- Publish date:
Who & Where
1 Pebble Beach
The seaside golf course near Carmel has been the site of U.S.
Open heroics by Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods.
HOT SPOT
2 Stanford University
The alma mater of John Elway, Tiger Woods and Mike Mussina has
the worst mascot in the country--a tree--but consistently
excellent sports teams. The Palo Alto school has won 10
consecutive Directors' Cups for having the nation's best Division
I athletic program.
3 Barry Bonds
The Giants outfielder from San Mateo is a six-time MVP and is
third on the alltime home run list.
4 Mavericks
Its contest for big-wave surfers is held at Half Moon Bay.
5 Jason Kidd
The Nets point guard grew up in Alameda and went to Cal.
6 Gary Payton
The nine-time All-Star guard, now with the Lakers, is from
Oakland.
7 Rickey Henderson
Baseball's alltime leader in walks, runs and steals grew up in
Oakland.
8 Cal
The Golden Bears from Berkeley won their 20th national rugby
title this year, beating Cal Poly.
9 Randy Johnson
The five-time Cy Young-winning southpaw was born in Walnut Creek
and went to USC.
10 De La Salle
The Catholic high school in Concord has a national-record
151-game football winning streak.
11 Redwood Empire Ice Arena
Also known as Snoopy's Home Ice, the Santa Rosa community rink
was built by Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts,
in 1969.
12 Tom Seaver
The three-time Cy Young winner from Fresno is now a Mets
broadcaster.
13 Squaw Valley
This was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
14 Badwater Ultramarathon
The 135-mile race goes from the depths of Death Valley to the
Whitney Portals at 8,360 feet.
15 Karch Kiraly
The volleyball god from Santa Barbara led UCLA to three national
titles.
16 Marion Jones
The Olympic sprint champ went to high school in Thousand Oaks.
17 John Elway
The Granada Hills native, Stanford grad and retired Broncos star
will enter the NFL Hall of Fame on Aug. 8.
18 Pepperdine
The school with the ocean view hosted the Superstars competition
in the '70s and Olympic water polo in 1984.
19 UCLA
The Westwood school has won a record 94 national team titles.
20 USC
The Trojans have 21 Rose Bowl victories, the most by any school
in a single bowl.
21 Oscar De La Hoya
The East Los Angeles native has won professional boxing titles in
six weight classes.
22 Nomar Garciaparra
The Red Sox' two-time AL batting champion went to high school in
Bellflower.
23 Lakewood
The city of 83,000, which also celebrates its 50th anniversary
this year, is the state's SI Sportstown for having the best
community sports programs.
24 Tony Gwynn
The winner of eight National League batting titles is from Long
Beach and coaches at San Diego State, his alma mater.
25 Diana Taurasi
The guard from Chino led UConn to three NCAA titles.
26 Tony Gonzalez
The Chiefs' five-time All-Pro tight end, a Cal alum, is from
Huntington Beach.
27 The Wedge
This spot near Newport Beach has America's toughest bodysurfing
waves.
28 Junior Seau
The Dolphins linebacker from Oceanside is a 12-time Pro Bowler.
29 Bill Walton
The ABC broadcaster and 1978 NBA MVP is from La Mesa and was a
three-time college player of the year at UCLA.
30 Ricky Williams
The Dolphins running back is from San Diego.
31 Tony Hawk
The skateboarding icon from San Diego bought his first house with
pro earnings while a senior at Torrey Pines High.
COLOR PHOTO: GONZALESPHOTO.COM (HOT SPOT)
COLOR MAP: MAP ILLUSTRATION BY JOE ZEFF SACRAMENTO
