College as Student Body President; graced the UC Berkeley campus with his thoughtful maturation as a mathematics major; building his expertise with an M.A. in math from San Jose State, he taught over thirty years of Taft College students how to appreciate an abstraction that could satisfy the need for the physical: math.

If one needed an administrative business manager (Taft College), one found Larry; if the need was to coach track, Larry filled the position; would the community like a museum to testify to its history, then Larry surveyed the land, served as president and transcribed more than 500 of Edith Dane’s, Kernland Tales, creating digital memories that will serve many generations. In several Oildorado productions, he was a key player; he continues to serve on the Taft College Foundation Board; Larry was a founding member and the first president of the TUHS Hall of Fame Committee; he has produced two books, A History of Early Taft California (with Pete Gianopulos), 2000, and recently published Taft and the West Side: A Collection of Historical Photographs. He also produced maps for a book on the history of the Chinese in Kern County.

To our benefit, he continues to grace our lives with his quiet expertise and his penchant for saying “yes” to those who ask him for assistance.

Tracy Rodgers - Class of 1985

Athleticism arrives in many packages. Tracy Rogers’ came with a large dose of talent, an abundance of commitment and a reservoir of humility which he carried throughout his football career. At every level of the sport, he thrived: All-Area linebacker in Wildcat football; team captain and All-Central Valley Conference at Taft College; Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Fresno State, a season in which he set a new team record for defensive scoring, led the team in solo and total tackles and was named by Sporting News Magazine as National Defensive Player of the Week.

His coaches, beginning with his father, Ronnie Rogers and continuing through his career with Al Baldock, Jim Sweeney, Marty Schottenheimer and Bill Cowher, found Tracy’s intensive and aggressive commitment to his sport ideal for the success he found at every level. He was coachable, positive, mature and unselfish and a committed member to his TEAM. He wanted to become the best football player he could be, and he did. Drafted in the Seventh Round by the Houston Oilers, he was later signed by the Kansas City Chiefs where he played for seven years before injuries and surgeries led to his football retirement in 1997.

Tracy returned to Taft and with his father and Charlie Comfort, founded TRC, an independent oil-producing company and has become deeply involved in community activities, sponsoring Little League programs, and contributing to various Oildorado projects, including serving as one of the Oil Workers’ Monument sponsors. Recognized as an outstanding person of great integrity, he has attracted recognition as an athlete at every level of football. Tracy Rogers is a member of the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame and the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame.

Milton (Milt) D. stark - Class of 1950

Milt Stark, class of 1950, served in the U.S. Air Force, graduated from Taft College (1956) and Whittier College (1958). He then spent 30 years teaching English and coaching at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, California. Through years of military, collegiate and recreational competition, Milt began to compile one of the most powerful résumés in the history of fast-pitch softball. He caught Taft’s legendary Les Haney; he played for 10 years with the Long Beach (CA) Nitehawks as that team won three world championships; he was named twice to the International Softball Congress All-World Teams, and he was inducted into the ISC Hall of Fame in 1981.

As he pursued his passion for his sport on the field, Milt moved quietly into responsible organizational responsibilities within the ISC, which culminated with his appointment as Executive Director in 1982, a post he held for 20 years.

He spent that time reviving fast-pitch softball throughout the United States, reaching out to leagues in Canada and bringing them into the ISC World Tournament. Subsequently, he incorporated programs in New Zealand, Guatemala and South American countries into the ISC and brought them into its annual competitions. He designed, wrote and edited the World Tournament Guide, the ISC Official Annual Publication.

As a sportswriter, Milt was a featured correspondent for the Whittier Daily News for 10 years, wrote for various softball publications and edited Bob Otto’s We Play It Fast (2011). In Bob Otto’s view, Milt was an excellent defensive catcher, one with a rifle arm who knew his pitchers’ strengths and capitalized on hitters’ weaknesses…the mark of a great catcher. Milt is a member of the City of Long Beach Baseball/Softball Hall of Fame (2007).

Richard (Dick) Walsh - Class of 1956

Dick Walsh, born and raised in Taft, flourished in the school’s athletic programs, becoming a member of the Wildcats 1956 Valley Basketball Championship team and earning All-Conference honors while playing for Taft College. After graduating from University of Pacific in 1961, he coached high school basketball for several years, then took the position of head coach for Ohlone Community College where he both created its first team despite the absence of a gymnasium, and established a highly competitive basketball program.

As a community college without facilities and one confined to recruiting from just seven designated high schools, Ohlone seemed to be asking for a magician to serve as its basketball coach. They got one. With commitment, persistence and skill, Walsh enjoyed success at Ohlone, so much so that in 1981 he was hired by New Zealand to prepare its men and women’s basketball teams for the World Games. While doing that he also helped develop the New Zealand Professional Basketball League.

In essence, Dick brought basketball to New Zealand, in both its northern and southern islands, and he helped the country develop its first professional basketball league. The following year, he returned to Ohlone. He became tennis coach and won a Coast Conference Championship while he continued to build the basketball program. In 1985, he took his team to the State Tournament. He was recognized by his peers as Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 1993.

Dick and his wife of 34 years, Josie, now live in Palm Springs where they enjoy visits from their four children and five grand-children. In 2012, Dick was inducted into the California Community Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.