Eight outstanding athletes who have attended El Camino will be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame today in a ceremony at the Los Verdes Golf and Country Club.

Hall of Fame inductees are judged not only by their athletic ability during their stay at EC and after, but candidates may also be entered depending upon their contributions in the community.

“The people who are honored in the Hall of Fame should feel extremely honored,” said Ray Southstone, chairman and co-founder of the EC Hall of Fame. “There are a number of meritorious athletes who have performed well but aren’t inducted.”

The inductees this year will be: Derryl Cousins; Laurie Dawdy; Nick Fuscardo; Dennis Hocking; Walt Justice; Dan Karavas; Laurie Kent-Cordobes and Dave Long.

Inductees must wait five years after they leave EC before they are eligible to be inducted. A panel of 11 coaches, former students and administrators vote in December to decide who will be added. There are 164 people currently in the Athletic Hall of Fame.

“I think that it’s great that these (Hall of Fame) members are contributing so much to EC,” coach Corey Stanbury, swimming coach, said. “These people are judged on their athletic career, business career and their contributions to society. I think it’s just great.”

Southstone said that the committee is composed of both men and women to ensure that there is no male bias.

Stanbury said that he remembers coaching Dawdy. He said that she was probably one of the few divers he remembers being team captain.

“I remember that she was both a diver and a swimmer,” Stanbury said. “She had a lot of self-motivation, a lot of self-direction and was extremely talented. She was also an extremely encouraging teammate.”

Twenty-two members of the Hall of Fame are expected to be at the banquet. Southstone said that he expects all the inductees to be there with the exception of Hocking, whom he said would not be able to attend because of a baseball game. In his place, his mother is expected to accept the award.

Applications to be inducted into the Hall of Fame are accepted throughout the year. Applications are submitted up to December. Inductees are notified by Southstone in February.

Cousins is currently a major league umpire. Fuscardo coaches baseball at Fullerton and Hocking has been in the major leagues since 1993 when he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. Justice has coached football and Karavas was an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount. Cordobes went on to compete in the NCAA nationals in 1983 and 1984.