Santa Ana Inducts Six in its 2017 Athletic Hall of Fame Class
On Sunday, October 1st the 2017 Santa Ana College Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held on the steps of Bill Cook Gym.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Five individuals and one team were inducted into the Santa Ana College Athletic Hall of Fame on Sunday, Oct. 1st.
The 2017 Santa Ana College Athletic Hall of Fame class includes Ed Amelung (Baseball), Kenny Ammann (Men's Basketball), Ruben Gonzalez (Baseball), Stephanie (Patten) Milne (Women's Basketball), Tony Gleason (Men's Swimming) and the 1965 Men's Golf team.
All the 2017 inductees had phenomenal athletic careers at Santa Ana College and truly represent what it means to be a Don.
Ed Amelung:
Ed Amelung was one of the most dominant players in community college baseball while playing for Santa Ana College from 1978-1979.
In his sophomore year, Amelung was named the National Player of the Year in community college baseball, hitting .440 with 10 home runs while leading the Dons to a 26-9 record and a second-place finish in conference play.
Amelung continued his career at San Diego State University where he played for the Aztecs for one season. During that season, he posted a stat line of .269 with five home runs, 44 runs batted in and seven stolen bases, earning All-Conference honors in 1980.
Soon after, Amelung moved on to the professional level, signing as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization where he played for seven years. Amelung had a strong career with Dodger's organization and still holds seven records at the club's Triple-A level.
Kenny Ammann:
Kenny Ammann made an immediate impact when he joined the Santa Ana College Men's Basketball team for the 1987-88 season. During his one season with the Dons, he scored 684 points in 33 games. He currently ranks 8th all-time in single-season point leaders in Santa Ana College history.
Amman would later transfer to Stanford University where he started on the Cardinal NIT Championship Team and was selected to the GTE Academic All-America Second Team.
After a successful playing career, Ammann went into coaching and has had even more success there. He's been the Head Coach at Concordia University – Irvine for the last 17 years, winning two national championships at the NAIA level in 2003 and 2012.
Ruben Gonzalez:
Ruben Gonzalez was a record-breaking machine while playing for the Santa Ana College Baseball team in 1985 and 1986. At the end of his time with Santa Ana, he held 14 different records in both career and single-season categories combined.
He still holds several of those records, including most career runs batted (120) and consecutive hits (13).
In 1985 Gonzalez posted a batting average of .428, with 17 doubles, 11 home runs, and 53 runs batted in. He followed that performance with 15 home runs and 67 runs batted in at an average of .432 during the 1986 season.
Gonzalez was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the MLB draft after the 1986 season but elected to continue his collegiate career at Pepperdine University. He was later drafted again, this time by the Seattle Mariners, where he spent five years playing in the club's minor league teams.
Stephanie Milne:
From 1998 to 2000, Stephanie (Patten) Milne was known as one of the most dangerous scorers in community college women's basketball.
She was honored with numerous awards such as Santa Ana College Most Valuable Player, 1st team All-State and 1st team All-Orange Empire Conference, all while leading the Dons to their first ever Orange Empire Conference Championship during her sophomore season.
Stephanie currently holds career records for most points all-time (1,202) and most rebounds all-time (688) in Santa Ana College Women's Basketball history.
After two years at Santa Ana College, Stephanie earned a scholarship to Azusa Pacific University where she continued to perform at a high level. In her first year as a Cougar, she was tabbed as a NAIA All-American Honorable Mention as well as a Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) 1st Team Honoree. She collected more awards in her senior season, receiving NAIA All-American Third team honors and winning a GSAC Conference Championship.
Tony Gleason:
Tony Gleason raised the bar for the Santa Ana College Men's Swimming program when he competed for the Dons from 1964-1966.
Gleason took six first-place finishes in the Southern California Swimming and Diving Championships in his two years of competition. He also won the state championship in the 400 Individual Medley event in 1966 to go along with two second-place finishes at state in the 100 Butterfly and 200 Individual Medley events.
In 1966 Gleason was named the Santa Ana College Athlete of the Year after breaking eight different men's swimming records, one of which he still owns (100 Butterfly).
He went on to earn a scholarship to USC where he won numerous team medals with the Trojans at the NCAA Division I level, as well as All-American status in the 200 Individual Medley and 400 Freestyle Relay events.
1965 Men's Golf Team:
The Santa Ana College 1965 Men's Golf Team had a historical run to win the school's first and only state championship in the sport.
The team was composed of Rick Divel, Jerry Sheffield, Ray Carrasco, Tom Killeen, Ken Sutherland and Norbert Loehnig and was coached the great Arlin Pirtle, who was inducted into the Santa Ana College Athletic Hall of Fame as an individual in 2006.
In 1965, the Santa Ana College Men's Golf team went undefeated in every tournament they played, marking the first time an Eastern Conference team had ever accomplished the community college's golf grand slam.
