Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Troy Ghisetti

Legendary Arcata High baseball and golf coach Troy Ghisetti is one of four individuals who will be inducted into the Arcata High Athletic Hall of Fame this week.

Legendary local youth sports coach Carlos Avelar is also among the class of inductees, along with Stephanie McKinney Williams, Allan Schmidt and the 1972 Tigers baseball team, which included five players who would go on to play pro baseball. 

The induction ceremony will take place on Thursday evening on campus in the Fine Arts Building, with a social hour beginning at 5 p.m. before the ceremony at 6.

Ghisetti, who graduated from Arcata High in 1986, was a three-sport athlete during his time as a Tigers student-athlete, competing in cross country, soccer and baseball, and receiving all-league honors in the latter during his senior year.

He would go on to play baseball at College at the Redwoods for two years.

Ghisetti has taught at Arcata High for the past 29 years and coached four different sports at the school, including JV volleyball and JV girls basketball, as well as serving as Athletic Director for 14 years.

He has won 15 league titles at the varsity level, six with the girls golf team and nine with the baseball team.

He also has led his teams to five North Coast Section championships, one in girls golf (2010) and four during his 30 years in charge of the baseball team (2016, 2019, 2023, 2025).

He was named Humboldt Sports High School Coach of the Year in 2023.

McKinney Williams also graduated from Arcata in 1986, winning the 1986 Evelyn Fielding Shield award that goes to the best senior female athlete at the school.

She played volleyball and softball for the Tigers for four years, earning all-league honors three times in softball and twice in volleyball.

McKinney Williams was a part of three consecutive league championship teams in softball, including the 1985 team, which was previously inducted into the school hall of fame.

Submitted photo – The 1972 Arcata High baseball team

Submitted photo – Carlos Avelar

She would go on to play one year of college volleyball at Humboldt State (now Cal Poly Humboldt) and now lives in Wyoming.

Schmidt, meanwhile, was a four-sport letterman with the Tigers, competing in football, basketball, baseball and track and field before graduating in 1982.

In his junior year, Schmidt helped lead the Tigers to a co-league championship on the basketball court, as well as an AIBT championship.

He also qualified for the NCS championships twice in track and field and was an all-league honorable mention in baseball in his senior year.

He would go on to play two years of college football at College of the Redwoods, where he was a member of the 1982 Golden Valley Conference championship team,

After college, Schmidt taught at Sunny Brae Middle School for six years and for 23 years at Arcata High, during which time he also coached football and basketball for the Tigers.

Avelar, who graduated from Arcata High in 1972, rounds out the class of individuals who will be inducted this week.

The legendary local youth sports coach was instrumental in starting recreational soccer in Humboldt County and coached various levels of youth soccer from 1972-2015.

Submitted photo – Allan Schmidt

Submitted photo – Stephanie McKinney Williams

Avelar also has coached youth basketball through Arcata Parks and Rec from the early 1980s until 1999, and since then he has coached eighth grade boys basketball at Sunny Brae Middle School, as well as coaching local AAU Basketball .

He also previously coached eighth girls basketball for 10 years at four different schools, and since 2014 has been the organizer and assignor for the Junior High Bay League Basketball Referees.

But Avelar is perhaps best known for his 52 years (and counting) of service to local Little League in both Arcata and McKinleyville.

The 1972 Arcata High baseball team, meanwhile, finished that season with an overall record of 22-5, including a perfect 10-0 run through league, and outscored its opponents 114-18.

The head coach of the team was Dennis Pontoni and the roster included Bob Annis, Dave Aronson, Rich Dickerson, Tim Dickinson, Mike Dolf, Roger Hawkins, Marc Hennessy, Chris Hutton, Garth Iorg, Greg Kane, Jeff McFarland, Doug McLean, Ed Ouelette, Steve Reese, Dave Tomini, Paul Tomini, Steve Van Deren, Bob Weatherbee, Novie Willis.

Iorg, a local legend in the sport, would go on to play eight years in the Majors with the Toronto Blue Jays, while four of his Arcata teammates — Kane, Dolf, Van Deren and Paul Tomini — each also played professional ball in the minors.