Local athletes going into Prep Hall of Fame

The 36th annual San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame award banquet in May will feature top athletes from local schools.

From the Richmond District, Michael Gridley will be inducted. He was a football and track and field athlete at George Washington High School (1958-1961) and an all-city member of the 1960 Washington High School championship football team.

Also, long-time coach, official and interim commissioner of the AAA, Fred Quinn, will take a bow for his many years of service to the student athletes of the City (1958-2003). He lives in the Sunset District, as does Gilbert Haskell, a St. Ignatius graduate who is being inducted for coaching at St. Ignatius and Archbishop Riordan (1966-1977).

Other honorees include Levy Middlebrooks, a basketball standout at St. Ignatius (1980-1984); Helen Nazar-Bishop, a top tennis player at Lowell (1978-1982); Michael Cunnie, a football and track and field athlete at Riordan (1965-1969); and, Francois Wise, a basketball player at Balboa High School (1973-1976).

Also noteworthy is the posthumous induction of Thelma Williams, a youth baseball coach who “seemed to have mentored everyone who played baseball in their youth.”

The Prep Hall of Fame event will be held at the Patio Español Restaurant, located at 2850 Alemany Blvd., on Saturday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. Tickets cost $60 per person. For more information, call Gary at (415) 260-8027.

Great Blue Herons return to Golden Gate Park

For the 25th consecutive year, the Great Blue Herons have returned to Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. They currently occupy five nests.

The herons first arrived in 1993 and constructed one nest. Last year, five nests were successful and produced 14 chicks.

To date, 194 chicks have learned to fly at Stow Lake.

Starting April 14 and running until June 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the non-profit organization San Francisco Nature Education will conduct its annual free program for adults and children – the Heron Watch. Volunteers equipped with high-powered spotting scopes will show the herons and their chicks and explain heron behavior.

As well, experts will lead nature walks every Saturday from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. around Strawberry Hill. The walk costs $10 for adults and children romp for free.

To witness the herons nesting, follow signs at the Stow Lake Boathouse or download a map at www.sfnature.org. For more information, call (415) 205-0776 or e-mail info@sfnature.org.

Assemblyman names Woman of the Year

Joan Messing Graff has been named the “woman of the year” by Assemblyman Phil Ting.

Graff is a civil rights attorney who has been fighting a”half century-long fight for equality and economic justice in the workplace.”

“I am deeply honored to be selected for this award by Assemblymember Ting, and accept the award on behalf of my organization, Legal Aid at Work,” said Graff. “Our clients – low-wage workers from oppressed communities – are the victims of sexual harassment, disability discrimination, wage theft and threats of deportation.

Assemblyman Phil Ting and Joan Messing Graff

In these uncertain economic times, they are often working longer hours for less pay. And they are finding it harder to balance the ever-increasing demands of their jobs with their responsibilities to their loved ones at home.”

Graff received a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1967 and began her legal career working in the general counsel’s office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before founding one of the first nonprofit feminist law offices in the nation devoted to securing equality for women. In 1981, Graff was selected to become the executive director of Legal Aid at Work.

Today, Legal Aid at Work provides free legal services tolow-wage workers, educates workers and the public about their legal rights, prosecutes lawsuits in court, and advocates for changes in the law to protect the working poor. Graff was honored at a ceremony held during Women’s History Month at the state Capitol on March 12.