Hometown SportS Liberty honors local legend Roy Ghiggeri

By Jeff Weisinger Staff Writer

BRENTWOOD Roy Ghiggeri was nervous heading to Liberty High School last Thursday. He’s been there many times before. However, Last Thursday evening at the “new gym” was a bit different.

“We (Ghiggeri and his wife Angela) were driving over here and we said that I was really nervous,” Ghiggeri said during his speech. “I didn’t understand what she said, but she said ‘It’s better than going to a funeral.’”

Last Thursday, Liberty High School, the Liberty Union School District and the City of Brentwood celebrated as Liberty renamed the “new gym” the “Roy J. Ghiggeri Gymnasium,” in tribute to the 1968 Liberty alum, former basketball star and later, coach, teacher, and former district board of trustees member. Overall, Ghiggeri was involved in some way with Liberty and the district either as a student or staff for over 50 years dating to when he first set foot on campus as a freshman in 1964.

“Working with leadership and working with coaching, being part of the administrative team, hopefully having an effect on kids,” Ghiggeri said about his time at Liberty. “Just being part of our whole system I was involved in, because I’ve done many jobs. I had a lot of opportunities to expand, which was great.”

The gym was built in 2002 to accommodate the then-growing school population. It was never named after anything or anyone until Thursday.

“It’s a wonderful honor,” Liberty principal Efa Huckaby said. “One of the beautiful things about being on Liberty’s campus is walking through history. To walk there and to know the impact that these individuals have had in our community, it’s just tremendous.”

The district decided unanimously, 5-0, to dedicate the gym in Ghiggeri’s name in a board meeting on Jan. 18.

Ghiggeri spent a majority of his 40-minute speech thanking everyone who was involved in his life at Liberty and beyond; from former teammates to coaches and teachers he worked with at Liberty. Along with receiving certificates and plaques dedicating the event, he unveiled a plaque outside of the gymnasium along with the official title of the gym on the outside wall in black letters, immortalizing his legacy at Liberty.

“It’s really humbling,” Ghiggeri said. “It wasn’t all about me. It’s about the people around me that helped me through my life and my career.”

One of those people was Brentwood School District Assistant Superintendent

Chris Calabrese, who was a student of Ghiggeri’s in the 1980s and had him as a leadership class teacher when he was a senior. He wasn’t afraid to tell a story about when Ghiggeri gave him a ‘B’ in leadership.

“(Ghiggeri) expected more out of (me),” Calabrese re-quoted Ghiggeri as part of a story in his speech. “‘Chris is participating in leadership, but I expect him to lead.’”

Calabrese explained that story afterward.

“It really struck me,” Calabrese said. “I pouted for a while and I was upset (at the comment) for a while, then I realized that I could do more. So I began to lead and took small steps. It’s a motto, but something that’s been profound for my life is not to just participate.

“It was a huge honor (speaking at Ghig- geri’s dedication). The parallels between our lives are striking to me. To be associated with Roy Ghiggeri means a lot to me.”

Ghiggeri’s impact on everyone was also felt by Mike Miller, a former player and student under Ghiggeri at Liberty.

“The gym, in my eyes, is the centerpiece of the school,” Miller said in his speech. “He has been such a huge part of the rich history of this school, this district, and this community for the past 40 or 50-plus years. And he’s always done it with unbelievable passion, loyalty, and dedication.”

Ghiggeri went on to the University of the Pacific on a basketball scholarship after graduating from Liberty and is part of the 1970-71 team that was inducted into the Pacific’s Hall of Fame back in 2004. That team went 22-6 and played in the school’s third trip to the NCAA Tournament. Ghiggeri was inducted into the LUHSD Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 and has since served as a Hall of Fame board member.

He returned to Liberty to work as a teacher and as a basketball coach in 1974. He was the head of Liberty’s adult education program in 1978, then became Liberty’s athletic and activities director in 1982. He moved into a district leadership role in 1988 where he created an independent study program to go alongside the adult education program, which is now the Community Education Center. He was elected into the LUHSD Board of Trustees in 2010 and served for 12 years, twice as president.

Ghiggeri continues to give everyone else the credit for Liberty’s success today.

“We’re very fortunate to have the superintendents that we have,” he said. “The fact that the system has led us forward, the vision we’re providing, all these things you see here is because of the leadership.”

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