The Arcata Tigers will celebrate homecoming this week and the festivities will include inducting the newest members of the school’s athletics hall of fame class.

This year’s inductees include Gretchen Melendy Curry (class of 1983), Mike Puzz (1985), Jim Hogan (1985), the 1984/85 wrestling team and the 1966/67 boys basketball team.

The hall of fame induction ceremony will take place at Arcata High on Thursday, starting at 5 p.m.

Melendy Curry was a three-sport athlete for the Tigers, competing in basketball, softball and tennis.

She was a two-year varsity player in basketball and a three-year varsity player in softball and also played tennis all four years of high school.

She was named all-league in softball in her junior and senior years and teamed with Laura Gearheart to win the H-DNL doubles tennis championship in 1982.

She was also the recipient of the Evelyn Fielding Shield as the school’s outstanding female senior athlete in 1983.

Melendy Curry would go on to compete for College of the Redwoods in basketball, where she was the team’s starting point guard for two years, as well as softball, where she was an all-conference outfielder in 1984 and 1985.

Puzz, meanwhile, played four years of football for the Tigers, including two at the varsity level, and he also wrestled for all four years of high school.

It was on the mats that Puzz really left his mark for the Tigers.

He was a three-time H-DNL champion (1983 to 1985) and a three-time North Coast Section placer, and he finished his high school career with an impressive record of 120-20-1.

He was part of an Arcata team that placed either first or second in NCS all four years he competed, including the NCS championship teams of 1982 and 1985.

He would go on to wrestle for Humboldt State (now Cal Poly Humboldt) where he led the Lumberjacks in wins in his freshman and senior years and qualified for the NCAA Division-II Nationals twice.

Hogan, meanwhile, competed in football, basketball and baseball for the Tigers.

The 1985 graduate played two years of varsity football and was an all-league selection in 1983 and 1984.

He also played two years of varsity basketball and was named to the AIBT all-tourney team in 1984, as well as three years of varsity baseball, earning an all-league honorable mention as a senior.

After playing one year of football at CR he would go on to work for the NHUHSD for 24 years and was honored as Humboldt County Classified Employee of the year in 2023.

The 1984/85 wrestling team dominated the rest of the H-DNL and left its mark well beyond the Redwood Curtain.

The Tigers placed first at the Del Norte, McKinleyville, Fortuna, Brookings and Arcata-Rotary Tournaments, as well second at the Woodland Tournament.  

They won all six of their league matches by a combined score of 389-43 and went on to place first at the NCS Championships, winning by an impressive by 33.5 points.

That year, Arcata had five individuals qualify for the CIF State Championships, including Puzz, Kevin Day, Richard England, Ron Perry and Paul Wienecke.

The 1966/67 basketball team, meanwhile, went 12-0 on the way to a league championship, which was the program’s third straight.

That year’s Tigers team was part of a program that won a record 35 consecutive league games between 1965 and 1968.