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Nominate
The First Fest Countdown
DAYS                HOURS              MINUTES
firsts

 

personal winner
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San Jose CyberRays
nominated by Joshua Russell

August 25, 2001: San Jose CyberRays, playing in the first women's professional soccer league, the WUSA, defeat Atlanta Beat 4-2 on penalties to win the first-ever WUSA championship. Despite the league folding in 2003, they will always be a personal favorite of mine and was a great inspiration for young girls everywhere.

sports “firsts” submissions
Intrepid Northern California Hikers
nominated by Sparky Harlan

INCH is the first Internet-based hiking group (years before Meetup) started in 1996 by four engineers from Intel. Since that time, they have organized 809 hikes (every Saturday) for over 600 individuals. They track all hikes in every way imaginable on their website (they are engineers after all!). This hiking group is famous with Bay Area hikers as being a hardcore hiking group, averaging 15-20 miles per hike.

High School Sports Focus
nominated by John DuBois

KICU Channel 36 was the first station that focused on high school sports, especially the sports beyond just boy's football. Channel 36's high school sports focus covered boys and girls sports across all sports. The show is still popular today.

Steve Wozniak
nominated by Kirsten Bontrager

Steve Wozniak is the first non-dancer to be known worldwide for his dancing skills.

Kamba Tshionyi
nominated by Joshua Russell

Kamba Tshionyi, a member of Stanford's men's basketball team from 1994 to 1998, was the first Stanford Cardinal to play in four consecutive March Madness NCAA tournaments.

Ryan Nyquist
nominated by Meredith Russell

Ryan Nyquist, from Los Gatos, is a professional BMX rider and is one of the most decorated riders in BMX history. Ryan started riding at age three and competed in his first BMX competition when he was 16-years old. He competed in his first X games in 1997 and by 2003, Nyquist had won every major dirt competition: X Games, Gravity Games, Vans Triple Crown, and the King of Dirt. In 2004 he won the ESPY for Best Action Sports Athlete and is the first and only person I know to appear on the TV Show, MTV Cribs.

San Jose CyberRays
nominated by Joshua Russell

August 25, 2001: San Jose CyberRays, playing in the first women's professional soccer league, the WUSA, defeat Atlanta Beat 4-2 on penalties to win the first-ever WUSA championship. Despite the league folding in 2003, they will always be a personal favorite of mine and was a great inspiration for young girls everywhere.

San Jose Jr Sharks Girls U12 National Champions
nominated by Charles Faas

The Junior Sharks 12U girl's hockey team defeated the East Coast Wizards in overtime by a score of 1-0 to capture USA Hockey Tier II Girls National Championship. This is the first national title for the Junior Sharks program. In the championship game, Goaltender Laurel Philipp notched the shutout and forward Lexie Anderson scored at 8:54 of the first overtime.

"The entire Sharks organization is thrilled for the Junior Sharks program for this monumental accomplishment," said San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson. This is a moment the girls and their families and friends will never forget."

Brandi Chastain
nominated by Alma Taylor

Brandi Chastain, the most famous woman Soccer player in America, played on her first fields in Santa Clara County.