Around Town … with Robert Airoldi: Four hometown heroes who made a difference honored Oct. 14
Published in the October 4 – 17, 2017 issue of Gilroy Life
Gilroy’s got heroes. The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce has selected four individuals to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2017. This year’s inductees are George Archer, Don Gage, Rudolph “Rudy” Melone, and Richard “Dick” Nicholls.
Archer, who died at the age of 65 in September 2005, was the 1969 Masters champion and a 25-year resident of Gilroy. Archer won 12 Professional Golf Association tour events after he joined the tour in 1964 and won 19 Champions Tour events. The 6-foot-5 Archer, born in San Francisco, became known as one of the best putters in PGA history.
He is best known for his win at Augusta National in 1969, when the 29-year-old finished with a 7 under 281 total. He became known as the “Gilroy Cowboy” on the golf circuit because he lived at Lucky Hereford Ranch — once located off Day Road — where he helped out with odd ranch jobs when he wasn’t on tour.
“He put Gilroy on the map, before all this other stuff, the Garlic Festival and the Outlets,” said Don DeLorenzo, owner of the Gilroy Golf Course and a friend of Archer’s. “People knew Gilroy first by George Archer.”
Born April 18, 1945, Gage grew up on a small farm outside of Gilroy and has been a lifelong resident of Santa Clara County. He attended local schools and earned his degree in law enforcement. He began public service in 1981 when he was elected to the Gilroy City Council. He was a project manager with IBM for 30 years. He served on the city council until 1991 when he was elected mayor. He was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in March 1997. Voters elected Gage to the Santa Clara Valley Water District in 2010 and he served until 2013 when he was again elected mayor of Gilroy serving until December 2015.
Nicholls, who died at the age of 60 in June 2005, was raised in Morgan Hill and went to Live Oak High School. He worked for Ford’s Department Store and was marketing director for Falcon Cable, which is now Charter Cable. He is best known as the executive director of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association from 1985 to 2005. He helped shape the annual festival into a worldwide event bringing fame and fortune to Gilroy. Through his association with the Garlic Festival, he became president of the California Festival Association and director of the International Festivals and Events Association and was named to its Hall of Fame in 1996
Melone, who died at the age of 73 in September 1998, was born in Connecticut and orphaned at age 3. He was raised in the Bronx, and was a Navy Seabee veteran of World War II,. Melone entered the University of Portland, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in education. He served as president of Gavilan Community College. In 1978, he approached his friend, garlic grower Don Christopher, with the idea of a celebration of the “stinking rose.” The result was the Gilroy Garlic Festival, now regarded as “the preeminent food festival in America.
“There would be no Gilroy Garlic Festival without Rudy,” Christopher said. “Few people have left their mark in a community as indelibly.”
These four individuals will be celebrated at a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Oct. 14 at Old City Hall Restaurant.
Reservations to the luncheon can be made through the Chamber of Commerce at www.Gilroy.org.
