I wrote this, Palo Alto Mayor and Gunn grad Yiaway Yeh approved it, yet it somehow never found its way from electronic media to official parchment and presentation. (And thanks to Emmie and Julie for their comments and commitments: their kids! Wow! Mazel!)

And thanks to current Mayor Nancy Shepherd — mother of four who went to PAUSD schools but not Titanicly — for her recent pep talk for Chris Horpel’s current grapplers. It was fun watching 50 kids fall to the matt on cue and then pop up ready to roar.

Whereas, The Gunn High School wrestling team on February 11, 2012 grappled with, captured, pinned down and achieved, the team championship at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League meet, a contest comprising 15 schools, including Gunn and Palo Alto.

Whereas, Coach Chris Horpel’s grapplers that day notched one individual first, one second, six thirds, three fourths and one sixth-place finishes, enough to earn the overall win in a true Titan team effort, with 195.50 points.

In the regular dual meet season, Gunn tied for first with a 5-1 mark, its only loss to rival Palo Alto (who placed fourth overall at the finals meet), and finished 8-1 overall.

Standouts wrestlers for Gunn included Cadence Lee, Daniel Papp, Ian Cramer, his brother Eric Cramer, Julian Calderon, Casey Jackson, Marco Lopez-Mendoza, James Foy, Chris Jin, Sean Lydster, JJ Strnad, Harsha Mokkarala, — the League meet point winners — and Lucas Munro and Miko Mallari, and Stephen Martin, Aaron Davis, Tavor Baharav, James Perng, Michael Abramovitch, Derek Lai, Tommy Farley and Jessica Sun;

Whereas, the results all together constituted perhaps the greatest season in Gunn’s illustrious history, and the first league title since 1976, when under coach Bill Sperry Gunn won five consecutive titles in the SPAL.

The individual girls CCS championship also won by Cadence Lee, daughter of Gunn grad Dr. Emmie Fa, her second in two seasons, also put her in an elite class of Gunn CCS champion and State meet wrestlers, including Dwight Miller 1973 and 1974, and State placer Floyd Williams in 1976, CCS champs Dan Gebben in 1979, Zach Blumenfeld in 2009 and
Stefan Weidemann in 2011.

Chris Jin, senior wrestler and MVP at 145 pounds won the Titans only individual league championship while amassing a glorious streak of 29 wins to 4 defeats.

And whereas, for coach Chris Horpel, in his tenth Gunn season, after a previous stellar collegiate coaching tenure at Stanford University and UCLA, the championship is testimony to his vision, persistence, meticulousness and inspirational qualities,
and his leadership and mentoring of assistant coaches and alumni Kiyoshi Kawano, Jonas Haro, Tom Glenn and Derek Austin; and in consort with colleagues Sarah Stapp, athletic director, Tom Jacoubowsky, assistant principal and Katya Villalobos, Gunn Principal;

I (Yiaway Yeh), the first Titan graduate to issue such, do hereby declare this Mayoral Proclamation in honor of the Gunn wrestling championships of 2012.

Here is link to Butch Garcia photo of Nancy and I with Chris and principal Denise Herrman and the team.