Submitted photos – The 2005 McKinleyville High School baseball team will be inducted in the school’s athletics hall of fame during homecoming festivities this week.

McKinleyville High School is celebrating homecoming this week and those celebrations will include inducting a new athletics hall of fame class.

This year’s class includes Brad Muller (class of 1965), John Jaso (2001), Kaitlinn (Solinsky) Thatcher (2003) and the 2006 baseball team.

The inductees will be honored at the hall of fame reception at the in the school’s multi-purpose room on Thursday night.

The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on the McKinleyville High School athletics Facebook page.

Muller was a four-sport athlete for the Panthers, starring for the school in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.

He played three seasons in football, including two at the varsity level, as well as playing four years of basketball, where he led his team in scoring as a senior.

In baseball, he was named all-league as a senior after a standout year at second base.

After graduation, Muller would go on to serve in the U.S. Army was tragically killed in action in 1968 during the Vietnam War.

Jaso, meanwhile, enjoyed a stellar career in baseball, going on to star in the Major Leagues after playing four years with the Panthers, including three at the varsity level.

As a 10th grader, Jaso tied a California high school record with two home runs in one inning in his very first varsity start. 

As a junior he batted .541, hitting two home runs and driving in 24 runs, and he had an on-base percentage of .674.

Brad Muller

As a high school senior, Jaso paced the Panthers pitching staff with a 1.72 ERA and struck out 45 batters in 40 innings. 

After his time at McKinleyville High School, Jaso attended Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista and earned team MVP honors in 2003. 

After college, he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 12th round of the MLB draft and  made his major league debut in September 2008.

He would go on to play for four different MLB teams over nine seasons, including catching Felix Hernandez’s perfect game as a member of the Seattle Mariners.

As a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the former Mack Panther became the first player to hit for the cycle in the history of PNC Park.

Jaso retired from MLB following the 2017 season.

Thatcher, meanwhile, played basketball and softball for the Panthers, competing in four seasons in each sport. 

Thatcher was an all-league selection during her senior year and was voted Most Inspirational by her teammates during her junior year. 

In basketball, Thatcher played two seasons at the varsity level and was a two-time team MVP, as well as earning two all-league selections and league MVP honors in her senior year.

Thatcher continued her basketball playing career at College of the Redwoods, where she earned Golden Valley Conference Honorable Mention honors following the 2005-06 season and first team all-conference honors as a sophomore.

She was also named to the all-state team as a sophomore and still holds the single-season scoring record at CR and is second all-time in career points scored.

The 2006 Baseball team, meanwhile, overcome a slow start to the season before catching fire.

The Panthers started off with three losses and played .500 baseball through much of the first two months of the season. 

However, after dropping to 7-8 following a doubleheader sweep by Del Norte, the Panthers went on to win five of their last six games and finished second in the Big 5, earning the No. 4 seed for the North Coast Section 2A Redwood Empire playoffs.

They faced Big 5 champion Arcata in the section semifinals and prevailed by a score of 7-6 on Bailey Mason’s two-out, walk-off base hit to advance to the championship game against Healdsburg.

In the final, McKinleyville would overcome an early four-run deficit, scoring eight unanswered runs on the way to beating Healdsburg 9-7 and earning the first NCS baseball championship for MHS since 1995. 

Tom Jaso, Nick Rasines and Justin Lankila were named all-league that season, while Mason, Andrew Hanger and Tim Moore each received an honorable mention.

The 2024 hall of fame inductees will also serve as the Grand Marshals for Friday’s homecoming parade, which begins at 12:35 p.m. 

They will also will be introduced to the crowd at Friday night’s homecoming game prior to kickoff at 7:15 p.m.