Tonight's Homecoming game at Sam Tobias Field will have a special meaning for Daniel, Jack and Nick Tobias as they will be playing on the field named in honor of their great-grandfather when it was built in 1952. 

 

Sam was a prominent member of the local Jewish community who was among the school's earliest supporters.  He spearheaded the Booster's Club effort to build a stadium and gym on campus in the early 1950s.  For decades afterward, he continued to be one of the school's most active supporters in promoting Garces' educational endeavors and its Catholic mission.  Generations of his family have since attended Garces and played on their "home-field" for the school he so dearly loved.

 

In 1963 Saint Mary's College, Moraga honored Sam with their centennial year President's Award, stating:

"The Christian Brothers have come under the hand of your benevolence during the past fifteen years at Garces High School and for the past five years at Saint Mary's College. Your work in aiding Kern County youth in attending institutions of higher learning has earned you the St. Mary's College President's Award."

 

He received the inaugural Bob Carroll service award in 1987 and was inducted into the Garces Hall-of-Honor the year it was created in 2008.

 

Sam has since passed, but his family's tradition is still carried on at Garces today.  Sam would be proud.

Members of the Sam Tobias Family who are also Garces alumni are:   

 

RAM FACT:

Garces may be the only Catholic high school in the country with a stadium named after a member of the Jewish faith.

On Wednesday the Garces Water Polo teams were treated to an inspiring talk by U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist, Mr. Joe Vargas.  Mr. Vargas won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics as a member of the USA Men's Water Polo Team. Mr.  Vargas was also a member of the gold medal winning teams at the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games. He talked about some of the special moments of playing for the USA, how it felt to walk out of the tunnel into the stadium as part of Team USA, and what it takes to get to that level of play. 

Garces invites all of our parents and others in the Garces Community who are interested in attending Mr. Gordon's upcoming talk Thursday evening.   

Topic: The Church and Science after the Enlightenment, especially 20th Century Developments

The Roman Catholic Church saw its millennia-old doctrines on act and potency and creation ex nihilo vindicated through 20th Century science, particularly the (Catholic physicist's) Big Bang Theory and Quantum Theory.  Even the atheist Soviet Union recognized the undeniably Catholic nature of the "theistic" truth proven by the scientific community's acceptance of the Big Bang Theory, which is why all Soviet cosmologists were strictly forbidden to discuss or research the theory from its inception in 1927 until the 1960's, when its veracity became undeniable.  Since 20th Century science so robustly confirmed the truths of the Roman Catholic faith-with the single largest commission on cosmology and astrophysics belonging to the Vatican-why do so many anti-Catholic scientists still adhere to the woefully un-scientific worldview known as "scientism?"  The answer to this question hails back to the European Enlightenment three centuries prior to the Big Bang Theory, where one finds strong evidence of an ulterior motive behind post-Enlightenment scientism: the darkling source of Europe's "last superstition," atheism.

The Garces Varsity volleyball team did well in their preseason tournaments and have continued to develop throughout the season. The Rams are currently ranked 3rd in the valley and are preparing for CIF Central Section D1 post season competition. 

This year has been a work in progress for the girls golf program here at Garces.  The team has had an influx of freshman who have been learning while playing and competing.  Garces has been blessed with the returning SWYL champs knowledge and calming attitude. 

 

Our team has improved to the point of qualifying for the upcoming Area championship.  Not only have we qualified but are also contenders for winning the tournament. 

 

Garces has 3 golfers with an excellent chance to play at Valley and also State. 

 

Members of our Girls Golf team:  

The Varsity Boys placed 6th in all SWYL meets.

The Varsity Girls placed 4th in all SWYL meets..  The Varsity Girls won the 2017 Golden West meet for the second time.

 

Next Month:

SWYL Championships will be held at Hart Park on Thursday 11/9. 

On Thursday 11/16, the teams will head to Fresno for the Valley meet. 

The boys team will compete in D4, the girls have been placed in D3.

The girls team is currently ranked 8th in this division.

Varsity Boys:  23-4 overall record.  5-1 League.  On the surface, this team may seem as if they are a veteran team, but the reality is that we have a 1st year goalie (Ostin Woodfin), only 2 seniors (Lee Begin and Oliver Oxley), and only 1 returning starter from last year's Varsity team (Lee Begin).   The Center position is a tag team effort from Grayden Reynolds and George Rice.  Our transition game is led by Lee Begin, Eric Klang, Evan Berry and Oliver Oxley.  Our defense is anchored by Joe Starr at center defender and Ostin Woodfin in the cage.  This group has embraced the training regimen and has really committed themselves to the team and the common goal.  We had some early season setbacks, but really learned and grew from them.  With a tough loss to Porterville in the first round of league, we are looking to at least share the league championship with a couple more league wins.  We are positioned to be the #1 seed in the DII Valley playoffs, with home pool all the way through and are hoping to capture our 3rd Valley Championship.  

 

JV boys: This team features 6 freshman with virtually no water polo experience and the team has really come together as we enter the final week of our season.  Similar to the girls, it took a few weeks to establish roles on the team so that each team member could find a way to contribute successfully to the team.