Profiles - About Alumni for August 2008

Featured Alum: Terry Kassien, Class of 1979

Baseball Team, 1978 National Runner Up, 1979 National 3rd Place

From Alumni Outreach Director Barbara Claybaugh: I had the pleasure to meet with Terry on my last visit to California in May, and we shared stories from the “good ole days” and looked at the many pictures he has from the glory days of that winning baseball team. His teammates will be hearing from him as he hopes to bring them all together for a mini reunion the weekend of October 3-5th as part of the 40th Anniversary Celebration. He has written the following to share with his many YC friends. Enjoy!

Terry says: “Thirty (30!) years have flown by since my freshman year at Yavapai College. I came to YC on a baseball scholarship and had never been to Prescott before. It was quite a change from the beaches of Southern California where I grew up but the YC coach (Rod Soesbe) convinced me that Prescott was the place for me. After all these years how right he was.

Our team was composed of players from all over the United States. We came because of the solid baseball reputation and a great town. Most of us had never been away from home and with Prescott being a sleepy little small town we had lots of time to bond and became a very close team. Our 1978 team won the Conference, State, and District Championships. We moved on the Grand Junction Co. for the Nationals. YC had just won the National title the year before and everyone in Grand Junction knew about YC and Prescott. We played an unbelievable tournament but lost in the National Championship game to Ranger College. We finished #2 in the Country!

My favorite memory of that year has to be the reception the College and City gave us upon our return to Prescott. Our team was pretty down having lost such a meaningful game but to our surprise our team bus was met by a Police escort and drove us through town to a surprise reception at the College! Town’s people, fans, students, faculty, etc met us. What a turn out! I think the Mayor was even there.

The next year was 1979 and again we had a VERY strong team. We won the Conference, State, and District titles. Again, off to Grand Junction. We played great again but finished 3rd in the National Tournament.

Having spent 2 years at YC I look back very fondly of those years. I met many great people and made a lot of friends. The school was very supportive of the athletes and the town really rallied around us. Most of our home games were played in front of large crowds and came out even on the worst weather days. The students always were loud and rowdy. Visiting teams did NOT like coming to Prescott to play YC.

After 30 years of memories I still hold YC and Prescott close to my heart. I look forward to seeing you in October. Go Roughriders!!”

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Darren Gagnon, Biology, 1993-1995

Darren writes: After Yavapai, I transferred to Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Grace is a small Christian Liberal Arts College in northern Indiana, and while there I earned my B. A. in Biology. After I graduated, I had the honor of filling in for Coach Cunningham after he stepped down as the Men and Women’s Assistant Coach at YC during the 1997-1998 season. What a terrific experience to learn the finer points of coaching from Coach Clifford and Coach Carroll, two men that I still admire greatly.

After my year back at YC, I was fortunate enough to marry Stacey Jackson, whom I met while she was playing volleyball at Yavapai. We have now been married 10 years this year (2008) and have two children. Our son Silas is 4 and our daughter Bailey will be 7 in May. After we were married, we moved to Camp Verde, where we have lived ever since.

Currently, I am teaching 6th grade at a small charter school in Camp Verde, and coaching the boy’s Varsity program at Camp Verde High School.

Darren listed three people with positively impacted him while he was at YC - Bob Hoskovec, Dolph Carroll and Vince Fornara. At the time, Bob was the dorm director, and living in Supai Hall. Bob has always been a great guy and a true friend. He was always encouraging and helping all of us poor college students. He really helped make our college experience a fun time. Dolph Carroll also made quite an impression. Even though it has been a lot of years since I last spoke to Coach Carroll, I often remember the fiery-red face, the non-stop #*@&! cursing, the early morning practices (and if I remember right, early morning was about 4am…), and the 6-hour practices. But more than anything, I will always think of Coach Carroll as my 2nd father. He played that role very well, and made me BELIEVE in so much more than basketball. Vince Fornara has become a valued friend over the years, and is someone I look up to…sort of. Even though short of stature, he had a big impact on me while at YC. Vinny was always smiling, and loved to come to the college and get us all fired up and ready to play.

I will never forget the good times I was lucky enough to have with all of the friends and teammates during my time at YC. I still am in contact on a regular basis with so many guys I played with. Our time was truly special. I would like to say ‘thank you’ to YC, and to Coach Clifford, Coach Carroll, Bob Hoskovec, Vince Fornara, and all the other people that invested their time in our lives. Thanks for the good memories.

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Edson Rico and Mate Kozu, 1989-90

Soccer Team members in 1989 and the first NJCAA National Champions, 1990

Edson Rico and Mate Kozu were part of the original soccer recruiting class at Yavapai in 1989 and were on the field for the first of the program's NJCAA National Championships in 1990. They were recently in the news when named Co-Coaches for Soccer by Paradise Valley Community College. Ironically, their team will be our competition on October 4, 2008 as part of our alumni day activities.

Paradise Valley tabs ex-YC players as soccer coaches

Prescott Courier, Wednesday, March 05, 2008

PARADISE VALLEY - Yavapai College has owned the ACCAC arriving on the men's soccer scene in 1989. Maybe the best way to level the playing field is to bring in a couple former Roughriders to go after mighty YC. That is the approach Paradise Valley Community College is taking after hiring Edson Rico and Mate Kozul as co-head coaches on Wednesday. The two were part of the original recruiting class at Yavapai in 1989 and were on the field for the first of the program's six NJCAA National Championships in 1990. They helped produce that result for YC from scratch. As coaches, Rico and Kozul step into a program entering its 10th season. They take over for Timothy Marchisotto. "I think he put descent building blocks in place so we're not starting from zero," Kozul said. "We'll just sort of take where he left off and really build the program and try to make it - we're not trying to compete right away with Yavapai but at least try to be the best JC in the Phoenix metropolitan area."

Rico, 37, ranks as the Yavapai program's all-time leading scorer with 48 goals and 112 points. He entered the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2006. Kozul, 36, was a leading defender for the 'Riders.

Both played professionally in Belgium and various other stops. They reunited as player-coaches for the Arizona Saguaros in the USISL and later to the Tucson Fireballs in the USL.

Most recently, Rico and Kozul were directors for youth soccer in North Scottsdale. Neither hesitates to credit Yavapai coach Mike Pantalione for their success. "He set the format of how to be successful," Kozul said. "How to work as a team and how to structure a team with certain characters as a winning recipe. "We've always looked back to his formula and his formula speaks for itself. He's a guru of soccer and a scientist when it comes to putting players together and putting the winning formula together." That winning formula at Yavapai has translated to six national titles, 17 region crowns and 19 ACCAC championships.

Paradise Valley has never advanced past the region semifinals. The Pumas lost to the 'Riders in this year's playoffs 7-1. They are 1-20-0 all time against YC with a 2-1 win in Prescott in 2005.

Rico and Kozul are meeting with the team for the first time Thursday and will then get busy recruiting. So they don't expect to take down Pantalione right away but it will be fun to compete with their mentor. "It will be a good feeling because I know we're playing against somebody that we respect and we respect like no other," Rico said.

Kozul said they would have to learn the rules and regulations this year, as well as getting to know their players and their recruiting base. But next season, with their program modeled after Yavapai, they will set their sights on the big dog. "We know all Mike's tricks," Kozul joked. "...We'll have a former top defender of Yavapai and the all-time leading scorer trying to coach against him so we'll have a good chance." Yavapai travels to Paradise Valley on Sept. 3 and hosts the Pumas on Oct. 4 this fall.

Pantalione said as long as his former players don't suit up for Paradise Valley, he’d be OK. "I'm happy to have them in our league and I know in time they will be very successful when it's all said and done," he said. "...The bottom line is they'll make an impact on young people's lives."

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Ken Bennett, 1978 & 1981

GeoBio Energy names Bennett CEO

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Former state Senate President Ken Bennett has a new title.

Bennett is chief executive officer of GeoBio Energy Inc.

GeoBio's board of directors approved Bennett's appointment Thursday. GeoBio focuses on developing clean, renewable energy through distribution, production and growth of renewable economic fuels, a press release says.

Bennett is still CEO of GeoAlgae Inc., which GeoBio intends to acquire this month. "One of our critical points is we want to make bio-fuels from products that do not compete with the food industry," he said.

Bennett said that means focusing on extracting oil from algae and turning it into a clean source of fuel.

A portion of the ethanol and biodiesel companies are producing comes from corn or soybeans in the United States.

"We think it does not make sense to try to make our renewable fuels from products that are already being used in the food stream because if you increase the demand, you drive the prices up on both of them," he said.

Bennett estimates the new fuel could be on the market possibly within the next couple of years.

Bringing the alternative fuel to market eventually would ease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.

"I think in the very long run, if we can develop larger quantities of fuel from renewable plants like algae, then we can hopefully keep the price down and we would not be completely dependent on what crude oil prices are doing," he said.

Bennett formerly led his family's company, Bennett Oil Co., and he is a member of the board of directors of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America.

Contact the reporter at jsoifer@prescottaz.com

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