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tvc.dsj.org | April 25, 2017
CATHOLIC
11:30 AM
SCHOOLS
2017 Bellarmine Hall of Fame inductees (from left): Dave Gaggero ’94, Anthony Saglimbeni, M.D. ’81, Fa-
ther John Baumann, S.J. ’56, Michael Blach ’81, and Viet Thanh Nguyen ’88. (Photo by Nathan Hayes ’19)
Bellarmine Honors Five Hall of Fame Inductees
Bellarmine College Preparatory held its
Hall of Fame ceremony the evening of April
1, recognizing five distinguished alumni.
Those honored, and their respective cat-
egories, were: Michael Blach, Class of 1981
(Business); Anthony Saglimbeni, M.D., Class
of 1981 (Science and Medicine); Father John
Baumann, S.J., Class of 1956 (Public Service);
Dave Gaggero, Class of 1994 (Athletics); and
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Class of 1988 (Humani-
ties and Fine Arts).
“My experience at Bellarmine has chal-
lenged me to be more aware of social justice
issues,” said Blach during his acceptance
remarks. “This school has helped me to be
the man I am, and the man I aspire to be.” As
a community leader, the president and CEO
of Blach Construction has been involved
with a number of service organizations
and nonprofits, including Rotary Club of
San Jose, Sacred Heart Community Service,
Silicon Valley Children’s Fund, Catholic
Charities, and Santa Clara University. Blach
noted that his company annually donates
ten percent of its profits to charities.
Among the people thanked by Saglim-
beni, founder of South Bay Sports and
Prevention Medicine Associates, were his
patients. “They teach me to be human and
teach me to be a better physician,” he said.
He also cited three components of his Bel-
larmine education that continue to play
important roles in his life: “Relationships,
opportunities, and service,” and he added
that Bellarmine ignited “that flame in me
to serve.” Saglimbeni has traveled to Cuba
with the USA Field Hockey team, served the
Diocese of San Jose, and has been the team
physician for Bellarmine, Presentation High
School, Santa Clara University, the San Fran-
cisco 49ers, and the San Francisco Giants.
After graduating from Bellarmine, Fa-
ther John Baumann, S.J., entered the Society
of Jesus. In 1972, he founded PICO (People
Improving Communities through Orga-
nizing). Its mission is to develop leaders
through faith institutions who exercise their
power to build a more just and equitable
society. Baumann gave credit to his Jesuit
education, which began at Bellarmine, for
leading him “to pursue a ministry that
changed my life forever.” Working with
some 1,200 religious congregations from
35 different traditions, PICO has a strong
record of bringing an organized and strate-
gic faith voice into fights over issues critical
to working people.
At Bellarmine, Dave Gaggero won a total
of six individual CCS championships, and
seven relay championships in swimming.
He was a member of four swimming and
three water polo championship teams, and
a state water polo championship team. “I
learned so many life lessons in the pool
and in the classroom,” Gaggero said in his
acceptance remarks, adding that his Bellar-
mine experience set “a great foundation for
who I am today.” His good works include
helping under-resourced communities in
Oakland, and now his home of Atlanta,
to have access to top-notch swimming
programs.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet
Thanh Nguyen acknowledged many
Bellarmine faculty me mbers for having
shaped his literary career. “I have to credit
Bellarmine with so many things … to this
day I credit my belief in social justice in all
realms to my Jesuit education.” Nguyen, the
Aerol Arnold Chair of English and profes-
sor of English and American Studies and
Ethnicity at USC, has authored four books.
His novel, “The Sympathizer,” won the 2016
Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. His book, “Noth-
ing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of
War,” was a finalist in nonfiction for both
the National Book Critics Circle Award and
the National Book Award.
More than 300 guests, including San
Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and former mayor
Tom McEnery – both of whom are Bellarm-
ine alumni – were on hand to witness the
Hall of Fame inductions on the Bellarmine
campus, with the awards ceremony taking
place in the Main Stage Theatre of the So-
brato Center for Humanities and the Arts,
followed by a dinner in the Samuel A. Lic-
cardo Center. Longtime Bellarmine faculty
member Tom Alessandri, Class of 1969, was
the emcee; and the awards were presented
by the school’s president, Chris Meyercord,
alumnus from the Class of 1988.
The Bellarmine Hall of Fame is pre-
sented by the Office of Alumni Relations.
For more information, visit online at
www.bcp.org/BHOF.
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