![]() He earned countless MVP awards and Sentinel All-County selections and was the Soquel High athlete of the year in 1968-69. He did everything Soquel had to offer and that”s what we want our kids to do today.”Īn honor student and a member of the speech and debate club, explorer scouts and student government, among other organizations, Peck also excelled at football, basketball and baseball. “He is a real icon and a catalyst for that school, and he did that for four years. He described Peck as the type who could cross the quad and talk to anybody in any clique. “He was one of the rare gems,” said Wygant, who coordinated the event along with the support of the Soquel High Fund. Upon posting a message though the Soquel High alumni website and “Knight Notes,” Wygant received about 70 formal letters of support over the next 40 days, not to mention the hundreds of emails that ranged from “Go Randy Peck” to “two-page dissertations” on the former Knight”s character and qualities. Still, the younger Wygant had a few brushes with Peck (he tells one story that”s right out of a Coke commercial, in which Peck offers his soda to Wygrant before running out on to the baseball field) and helped stir support for the dedication. Wygant”s older brother was close with his classmate Peck, an all-around student at Soquel who graduated in 1969. Richard Wygant falls into the latter category. Peck”s legacy remains intact to this day through those who knew him and even those who simply knew of him. “I think it helps current students follow the right way,” he said. He said he feels the dedication connects the students with the school”s past in a positive manner. Soquel Principal Ken Lawrence-Emanuel has come across those who hold Peck in high esteem. The court is believed to become the first facility in the Santa Cruz City Schools system to be named after an alumnus. The school is celebrating its 50th-anniversary homecoming and will name its basketball court in Peck”s honor at 4 p.m. Many have, no doubt, been passed about in recent days as friends and family gather to honor him in a ceremony Saturday at Soquel High. Stories like these about Peck perhaps range in the hundreds. ![]() But he took it as a challenge to get better.” “He instead took it as a challenge and took it to the University of Utah. “We were more upset than he was,” recalled Shears, a Soquel grad and former wide receiver for the Knights who traveled to L.A. But when he traveled south and stayed at UCLA for two weeks in preparation of the Shrine North-South game in Los Angeles, he saw little action on the football field. Peck, a three-sport standout for the Knights who died in a car crash more than 40 years ago, was one of the top quarterbacks in Northern California in the late 1960s. He remembers Peck wasn”t given much of a chance - whether it was because he was from up north or from a small school - when he competed in a high school football all-star game in Southern California following his senior year at Soquel High. ![]()
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