Sports Hall Snubs Vicki Draves
December 9, 2005
Filipino American Victoria Manalo Draves was snubbed yet again by the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (BASHOF), excluding her for the 15th year in a row.
The group’s 2006 list of inductees is all male and all white: Chris Mullin (basketball), Ted Hendricks (football), Payton Jordan (track and field) and Dick Gould (tennis). Unlike Draves, none of them were born or raised in San Francisco.
Daly City resident Fred Basconcillo believed that this was finally the year that Bay Area sports fans would acknowledge Draves for winning two gold medals in diving at the 1948 London Olympics.
In early May, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission named its newest park (in the South of Market district) after Victoria Manalo Draves, the first park named after a Filipino American in the United States.
Later that month, Mayor Gavin Newsom and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations co-sponsored a City Hall event honoring Vicki, 80, and her husband, Lyle, 92. Vicki was also the commencement speaker at City College’s graduation ceremonies, where she was proclaimed Most Outstanding Alumna of 2005.
In July, Mayor Newsom sent a letter to BASHOF chair Lou Spadia, former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, enthusiastically endorsing the nomination of Draves to the 2006 Hall of Fame. He pointed out that Draves was already inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and that this would also honor women and Asian Americans.
Basconcillo believes that it isn’t only racism that has kept Vicki’s name off the list, it’s also money.
When Basconcillo submitted Vicki’s name this year, he was invited to join the group’s golf tournament, and to attend the annual BASHOF banquet for $2,500 a pop. As he could not afford the ticket, he declined the invitation.
He did learn from a sports reporter, however, that a relatively unknown former 49er player named Dick Bass made it to the 2005 list after a sister bought a table at the annual banquet.
When asked by a Filipino television reporter why Vicki has not been included in the BASHOF list, Lou Spadia responded, “The bronze statues awarded to the winners cost a lot of money.”
Perhaps BASHOF should be changed to BASHOS, from Fame to Shame. Or at least BASHOF should put its induction nomination list on eBay.
ReachRodel at Rodel50@aol.com.
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