Some students see their teachers as one-dimensional figures, administers of knowledge and the occasional discipline. However, not so long ago, some teachers were student-athletes, just like the majority of Palo Alto High School’s students are today. This is an inside look into a few of Paly’s very own teachers past sport careers.

Elizabeth Brimhall

Biology teacher Elizabeth Brimhall, a three-sport athlete during her high school career, became an active participant in intramural sports throughout college.

“I played volleyball, basketball and high jumped for the track team throughout high school,” Brimhall said. “In college, I played a lot of intramurals [like] volleyball, soccer, football, softball, etc.”

Growing up in a family that loved sports, Brimhall quickly embraced the idea of becoming an athlete.

“My mom remarried when I was in fourth grade and my new step-father loved sports, so he introduced me to playing basketball and watching baseball on TV,” Brimhall said. “I started joining teams at the local boys-girls club.”

Brimhall attended three different high schools in just four years, she used sports to make a smooth transition from school to school.

“Athletics made [moving schools] easier because sports acted as social event,” Brimhall said. “I was able to jump right onto my teams and make lots of friends.”

Brimhall enjoyed volleyball because she could use the various skills she had attained through other sports. She was able to capitalize on those characteristics, which led to her overall success.

“I loved many aspects of [volleyball]. I was a middle blocker and enjoyed the net game: hitting, blocking, etc,” Brimhall said. “I also loved high jumping and, in this case, I loved the combination of power and grace exemplified by the high jump.”

As a varsity high jumper on her school’s track team, Brimhall sees the event as a positive learning experience.

“For high jump, you have to learn from each failure and really have a growth-mindset,” Brimhall said. “You will always end a meet in the high jump with three misses, the key is letting those failures motivate you and teach you how to improve in the future.”

While attending Los Banos High School in Los Banos, CA, Brimhall still remembers her basketball game against rival team Dos Palos High School.

“The one I always remember was a basketball game with our nearest rivals, Dos Palos, my senior year,” Brimhall said. “It was a close game and we won it on a three pointer buzzer shot.”

After graduating high school, Brimhall attended Stanford University and played on many intramural teams.

“[Intramurals] were really just about the fun,” Brimhall said.

Brimhall’s sports participation did not end at college though. Soon after she became a high jump and freshman volleyball coach at Paly, and organizer of staff teams for sports events like Spikefest.

“Post college I played volleyball both for fun and with a few club teams, as well as some soccer in the past,” Brimhall said. “Whenever I can get enough interest, I try to organize a staff team for the spikefest at Paly. I’ve coached a bit at Paly before I decided I was a bit too overscheduled and needed to simplify my life.”

Sports have had a huge impact on Brimhall’s life and she still uses the many lessons she learned through sports.

“[Sports] have helped me see the crucial need for regular exercise and has always been a great way for me to form friendships with diverse groups of people that are long-lasting, and has taught me self-discipline,” Brimhall said.

Jason Fung

Physical Education teacher and Paly alumni Jason Fung, a multi-sport athlete in high school and a track and field competitor in college, continues his legacy as a sports legend at Paly today.

Starting his sports career in high school, Fung was introduced to sports for social reasons rather than competitiveness.

“I never did the AYSO [American Youth Soccer Organization] or Pop Warner thing,” Fung said. “I started playing because my friends wanted me to play.”

Playing football under the current head coach Earl Hansen, Fung played as the team’s receiver and corner back.

“It was a great experience,” Fung said. “Game days is what you looked forward to. It was a great feeling when you figured out how to dominate your opponent.”

As track season came around, Fung ran as one of the team’s leading sprinters on the varsity track team for all four years of high school. Running the 100-meter, 200 and 4×100 relay races and competing in the long jump, Fung had the ability to excel in sports from the beginning. Fung excelled in the 100, clocking in at 10.8 seconds.

“I just had it,” Fung said. “It’s one of those things you don’t really have control over and just have to work on from there.”

Fung attended Foothill College as a freshmen and sophomore and was a member of the track team for both years, running in all of the same events he competed in at Paly.

“Like anything you do, the competitiveness of the sport gets greater and people in college are doing sports to, hopefully, have a future in it,” Fung said. “It’s something that you make a decision to do and you have less influences from your friends.”

In college, Fung raced against strong competition that made running an enjoyable learning environment. Fung thought competing against Olympic gold medalist runner Alvin Harrison and his brother Calvin Harrison in several junior college meets was great practice.

“Being able to complete against [Alvin and Calvin was one of my greatest moments in sports],” Fung said.

After completing two years at Foothill Community College, Fung transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He tried to fit track into his schedule, but studying architecture took up too much of his time.

“Like any sport the time and commitment [made it hard to continue],” Fung said.

Once Fung graduated college, he got a job at the local General Nutrition Center. A colleague introduced him to the sport of bodybuilding.

“For me personally, it is a way to stay motivated to work out and push myself to new levels in my workouts,” Fung said. “When I decided to do my first competition, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding [things] I have ever done.”

After competing in about 10 competitions, Fung saw his career end after the birth of his two children. In his last competition during May of 2008 at the Contra Costa competition, Fung knew it was time.

“I have two kids now so it’s hard to compete,” Fung said.

Overall, Fung saw his experience as a bodybuilder as one of the most influential factors in his life.

“I’ve enjoyed it all,” Fung said. “It takes a lot of discipline to [be a bodybuilder]. Your results come from how much you put into the sport. The experience has helped me tackle a lot more difficult tasks.”

Kathi Bowers

Paly math teacher Kathi Bowers started playing softball in the second grade. Beginning her athletic career through family ties, Bowers immediately fell in love with the sport.

“I was a bit of a tomboy because my dad really liked sports and I always loved baseball,” Bowers said. “My parents got me into a league and I just loved it from there on.”

As Bowers grew older, she joined competitive softball teams that played almost all year long. As a female athlete, her community treated her with the utmost respect, unlike many places in the United States at that time, where sports were not encouraged for all girls. Playing in the Southern California Municipal Athletic Federation gave Bowers playing experience in the ultimate softball setting.

“Girls sports were really supported in my community,” Bowers said. “We had three softball diamonds and a baseball field; it was a huge organization. There was always a game going on and we were able to travel all over the area and play almost all year long.”

Entering Burbank High School, Bowers took advantage of a wide variety of sports including volleyball, basketball, softball and tennis. As a varsity athlete for all three years on the basketball and softball teams, Bowers embraced the opportunity to become involved in other sports. Bowers played both softball and tennis in the spring season of her junior and senior years of high school.

“Back then [the school] wanted a lot of girls to play sports,” Bowers said. “I was able to play two sports at a time.”

Bowers continued her softball career into college, playing at Stanford University. For all four years, Bowers remembers the many conflicts that balancing her sports career had on her academic schedule.

“A challenge was all the time [softball] took,” Bowers said. “You missed a lot of class and the practices were really time consuming.”

Although sports did pose some difficulties, Bowers recalls the game she played against the University of Arizona her senior year.

“We were really bad at Stanford because we didn’t have any pitching,” Bowers said. “Because softball wasn’t a scholarship sport, it was hard to get [good pitching]. We were playing Arizona at home and they were the fifth ranked team in the nation. We ended up beating them 2-1. I still remember that game today; it was one of the coolest moments ever.”

Many of the lessons Bowers took away from her experiences as an athlete in the past are constant reminders of how to live her life today.

“When you play a sport it gives you the confidence and ability to work as a team, and [gives you] friends that you will have forever,” Bowers said. “Also, when you’re in a slump, it isn’t the end of the world, I think that that relates to the real world in lots of ways.”

Today, Bowers raises her two kids, Travis and Kevin, both of whom are active in the sports world, as well. Bowers encouraged her children to become involved in sports by introducing them to athletics at an early age and still tries to be involved in the sports community as much as possible by helping her kids out.

“I try and play slow pitch as much as I can,” Bowers said. “I want to coach girls National Junior Basketball next year, but my main purpose is as a fan; I’m a huge fan! But I also drive the kids around too; that is my main job.”

Jerry Berkson

Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson played two sports in high school and continued his athletic career at the next level, in junior college, with baseball.

Growing up as the youngest child in his family and having two older brothers who were fascinated by sports, Berkson followed in their footsteps.

“I had two older brothers that played [baseball] and it was only right that I would do the same,” Berkson said. “They helped me because they would always let me join in in their pick-up games every weekend.”

Berkson remembers all the experience he gained from a young age because of the games the kids in his neighborhood would put together.

“During the summer there would always be a good six on six pick-up game going on in my front yard,” Berkson said.

As Berkson grew older and entered Hillsdale High School, he joined both the varsity soccer and baseball teams.

“It was fun in that I was able to just get in there and play,” Berkson said.

When soccer season came around, Berkson used the time to prepare for the baseball season.

“I only played soccer my senior year to get in shape for baseball,” Berkson said. “It was a young team and I was one of only two or three seniors. I taught the underclassmen lots of stuff.”

Berkson especially shined during baseball season. As one of two lefty pitchers on the baseball squad his senior year, Berkson had a 2.01 ERA and a 9-1 record. That same year he threw a shutout against Los Gatos in Central Coast Section (CCS) to advance them into the next round.

“It was great, we had an incredible team,” Berkson said. “We were ranked number one in the peninsula, even over Serra High School.”

Berkson attended the College of San Mateo and played varsity baseball there for all four years. He recalls the friendships he shared with many of the players on the team.

“I loved the comradery between the pitching staff,” Berkson said. “We really became life long friends.”

Entering college as a high school star, Berkson found that there were many differences between the competition at the two levels.

“[College] is a whole different level,” Berkson said. “When you play high school you look to the catcher for signs. But in college, you’re looking to the shortstop and first basemen for signs while the catcher is giving you four sequences at once.”

Berkson not only noticed that the competition was greater at the college level, but so were the workouts during practice.

“I hated the conditioning,” Berkson said. “Somehow my coach managed to find every hill on the campus.”

Berkson experienced baseball at a higher level when he played for former Chicago Cubs coach, John Noce.

“I probably played for the greatest coach in history,” Berkson said. “I loved that there was always something to take in. I got quite an education with baseball.”

After Berkson graduated college he became an assistant coach for the varsity baseball team at Carlmont High School, which he took to the CCS championship victory. At age 23, he opened up his first of four memorabilia stores in San Mateo area called, “The Bullpen” and became San Mateo High School’s head coach.

“It was a lot of fun,” Berkson said. “I was able to do what I wanted. I could show up at work around 10 and leave work early to coach baseball, it was really great. It also had a lot of similarities between what I do now and what I did then. I learned how to manage people and I got to meet lots of pros.”

Once the baseball strike of 1994 and 1995 began to affect his business, Berkson decided to look to a long-term career by going back to school and getting a degree in history. Teaching part-time with San Mateo College, he moved to Abbott Middle School where he taught two years of history and three years of physical education while remaining San Mateo’s head coach.

“Because I was good with kids I thought it would be a good idea to get involved with the schools,” Berkson said.

When Berkson began teaching at Abbott Middle School, he met Rick Sundberg, who was in charge of the Starmaker travel team and who had a son that attended the middle school also. Berkson took a job as the team’s coach for six years. Two years later he created his own travel team called the West Coast Federals, which is made up of 12-year-olds from around the bay area.

“I wanted to stay involved in sports somehow,” Berkson said. “It’s just like video games, you can really control everything that’s going on. It’s also fun to help people out and be able to develop them into great athletes a couple years down the line.”