Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame inducts Class of 2024

Brian Sabean, nearly 30 years after arriving here, was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame alongside Patrick Marleau, John Taylor, Jenny Thompson and Chris Wondolowski.

Six months after Patrick Marleau entered the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame – alongside Wondolowski – he joined Owen Nolan (2014) as the only shark in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame . He was drafted No. 2 overall in 1997, and his No. 12 jersey was retired last year by the Sharks, for whom he played three stints.

Chris Wondolowski, 41, is the first San Jose Earthquakes player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is also the only member of this year’s class to hail from the Bay Area (Danville) and continue to reside here.

John Taylor is perhaps best known for his last-minute Super Bowl-winning touchdown run for the 1988 49ers; he won the Super Bowl three times and made the Pro Bowl twice.

The morning of her BASHOF induction, Jenny Thompson returned to Stanford for a 5:30 a.m. swim. “It really reminded me of working hard and then seeing the sun come up and the beauty of it all,” said Thompson, who won 19 individual and relay titles during his career at Stanford from 1991 to 1995 and then won 12 Olympic medals. , eight gold.

Text by Cam Inman; see the full story here.