Riverside Sport Hall of Fame to Honor Four Tigers

Four Riverside City College Tigers will be honored by the Riverside Sport Hall of Fame on May 6 at the California Baptist University Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Events Center.

Former RCC baseball student-athlete and coach Gary Adcock and former basketball student-athlete Tony Masi will each be inducted into the Riverside Sport Hall of Fame, while Jessie Nelson and Ernesto Ruiz will be recognized as the top student-athletes from RCC.

Adcock played for the Tigers in 1991, where he earned all-conference and All-Southern California honors after leading RCC to the State finals. He went on to play at UC Santa Barbara and UCLA before beginning his coaching career. Adcock was an assistant coach for the Tigers in 1997 and 1998, helping Riverside make back-to-back playoff appearances, and is now the head coach at California Baptist University.

Masi played basketball for the Tigers from 1971-73, helping Riverside won the conference title in 1973 with a 15-1 record and finish the year at 28-6 overall. Following that season, Masi earned MVP and All-State honors before transferring to UC Riverside. Following his playing career, Masi stayed in Riverside and was a successful educator in the Riverside Unified School District for 36 years, including a teacher, basketball coach and athletic director at Ramona High School for 23 years.

Nelson is a two-sport athlete at RCC, competing on the women's water polo and swim teams. This past water polo season, Nelson was named the Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year and earned first-team all-conference, All-Southern California, All-State and All-American honors after leading RCC to a runner-up finish at the 3C2A State Championship.

Earlier this month, Nelson grabbed her second OEC Most Valuable Swimmer award after grabbing five individual championships at the OEC Championship Meet. She qualified for three individual events and four relays for the 3C2A State Championship, which takes place May 2-4.

The Riverside, Calif., native graduated from Centennial High School and is set to graduate from RCC with an associate degree in kinesiology. She has accepted a scholarship to play water polo at Azusa Pacific University, where she plans to major in business.

Ruiz is another two-sport athlete for the Tigers, competing on the men's cross country and track and field teams. This past fall, Ruiz won the Orange Empire Conference Individual Championship and led the Tigers to their ninth OEC Championship in 10 seasons, earning all-conference and All-American honors.

This spring, Ruiz successfully defended his OEC 3K steeplechase championship with a time of nine minutes, 18.02 seconds on the first day of the championship meet and added two more championships in the 10K and 5K to qualify for the SoCal Regional this weekend in all three events.

Another Riverside, Calif., native, Ruiz graduated from Norte Vista High School and will graduate with an associate degree in math and science from RCC. He plans to study kinesiology at CBU, where he will also compete on the Lancers' cross country and distance track teams.

The Riverside High School and College/University recognition ceremony takes place at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Events Center, with the Class of 2024 Induction Ceremony – including the Parade of Champions – following at 6 p.m. inside the Events Center.