Yes Kiddman32, St. Liz had very strong teams back then. Always one of the top 4 teams in the CAL in the mid 80s. My father graduated from there in the 60s when they were a powerhouse in all sports. Dave Stewart (Oakland A's) is an alum and was an All American in baseball AND football at St. Liz. Unfortunately, they ran into financial issues the past few decades. My father was very involved in raising money for them. Good news is that the school is now Cristo Rey De La Salle East Bay High School.
I'm a Salesians '86 grad. If you're from the Salesians' community, you refer to the school with the "s" at the end. The formal name of the order is Salesians of Don Bosco. Even kids from the Richmond area call it "Salesians." The school was once a seminary and the name stuck.
You're right regarding hoops @ Salesians. However, we would have been a great squad if David "Air" Barksdale (Bay Area hoop legend) and Mike Rodriquez would have stayed their senior years. They were the starting PF and SF on the NorCal Champions/NCS Runner-up De Anza Dons (30-4) in '87. Salesians was very strong in baseball and football as you probably remember. I played on both squads that had to deal with rise of the DLS Spartans. They won their first NCS baseball title in '85, and they beat us for the CAL baseball championship in '85 and '86. We were the CAL football power for decades until the late 80s. We beat DLS in 1983 and played them tough my senior year. There is a whole chapter that tells the story about this intense rivalry in their book "When the Game Stands Tall." We're 3-3 against them lifetime.
Are you sure about DLS being low-level in the 80s in hoops? They had Scooter and Jon Barry (Rick's sons) as well as Mike Vontoure back then. They won the CAL in '86 and lost to Gary Payton's/Greg Foster's Skyline Titans in NorCals.
