Santa Barbara High School 13th Annnual Wall of Fame awards
The 13th annual Santa Barbara High School’s Alumni Associations “Wall of Fame” induction will take place at 1:00 P.M. in the high school theater. This year 5 alumni will join the 55 plus Wall of Fame Recipients already honored with their pictures on wall in the main hall.
Ceremony March 14th
This year’s recipients are:
Ward Kimball ’32 Jack Hufford ‘51
John Campilio ’53 Stephen Benton ‘59
Bill Oliphant ‘64
Complete Biographies are attached of the 2014 recipients.
Some of the more notable past recipients are:
Martha Graham ‘13, Ernie Zampese ’54, Jeff Shelton ’76, Charles Ott Jr ’37, Peter Jordano ’52, Sam Cunningham ’69, Keith Jamaal Wilkes ’70, Bill Crow ’32, Marshall Rose ’62, Randall Cunningham ’81, Gary Hart ’61, Bob Kallman ’44, John Northrop ’13, Charles Schwab ’55, Eddie Mathews ’49, Ron Shelton ’63, Jessie Orosco ’76, Donnie Yee ’50, Lynn Kern Kogel ’73 and Taylor Hackford ’63. Paula Lopez ’81, George Burtness ’49, Dr. Erno Daniel ‘64, Leon Litwack ‘47
Ceremony will start at 1:00 pm in the Auditorium
There will be a short reception and photo session following the induction ceremony in the SBHS Alumni Room.
For more information contact: Tim Putz, 805.570.9251 or tpputz@cox.net
2014 Wall of Fame Recipients
Ward Kimball – Class of 1932
Ward Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney’s team of animators known as Disney’s Nine Old Men. Kimball created several classic Disney characters including Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland; and Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio. He also animated the famous “Three Caballeros” musical number from the Disney film of the same name. Ward was an avid railway enthusiast and donated his 3 ft (914 mm) gauge collection to the Orange Empire Railway Museum ( A full-size steam locomotive, which Kimball ran on his private 3-acre (12,000 m2) backyard railroad known as “Grizzly Flats Railroad” in San Gabriel, California, bears some of his original artwork on the headlamp and cab, and is on permanent display at the museum.[Kimball is credited with helping Walt Disney for the inspiration to install the Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland. In 2005, the Disneyland Railroad named their newly acquired Engine No5 the “Ward Kimball” in his memory. Kimball was also a jazz trombonist. He founded and led the seven-piece Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, in which he played trombone. Ward passed away in 2002.
Jack Hufford – Class of 1951
Jack Hufford graduated in the year of 1951 who was also named Sportsman of the month by The Santa Barbara Round Table. Mr. Jack Hufford has dedicated his time and also demonstrated his loyalty to Santa Barbara High School in a variety of ways. He is famous for getting food donated for senior graduation rehearsals every year, getting money donated for various groups on campus, was instrumental in the facade restoration, as well as a variety of other projects on campus including the school flags that fly above the JR Richard Gym. He also worked on installing a scoreboard at the Dos Pueblos High School Baseball Field. The latest work Hufford has done was laying down a new sod on the infield at Bishop Diego High School.
John Campilio – Class of 1953
John Campilio, a distinguished alumni class of 1953, was Class president during his sophomore and junior years and ASB president while at SBHS. He received the Naval ROTC scholarship and attended Notre Dame in 1953-1957. He served in the US NAVY for three years from 1957-1960. Afterwards he pursued his education at UCSB where he earned a MA in English and his Secondary Teaching Credential. He was a high school teacher from 1963-1978. Today he is a Property Manager and has been since 1980. Campilio is a major fan of SBHS baseball and is also a part of Ye Ole Gang Dons Athletic Boosters. One major project he worked on was the SBHS Veteran’s Memorial. Also, in 2005 he was a major supporter in obtaining the Historical Landmark status for SBHS. Outside in the community he is an advocate for the Salvation Army and Rescue Mission. He is a Past President of the Alumni Association. He started the Michelle Humboldt Scholarship and the honorary John Pasquotto Scholarship Funds and is a contributor of the Class ’53 Scholarship. He says SBHS was the happiest time of his life.
Stephen Benton – Class of 1959
Steve, was a top student at SBHS, and soon distinguished himself as a budding scientist, very interested in the field of engineering in particular. His sophomore year, Steve was a member of the Latin club as well as the theatre sound crew. Steve was an important member of the Science and Radio clubs all three years, serving as a president of the radio club his senior year. A member of the Scholarship society his sophomore and senior years (the equivalent to being an NSF and CSF student today), he was a national academic seal bearer. As a senior Steve was a winner of the 18th annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search (known today as the (Intel Science Talent Search). This was an extremely high honor for the time as he was chosen from among a national group of thousands of students. Stephen attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1963 with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. During this time Steve began to focus on photographic and optical research, working with renowned stroboscopy professor Harold Eugene Edgerton as well as Polaroid corp. Steve completed his M.S in 1964, and Ph.D in 1968 both from Harvard University. Benton taught classes in media arts and sciences at M.I.T. and served as director for the M.I.T. center for advanced visual studies. Through his work, he held 14 patents in optical physics and photography. The foil hologram security measures used on all major credit cards are typically known, in his honor, as Benton holograms. Though Stephen Benton is perhaps best known for his invention of the rainbow hologram, his landmark work in both fine arts holography and medical imaging was world-renowned. Benton passed away on November 9th 2003 and is survived by his wife, son and daughter, and two brothers.
Bill Oliphant – Class of 1964
You could say that Coach Bill Oliphant, the frosh/soph baseball coach, is a “Don” in every sense of the word. Both of his parents attended SBHS and he graduated from SBHS in 1964. He played both basketball and baseball for the Dons. While attending SBCC, he took a chance when a friend (Coach Warrecker) asked him if he would be interested in helping out at Dolores School, Notre Dame School. From there, his career in baseball was a home run! Soon, Coach Warrecker was named head coach at SBHS and Coach Oliphant was there to help as the JV Baseball Coach and Frosh Ass’t Football Coach. He then concentrated on baseball, moving to the Frosh-Soph level for the last 20 years or so. He came back to SBHS for good in 1991 to teach history and a leadership class. He had been teaching for 35 great years when the district offered him an early retirement. Taking early retirement was one of the hardest decisions that he has ever had to make. The good thing is he still GETS to coach. Coaching has never been a job to him, he loves it and always will. Highlights in his career include: Standing on the foul line at Dodger Stadium in 2000 with the Varsity in the CIF finals. Running into former players who have gone to other pursuits who greet him and bring up some great times that he had as a coach and teacher. He says, “There is no better feeling, believe me. Coach has a great sound to it. The junior varsity baseball field, which sits adjacent to the Santa Barbara Junior High campus, is used by the Dons for practice has just been named Oliphant Field.
